Keeping a buck??

HilltopDaisy · #1 12/30/05, 10:51 AM

How hard is it, really? With all this talk about NAIS, it's got me thinking (again) about getting a buckling this spring. I have 3 Nigie wethers and a NigieXNubian doe who are all less than 2 years old. Emily has never been bred, but I'd really like to have milk here on the homestead some day.

I already have excellent fencing. The goats share a shed with two sheep. I think I'd need to change up the housing situation to accomodate another goat, maybe simply adding on to the existing building. So, it could be a "buck pen" rather easily. Or, I could completely seperate the males from Emily and the sheep (I'm also thinking about getting a second doe). I already know about the special care necessary in feeding a buck, as I've had my wethers since they were babes.

IF I bought a buckling (and a doeling?) they will both be Nigerian Dwarf. I will not sell kids for meat, but they would be very small and could be pet quality and potentially, milkers. I have been unable to find stud service within a 4 hour drive, so this is a big factor in considering this purchase. I don't want to breed Emily to a Pygmy. Am I silly for even considering adding a buck to my herd? Also, I have a really, really hard time parting with a critter once I own it. I can't buy it and then sell it once I'm "done" with it; he'll have a forever home with me. Thanks for helping me sort this out!

goatkid · #2 12/30/05, 11:38 AM

It's not foolish to want a buck, especially if you have more than one doe. I think your problem might be inbred goats if you keep doelings, but don't want to trade your buck for one with different bloodlines. If its so hard for you to part with your animals, would you be able to sell the babies? I know I really fall in love with baby goats and I have to make myself sell down the herd to 25 each fall. If my Nigerians have bucklings, I too would prefer they go as pets, but if I can't find pet homes for them, they will be shipped with the rest of the meat wethers. Rather that than my goat yards being way overcrowded and me having more animals than I have the time and money for.

Goat Freak · #3 12/30/05, 02:32 PM

No it is NOT silly to have a buck, but if you did want to keep some of the doelings I don't think that you would have to buy another buck, you CAN breed father to daughter, you just need to make sure that you won't be passing on bad traits, aka make sure that you have a GOOD buck and a GOOD doe. Good Luck, see ya, bye.

mary,tx · #4 12/30/05, 04:14 PM

It depends on the buck. I have one who is extremely well mannered and I do intend to let him live out his life here because of it. He was, though, dam raised and shown as a kid. So he doesn't jump on me like a babied buckling might and he is very easy to manage, having been properly taught. If you get an ill mannered buck, it might change your mind about keeping one forever. But, if you do, you can always sell him. imo, it's much easier to have a buck on the property than to have to look for one at breeding time.
mary

Dee · #5 12/30/05, 04:14 PM

I tried the keeping of the buck thing but it was too much of a hassal for only 9 does. One kept breaking out, the other kept beating on the does. I found it is easier to buy a young buck cheap, breed, then sell. But it also depends on what you want to do with your herd. If you want just milk, that would work. If you want to increase your herd, it would still work

moonspinner · #6 12/30/05, 04:47 PM

I have nine does and for me it would be a hassle not to have a buck. I have three at the moment and it works out well. I can't speak for any breed but Nigerians but I have never had problems with bucks. In fact, I have found them more affectionate than my girls. The only time they get rowdy is when the girls first starting coming back into heat end of summer. But because of their size they don't pose much of a problem even then. All my boys are mannerly, even tempered and sweet. And since the poster has wethers they would be ideal companions for a buck. I cannot imagine not having my boys!

Delinda · #7 12/30/05, 04:48 PM

If you have good fencing I don't see why you can't keep a buck. I have 2, one is around 350lbs. He is my favorite goat and is very gentle. I will never sell him. I do not breed him to his daughters, I use the other buck for that. I always use him to rebreed the mommas though. I have field fence(woven wire) and he has never tried to escape, although his horns are hard on this fence, he likes to scratch them on it. I enjoy watching the bucks, they seem to have more personality than the does, and mine just loves attention. Of course you will have to put up with their "cologne" with can be very potent at times.

collegeboundgal · #8 12/31/05, 01:22 AM

with inbreeding being a problem you can always learn to AI. basicly a "buck in a can" and no animal ID. I would keep a live buck on the farm to let you know when exactly a doe was in heat. thats my plan anyway.

Dee · #9 12/31/05, 11:13 AM

But you missed the point. She only has one doe. It doesn't make sense for her to keep a buck for only one doe. If she had 6-12 does, and wants to improve her line, which is mixed in the first place, it would be different. Then again, she would have to change the buck until she has her breeding stock established so there would not be too much inbreeding. MO

billooo2 · #10 12/31/05, 12:21 PM

The only other thing about keeping a buck with the does is that the milk may taste like "buck." Unless you keep just one doe with the buck to keep him company....and either just dry her off or use her milk for calves/pigs, etc.

