Thoughts here! (Bucks!)

HazyDay · #1 11/26/07, 06:54 PM

I have now got to thinking, (Thanks Emily.) I hear all the time "My buck doesn't smell" So I have been writing down notes and have found that every one who runs a buck with the herd, don't smell as bad. Well this year keeping a buck on the farm/land was a very good idea, as we had to breed 7 does this year, (5 does in which he could breed. Plus his dam and a Alpine yearling. that both had $50 dates! ) So this year I saved well $250.00 in breeding fees this year. So keeping a buck was really good! BUT! (so had to be coming!) putting up with the smell and all the yelling at the fence was not worth the 250.00! (Kidding!) But see I have been to farms where bucks run with the herd and others that share a fence line. And I was thinking why do some smell and others don't?? Well looking over the million different notes I made (Yes Im watching you all!)

So doe bucks smell to bring does to them?? Or do they just love it! Another point I found is the smell increases with every other buck. Which would mean the more bucks the more smell as they are trying to smell each other out and bringing the does to them!

So anyone else find this or is it just our Canadain bucks smell better!

Does anyone see a different amount of smell with each breed? I have found yes! Nubians have a more what I would call is deeper smell. I mean it smells more strong for longer amounts of time when Alpines have a very strong high short lasting smell!
(Turst me when you drive a doe in a mini van for 2 hours you learn each smell!)

So can anyone else see this???

michael1 · #2 11/26/07, 08:49 PM

My buck runs with the girls. He doesn't stink if you stand far enough upwind. We went so far as to scrub him down with warm soapy water this year. A mistake we won't make again. It was as hard on him as it was on us. Washing him was ineffectual as it was difficult.

Jillis · #3 11/27/07, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HazyDay

So anyone else find this or is it just our Canadain bucks smell better!

That must be it, LOL!

Seriously, my personal observation has been that when a doe is or does are in heat, that is when the bucks smell. Once they start to smell, it causes some of the other does to go into heat. It maybe the buck smell starts the whole cycle.

This is sort of like, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I don't think it really matters, as long as we get babies and milk in the end!

All kinds of barn smells that used to bother me don't anymore. And some of them I am even beginning to find pleasant in a way.

Buck smell isn't one of them, though.

At the beginning of the breeding season, they were in full ----y flower when my dog got skunked right outside the front door. This happened just as the farmer up the hill had been manuring his fields.

I burned a lot of candles for a few days...

Jyllie63 · #4 11/27/07, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jillis

when my dog got skunked right outside the front door.
I burned a lot of candles for a few days...

That's happened alot around here too! I need to learn how to make candles if the dogs keep playing with the skunks LOL.

Jillis · #5 11/27/07, 05:44 AM

michael, I can't believe you gave a buck of bath!!! Not only was it not effective, as you stated, but probably transferred quite a bit of buck smell to you!
Did your does look at you differently?

Makes me think of the cat in the hat, trying to clean up the pink stuff. Just spread it everywhere!

My poor boys just can't understand why I don't pat them and scratch them anymore. They look at me with those sweet eyes looking all hurt and bewildered as I push them away with my foot and say, "Keep away! You stink!" Poor babies...they think that smell is the bomb!

Jyllie63 · #6 11/27/07, 05:49 AM

You're making me nervous

. I'm hopefully getting a nubian buck this weekend. I planned on just letting them all stay together for the winter. I'm sure I'll have to separate them next year after the babies get bigger. I'm expecting a "smell", but I have a feeling I'm going to be quite surprised

.

Jillis · #7 11/27/07, 06:04 AM

Jyllie, the bucks don't smell most of the year, just during breeding season.

Jillis · #8 11/27/07, 06:06 AM

Or you could get a Canadian buck...

