# Goat quads



## Jubel (May 13, 2008)

My goat had quads last year. What are the chances of her having quads again?
Is this rare? What are the chances of any goat having quads? What about triplets?


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## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

Around here, triplets are quite normal for some of my older does. Quads are more unusual. Will she have quads again? That's hard to know. One of my does had quints one year and only twins the next. Another had quads one year and triplets in subsequent years. It's just a wait and see thing.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

There are tons of factors that go into this including genetics, condition, age, # of freshenings, diet, exposure to the buck, and probably the buck himself. Too hard to say, really.

Most of the lines from which I have purchased are known to deliver high multiples (triplets consistently or better). I do own a quint.


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## Jubel (May 13, 2008)

hoofinthenorth, 

I've always been told this is a bad thing, due to complications. You make it sound like a good thing or am I reading in to it too much.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Nubians......Quads are genetic. There are bloodlines that quad, and then of course they can quint with one or more eggs splitting...but a bloodline that only has twins (which is a normal amount) with triplets or singles being just as abnormal...but a doe who only twins or triplets, even in a herd with the best management is not going to then start having quads even with herd mates next to her quading and quinting. We had a set of quads out of a 2 year old second freshener last year with her dam having quints. The first all live kept and sold quints I have ever had. So if you have a doe who had quads last year, unless management changes you will always have quads out of her until she ages and then goes back to twins and singles. Her daughters will have the quad gene and will also likely quad as 2 or 3 year olds.

With good management of the does when heavy bred and the kids at birth, the more the merrier here, course I bottle feed anyway. Vicki


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Before I owned her, Nubian had twins as an FF.
When she came here it was trips then two seasons of quads and she's Blimping out again!
Different buck each year.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Buck has nothing to do with the amount of kids. They do influence the amount of milk a doe makes because they contribute to the placenta which in small ruminants stimulates milk supply, but figure it takes one sperm to fertilize one egg, so he doesn't send the genetic potential for quads etc. We also know older does who only give singles, usually milk pretty pathetically that lactation.

Fullblood boers usually twin, for her to quad she had to have come from some dairy stock that quaded in their history, she should now quad until about 8. It was the line I drew in selling my Nubians to boer folk or breeding to my boer for the crosses so popular in the beginning, I would not make boer crosses with quad bloodlines. They would not pull kids and bottle two, so in reality doelings in the group were destined to fail when trying to compete for milk with brothers. Vicki


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Vicki, if the buck has more sperm, would he not be able to fertilize more eggs (assuming they are present, of course)?  Wonder if sperm would have anything to do with whether or not the egg splits for twinning?

Jubel, Vicki is right that no matter what you do, a goat cannot do better than their genetics allow so if she isn't genetically engineered (sounds so funny!) to produce high multiples, she won't do it even in the best situation. High multiples can be difficult but really they are a good thing in general. This assumes, however, that the dam is in condition to grown and safely deliver the babies as well as feed them to weaning. We don't want bottle babies by design here so we don't want moms with teeny udders that can't feed quads. Apparently bucklings do tend to eat more than doelings and more often, so quad bucks would be harder for certain does to feed than quad does. I did have triplet bucks last year out of one of my does and whoo-eee did she have to keep them full! They pestered the heck out of her if she laid down until she got up so they could eat more. The girls with doelings were pestered too, just not as much. It's sort of a joke around here that if you want a nice udder on your doe at milk test time, pray for multiple bucks! Oh the horror! lol


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Jubel - just now thought to ask - what breed? High multiples in a breed (or genetic line) that already has complications (maybe due to a small pelvis relative to the womb), are probably going to be trouble.


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## yarrow (Apr 27, 2004)

I bought an older doe back in the spring. Her breeding history was a single, a couple sets of twins.. I think there was even a year, she didn't take. Bred her to kid in Nov. She never looked very big. (at one point I was actually beginning to wonder if she was even bred...) imagine everyone's surprise when she had quads!  (2 buckling/2 doelings) If I hadn't been there to see them arrive, I would have been looking to see who else kidded LOL. Don't know if she'll ever do it again or not, but it was fun.
susie, mo ozarks


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

If you have a breed known for kidding dystocia, Pygmies for example, you are much better off having multiples than a singleton as the multiples will be smaller and more easily delivered.

Personally, I'd absolutely love to have quads out of any of my dairy does.


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## MayLOC (Sep 20, 2006)

I believe with each breeding, millions of sperm are released... so it really is the number of eggs available to be fertilized.


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Jan 10, 2004)

"if the buck has more sperm, would he not be able to fertilize more eggs"

Well maybe if he only shoots out two or three per time but they shoot out millions, assuming they have any there is usually enough in one DROP to fertilize all of the eggs that your entire herd will spit out in a given year...or two.


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## BobDFL (Jul 7, 2006)

This thread is very interesting. My herd queen sort of cycles.

Here first were twins, then trips, then twins again, then quads, then twins this last time. 

So should I expect quints next year? :lookout:

Actually though this years twins were harder on her than last years quads, I'm still trying to get her back in shape almost a month later.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

I agree, in most cases, singletons are not fun.


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