Record Keeping for Goats

I was surprised by the number of people commenting on my organization and being able to keep track of all the breeding choices of my goats.  I really think my years of doing genealogical research has helped.  I also have two forms of written records.  I didn’t start this until about my second year of having kids.

Bonnie and Blaze

Looking at the spreadsheet below, you can see the year, the buck is in bold print, and the does go across with their kids listed below.  It’s a very basic record that lists all the goats ever born on the farm.  You’ll notice that my Millie was born in 2004 and had her first baby in 2005.

After seven years of kidding, my spreadsheet is on it’s third page.  The page for 2012 is a constant work in progress.  I typically print it out and track the girls’ heat cycles in pencil.  I do go back and fill it in on the computer.  Their due dates are hi-lited in yellow.  Sometimes, I will change the color.  Yellow for March, green for the two due on May 12th; blue for the ones due in the first part of June, etc.  Even if I don’t plan on breeding a doe, I’ll keep track of her heat cycles in case a buck gets out.  I have the three wethers listed also because I can have an accurate count of my goats that way.  By the way, it’s 46, not 47 as I stated last week.  I guess I just can’t count.

In my third year of having kids, I realized that a record of kids born by years was great, but I needed to look at each doe.  That’s when I created the record sheet below.

Click HERE for a printable version of the record.

This is what I envisioned~a picture in the box and a neatly typed sheet for each girl.  I can keep all those records in a file folder on my computer.  You’ll notice there is nothing to the right of Scarlet’s picture.  That is because I bought her, and I don’t know her pedigree.  The ID # refers to the Scrapie ID tag that was in her ear when I brought her home.  She has since lost the tag, but I did record her number before that happened.  There is generally enough room that I can put notes down regarding the birth.  For example, I pulled Luna, but it was pretty easy.  The (H) or (P) refers to whether the kid is horned or polled.  If there is nothing, both parents had horns, so the kids did too.

If you really want the Microsoft Word version that you can insert a picture into the square and type on, you’ll have to e-mail me because I can’t get it uploaded.

The reality is my records look more like Haley’s.  Kind of.  I generally print out the blank form and just write things in by hand.  I keep them all in alphabetical order by first name in a three-ring binder.  On the sheet below, you can see that I know a fair amount of Haley’s pedigree.  I know Fionn has bred her, but if she comes back into heat, I can always change my due date.  I figure the date by using my Bred/Birth chart.

Even after a girl has retired or died, I’ll keep her record.  It simply gets placed into a different section of the binder.  I keep it because occasionally I have to cross out the retired and record more births.  Millie!  After a year off, she and Marley decided to end her retirement, and she’s due to kid on March 2nd.

Millie Ann Saanen

With these two simple forms, I do a pretty good job of keeping track of my goats’ genealogies.  People ask or laugh about the last names of all my goats, but that also helps me keep track of my breeding lines.  I won’t breed an Osboer to an Osboer.  All of Fionn Osboer’s girls have the last name of Blackboer.  I know they are no relation on their fathers’ sides.  They might be related, but it won’t be close.  For example Fionn and Cinnamon are half second cousins.

Fionn Osboer

I highly recommend you start keeping records because the herd has a way of growing.  It’s just too hard to sell those cute kids!

Linking to Homestead Barn Hop.