To band or not?

[sherekin1261]

Hi all,

We got 3 new bucklings and a little oberhasi( sp_) doeling today. The boys are destined for the freezer. My question is whether I should band them, or not?
We DO NOT want strong tasting meat. I know some people like that and respect that they do, but we do not. So I had planned on banding them right away... 2 are 8 weeks and one is a month old. The person I got them from said it will slow down their growth and that they will not taste bad unless I butcher while they are in rut....she also claims after Rutting season they will taste ok again.... I am nervous about that as I felt that testosterone in their system would taste bad regardless. Help?

Thanks

Shere

[flarytails]

I hear the meat can be just as good from an intact billy if you don't let the hide touch the meat when you skin him but that sounds like to much work to me. A whether is said to have a milder more tender meat but the older the goat gets the tougher the meat gets regardless. I believe a year is the best time then you get high meat yield and its still tender enough.
If you choose to whether your goat then its supposed to be better to do it a little later at about 5 months then you get better growth rates and it reduces the occurrence of kidney stones and other urinary tract problems because the urethra will develop. When I'm planning to eat a male goat then I whether him at 5 months so I don't have to deal with the stink and I'm more able to enjoy agoat that hasn't been peeing on itself.

[Creamers]

I'd band them - they grow better, if anything. . .

[Cheribelle]

Depends on if you want an accidental breeding or not, I'd say. It does seem to me that wethers get bigger, opposite of cattle.

[hardworkingwoman]

So can you still band them at 5 months? I had my whether surgically done when he was 5 months because it looked impossible to band him.

[pookshollow]

Originally Posted by hardworkingwoman

So can you still band them at 5 months? I had my whether surgically done when he was 5 months because it looked impossible to band him.

I would doubt it. I tried to band one at 3 months and couldn't get the band on. You could use a Burdizzo.

[mrs.H]

I banded both my buckling at 4 weeks.

[mary,tx]

I've never butchered goat, but I can tell you that if you do not want that doeling bred way too young, unless you have a really, really good fence between her and them, you need to go ahead and band. Why run the risk if you are going to eat them anyway?

[Kshobbit]

If you can band them at 8 weeks, do it. They grow out just fine and they taste just fine and the doe will not get bred too young to the wrong buck. I try to band all my bucklings before 4 weeks. I do not always get it done that fast but always regret not doing it much sooner.
Last year I banded them much too late, it was stressful for all of us. I did not get both testes in the band on one lousy buckling and he bred my purebred doe and she had twins!!

[Lada]

I would band them. I don't think the amount of growth is going to be enough to account for accidental breedings and dealing with a stinky animal.

[mpete]

If they are going to your freezer, band them. It only takes a couple of weeks to get the rutt out of a buck when you do an adult. I don't band mine just in case I end up selling to a religious person.

[Backfourty,MI.]

If they were going to the freezer I'd band them all right now. I do not agree with the person that sold them to you that it makes them grow out slower. We've had an intact male & wethers butchered before. NEVER would I have an intact male butchered for human use again. The last one since we couldn't stand the smell while cooking or the taste went for dog food(we feed raw) & they loved it.

5 months is defiantely too old to band them.

[RedSonja]

I would band them like, yesterday. They are old enough to breed that doeling if she comes in heat (unlikely but anything's possible, especially things you don't want to happen.)

We banded our 5 bucklings last year at about 6 weeks of age. All were just fine.

-Sonja