Diversity has its disadvantages. I enjoy having a variety of breeds of goats, but it sure gets troublesome at breeding time.
 Here on Egypt Creek Ranch we run  fullblood Boers, fullblood Kikos, a line of straight Spanish and a combination of crossbreeds. The goal has been to have a varied selection of animals and a range of prices for our various buyers.
 This plan works well for most of the year. During the spring and summer, we run all of the nannies and their offspring together in what we call the Super Herd. This has ranged in size from 150 to 350 head of goats. After cutting our numbers following last summer's drought, we ran about 200 head together this summer.
 This herd roams pretty much at will over 500 acres of pasture and cutover timber. We provide free choice mineral and fresh water if they want it. With the smorgasbord of forage available to the herd, there is no need to supplement with grain.
 I keep the buck herd in a separate pasture away from the does during this time. This is a smaller pasture, so some supplement is needed at times. I don't think the grass on my place alone can fill a goat's nutritional needs. If there aren't enough bushes to eat on also, I'll feed a small ration of 16% goat pellets daily.
 This system makes for a very maintenance-free goat operation in the summer. But now with breeding season upon us, it's time to break Super Herd up into its various components - and hope I have enough separate pastures and pens to accommodate the different breeding groups.
 This breeding season, I am using four Boer bucks, six Kiko bucks and one Spanish buck, so it would take 11 separate pens to let these goats breed simultaneously. However, I don't have 11 pens large enough to support this many separate herds, so I stagger my breeding season. 
 I began putting bucks with does in early August. I leave the buck in for 30 to 45 days. (If the buck happens to miss someone in that time frame, maybe a cleanup buck will catch her later. If a doe doesn't catch after these two tries, she is culled during the winter.)
 By staggering the breeding over three months, I can get all the does serviced using all the bucks that I want to use. The last group to breed will be my doe kid crop from February of this year. They will be about 9 months old and should be the right size to breed in November. (If they aren't large enough - 70 pounds or better - I'll hold them over till next fall or cull them if I don't think they are going to grow out. I don't mind holding a nice fullblood Boer or Kiko until she's 18 months old to breed her, but that's too much time to waste on a commercial meat nanny.)
 Once I feel everyone has been bred, the bucks are fastened away until next year. I will keep one or two bucks with the herd for another month or two to breed any nanny that happened not to get bred. (Of course, you can come up with some surprises - like the nice big fullblood Boer nanny that had half-Kiko kids this spring!)
 Super Herd is reunited to forage as long as possible - usually sometime around the first of December here in the Southeast - longer if you have a good stand of winter grass. 
 As the nutritional value of the forage decreases, I supplement with protein molasses tubs. When the grass and browse is gone, it's time to start feeding hay. I may feed a 16% goat pellet, also. 
 Here are some other things we do as we go into breeding season:
  While Super Herd is still together, I run everyone through the catch pen and give them a good drenching with dewormer. I want the goats to be as parasite-free as possible when I move them into smaller grass pastures.
 I vaccinate with Lepto 5 to help prevent abortions. The textbooks say Leptospirosis is rare in goats, and some experts will tell you that the vaccination, which is made for cattle, does not work on goats. But I have seen enough anecdotal evidence to convince me that it does help prevent spontaneous abortions. That's just my opinion, and at $7.50 for 50 doses, it can't hurt.
 I separate the spring kids from their moms at this time. As long as forage is bountiful and moms and kids are fat, I don't worry about trying to wean until late summer. I do want the kids off at this time so mom can get her mind on breeding season. Some of my nannies still have milk in their bags, but they are already cycling and breeding.
 Trimming the feet of 200 goats can be a daunting task. I usually just don't do it. My goats understand my rule: if you limp in the summer, I'll trim and doctor your hooves. Otherwise, I don't have time to mess with you. But in the fall, when you break the herd into breeding groups of 20 or 30, it's easier to take a pen at a time and trim hooves. 
 If you are going to have bucks in adjoining pens, you need to make sure the fences are high enough and strong enough to keep them apart. Jealous bucks can tear up fences or hurt themselves trying to fight through a fence. The best solution is to run a strand or two of electric wire on both sides of the fence. Bucks usually respect the hot wire. If you don't have a fence charger, buy one. It will be some of the best money you every spent. I have also covered metal gates with solid wood panels so the bucks couldn't see each other. That seems to help.
 I don't usually "flush" my goats with corn or some other energy source before breeding season. They are usually in good enough condition when I pull them out of the cutover. If I move them into a grass pasture or catch pen, I try to maintain that conditioning by feeding grain and a good hay. Roaming free, the nannies are used to getting plenty of nutrition. I want to maintain that nutritional plane as much as possible.
 I do start the bucks on a higher protein diet four to six weeks before breeding season. They are going to burn lots of energy when they start courting the ladies. Some billies even forget to eat during breeding season.
 In January I begin vaccinating the pregnant does with CD&T. I want the Tetanus vaccine to be strong so it can be passed on to the kids. When we let the does kid in the pasture, we seldom run out and dip every navel cord in iodine, so Tetanus immunity in the herd is important.
 These are just a few suggestions that might make breeding season a little easier. Fall is a busy time on a goat ranch, but it is also one of the most exciting. The only thing more rewarding is seeing the end result hitting the ground next spring.