do you keep a buck or borrow one?

We have 26 does, and keep 6 bucks (yikes!). They are all sweethearts, even in rut. They are in a paddock next to the paddocks where the does are running, and separated by 2 fences with a 10-foot gap between and 2 sets of hotwires.

Bucks wear that lovely fragrance in rut, which down here is about 4 months (Feb-Mayish), and they're fine the rest of the time. Right now, they aren't really interested in the girls (and vice versa), and they don't smell and they're not spraying themselves. In fact, the 2 with beards (the Saanens) have lovely, glossy WHITE beards now (in rut, they're stained orange!).

None of them were bottle-raised that I know of (one was born on our place last year, dam-raised, and was just too nice a specimen to go to the freezer, plus we needed to be able to expand the gene pool a bit), and 2 of them were basically wild when I brought them home, and all they needed was time and TLC so be the gentlemen that they are now.

Forgot to mention, as others have, that we prefer to keep a closed herd, and keep several types of goats (dairy, meat and a rare breed), hence the need for so many bucks.

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

I went to the goat farm and viewed the three bottle-fed bucks yesterday around noon, and picked one out. He is at least half Boer and is sure a cutie! He is less than six months old.

He will be delivered here hopefully today unless is keeps raining so hard. He will be in the fenced area with the girls to begin with and later he may be in an adjacent fenced area....

I always have to check before I go cover some meeting or interview some political bigwig to make certain I don't have Angora fur or chicken feathers sticking to me somewhere....so now I'll have to worry about smelling like a buck too! I'll just make sure I always shower AFTER I feed and water everybody every morning! Thanks again for all the feedback on this!

Hey Suzy,

Will you do me a tremendous favor and PM me the name and phone number of your goat farmer? I can't wait to be moved and finally bring home some goats.

Thanks,
Robert

__________________
I'm back...for now.

Got him today! A beautiful little brown and white Boer/Nubian cross. He was bottle fed and is about four to five months old!!!!

Two crops a year. A doe kids twice each year

Five months gestation, a month after and she's pregnant again -- doubt me, do you?

We've got little ones (newborns) running around right now from does that had earlier in the year.

If I only had a couple/three does I would likely not keep a buck. However, I WOULD keep a wether, just to gauge when the girls come in. It is a major hassle to detect heat in does who are not exposed to bucks. I offer boarding for stud service to does whose owners I know well and have healthy, tested herds. I also once leased out my buck. One good thing with does who've not been around bucks - they generally come into heat within a few days of being exposed to them. However, I keep the service does here for a week following breeding just to make sure they don't experience a followup cyle within seven days. Usually that one turns out to be the ovulating heat - the real mccoy! But I have to say my three bucks are at least as friendly and lovable as any of my does. I love my boys - smell or no. I do know many town ordinances do not allow residents to keep bucks for precisely that reason.