Trey · #9 11/27/07, 06:29 AM

Here is what I have notices, my first buck expierience was about 5 years ago, I took my Saanen doe to get bred, to a Saanen breeder, the smell from about 1/2 mile from her place was horrendous!!!! I Could not believe it!. Last year I had a Kiko buck come here and breed my two Saanens, I didn't think he ever bred them, and he had no smell at all, he was I think 9 month old, they both had twins 5 months to the day almost from the day he got here. Then I started visiting Angora breeders to buy some colored angoras, I was amazed, the bucks did not smell, this was mostly during sep/oct. My boer buck has not smell except in rut, and even then is no where near what i have smelled dairy bucks smelling like (been around quite a few in the last year). Intersting thing, he has no beard, and I think I will chose for that trait when I pick my replacement for him next year!!!

simplyflow · #10 11/27/07, 06:31 AM

We've had three bucks here this year. One 1 1/2 year old Nubian. Smelled strong, but not so bad. He was quite the goof ball! Next, a 3-5 year old LaMancha buck came to stay for a few days. Whew! Strongest smelling buck I have ever smelled. You can still go into his quarters from when he was here and smell him! Now we have purchased a 3 year old Nubian buck. He shared a fence line with the girls at his last place and yes, he smelled bucky, but not so bad! Now he is here and has been for a bit; runs with the herd and is "gently" bucky. Now, I think, perhaps, maybe, we'll know for sure in the spring,

all my girls are bred and were when he got here. I haven't seen any bucky behavior since his arrival and the girls could take him or leave him.

So here's another buck question: Will a buck act more the fool if he is not running with the does?

HazyDay · #11 11/27/07, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simplyflow

So here's another buck question: Will a buck act more the fool if he is not running with the does?

YES! YES! YES! Mine did and the other bucks that I have been in with were super clam and wouldn't care if you took all his does away, but my buck would yell at me! I mean like a kid yelling at his mom! just yelled and it would hurt the ears!!

coso · #12 11/27/07, 10:01 AM

Some may be burning scent glands while disbudding. This takes some of the scent away not all. Course when they pee on there head it doesn't help any. Check out this link.
http://www.infovets.com/healthysmrm/C158.htm

HazyDay · #13 11/27/07, 10:21 AM

No I have asked that to every place I have been and they say "I wish I had the heart to do it but I don't" So they put up with the smell. After I little I really didn't mind it. It was like a fall morning smell. You know the smell you get in the summer after your grass is cut? That sweet smell. Well this is just a normal fall smell for me! NOt saying it is sweet or anything!

southerngurl · #14 11/27/07, 10:33 AM

The first time I smelled buck was from years ago, the guy that owns land near our house had a bunch of ole brush goats. Blech Blech. When I would drive by on the dirt road on the 4 wheeler, I'd hold my breath a fly by the whole length of the field.

mpillow · #15 11/27/07, 10:45 AM

Once the does are all bred the stink lessons...but bring him a new girlfriend and the pee will fly! My nubian boy smells at 2yo and I suspect as he ages so will his perfume! He is very sweet and gentle so he stays stink and all.

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #16 11/28/07, 12:00 PM

Here it's about age, 3 year olds are even tolerable. Older...OMG, but more stink, more ovulation, more kids, stronger heats. We say it smells like money. Vicki

susanne · #17 11/28/07, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians

We say it smells like money. Vicki

and i thought money doesn't stink

but hey, that might be in a different situation LOL

jen74145 · #18 11/28/07, 12:23 PM

Y'know, I've noticed the smell from Boers doesn't bother me at all. I once was leaning against a trailer chatting with the owner and did not even notice the buck within was in rut until I turned and looked! Same with pygmies, and the only Kiko buck I've been around didn't bother me at all.

Now, a Nubian on the other hand... *gag* Nigies are distinctly unpleasant, but more a just bad smell than the overpowering choking stench of a Nubian or Alpine. Saanens are pretty rough too, but Nubians just... pleh.

Seems the big dairy boys kill me, but meat bucks, not so much... not sure how Nigies fit into that, though.

ozark_jewels · #19 11/28/07, 04:38 PM

I've noticed that bucks running with does are not as strong. Dairy breeds are stronger smelling than Boers.....but our Pygmies were always the stinkiest!!
My sisters Alpines are always stronger smelling than my Nubians. The Lamanchas are as bad as the Nubians.

Keeperofmanya · #20 11/28/07, 08:37 PM

Well my 2 year old Mini Nubian is in the barn right with my girls. At first he had a really strong smell that I could smell at the end of our driveway but now I hardly notice at all.

I still pet my Zydeco but I wear those cheap gardening gloves that I just throw in the wash. He wouldn't know what to think if I stopped making of him.