From what I have heard from other breeders is that the one thing that makes a buck difficult to keep is if he has a nasty temperament. I guess I have been lucky because I have never had one with a bad temperament

billooo2 · #11 12/31/05, 12:25 PM

Just a quick question, Hilltop Daisy......have you ever been around a buck in that glorious full blossom of "rut." If you have not experienced that, you hight want to check it out.......that smell may pervade for 75-100 feet of wherever he is. So, if your barn is 50 ft. from your house, you may find your house smelling like buck...

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #12 12/31/05, 04:09 PM

I would keep a buck if I had only one doe. No way would I be driving 4 hours to breed a doe. New folks simply don't know when their does are in standing heat....usually...to be able to drive for the 4 hours, get them bred and take them back home, and the days of boarding is quickly coming to an end.

After you doe has her first kids you will want to keep all her doelings, so the very first kids are going to contain daughters of your buck, why I think you should purchase two bucks. With two bucks they have company, and being only linebred or outcrossed, you could for many many years breed the bucks back to the other ones daughters until you want to add a new line.

Most folks who have mean bucks, other than Boer, are because they expect their bucks to grow up alone. They wouldn't ever think of keeping a doe alone but somehow they think it's fine for a buck to be lonely. Than if they keep a buck in with their does he plays with the does like he would a buck penmate, and that upsets them also! Intact bucks play and play hard all year long, and there is a whole lot of male testosterone in the buck pen, no place for a doe to be unless she needs to be bred. You don't have bucks very long before you understand just how blurred the sexual lines of homosexuality and heterosexuality really are. The poor bucks who are just being a buck!

The biggy for me would be to tell you to have your bucklings you purchase this spring be disbudded. Bucks with horns are like giving them tools, tools to work at destroying their barn and their fencing!

My boys are gentle giants, I do give them the respect they deserve during rut and when breeding does, but in 20 years of goats this coming year, I have never had a buck hurt me. I treat my bucklings keeping in mind that they will outweight me in less than 2 years, accordingly. They are taught to behave from the very first day. I do not allow my children (grandchildren now) to play with the bucklings I am keeping as my breeding bucks.

Good luck with this, sounds as if you already know what you want, you have your fencing already, and yes fence them off their own place. Vicki

Dee · #13 12/31/05, 04:38 PM

Hey Vicki, you were the one who suggested getting a young buckling every year, why the change? (I'm not saying this nasty, just curious. You know it's hard to tell when it's written)

Hank - Narita · #14 12/31/05, 09:41 PM

We have 2 does and our buck. He is like a watch dog. We like the guy around to breed our does. We only bred his daughter back once and the result were 2 lovely does our neighbor bought. He is actually less trouble than the does most of the time.

Rachel K. · #15 01/01/06, 12:10 AM

I'll be getting a young Buckling this summer. He will be a purebred Oberhasli Buck.

Currently I have one Wether and a Doe. By this summer I might have: Three Wethers, Two Does, and one Buck. My current Wether is a Saanen Alpine cross as is my current Doe. The two other wethers that I was offered are young Pygmies. The Doe I will be getting this summer is a Purebred Registered Oberhasli in Milk Production.

The Buck will have free run with the Wethers, Does, and later on Kids.

The reason I decided on getting a Buck is because each year from here on I am going to have two Does to breed each fall to keep up milk production. I don't know anyone around here who owns a Buck much less Goats. Having a Buck of my own will make it all so much more easy. Plus Trixie is a Maiden Doe. She has never been breed before and I have a very, very hard time of telling when she is in heat. A Buck in the pasture with her will make it easier. The Buck will know when she is in heat even if I don't.

I don't mind keeping a Buck here. He will just be another pet for me.

I'm also not worried about "Goaty" tasting Milk because of the Buck being in with the Does because I won't be drinking the milk. I'm going to be using it to make Goat Milk Soap for the business that I am going to be starting up.

moonspinner · #16 01/01/06, 08:27 AM

Ordinarily, I would not recommend someone with only one or two does keeping a buck. But since Hilltop expressed the reality of having no buck within sensible distance, I can see her point. And she does have wethers to keep him company. If housing together with sheep I'd make sure they aren't carrying CAE/OPP.

ozark_jewels · #17 01/01/06, 08:01 PM

I love keeping my own bucks and probably would do so even if I had only one doe. The convenience is wonderful, no guessing as to when she is receptive and no worrying about possible diseases from the other place where the buck is that I have to haul my does too. And I simply love bucks. :baby04: Biggest things are to make sure the buck you buy knows his boundaries(or if its a kid, raise him with boundaries), make sure he is disbudded, make sure his attitude is nice. Don't try to house him alone. No goat does well alone and a buck raised with no company is not going to grow up with a healthy attitude toward other goats. It can make them mean.

The_Shepherdess · #18 01/01/06, 10:44 PM

Johnny is fine with the other goats, and though it's best to have a stick or something when you're with him, we wouldn't dream of not having a buck. It's our fault anyway; he was bottle raised and cosseted. We hope to get a dam-raised buck eventually, but it ain't on the radar. He's usually in with the does, if not running around the yard and the field on the "Other Side" (not ours), but the milk is not affected at all. Ragweed is another matter, but that's irrelevant.