Does and buck living together?

RTinFL · #1 07/17/13, 09:42 PM

Hi, I am new to the goat life. We bought 3 Kiko does and plan on breading them at 11 months. I have a small farm with about 2 acres of pasture/shrubs/trees that the goats, Great Pyrenees and chickens live on. I don't have the pasture separated, it is one big area. (and I only have one dog for protection). I am looking to buy 1 Kiko buck and I was wondering if I can let the buck and does live in the same pasture.

Backfourty,MI. · #2 07/17/13, 09:46 PM

Some people do let the buck's live with their does' more so with meat breeds than dairy. Only thing is you will never be able to pin point an exact due date so kids will/can be born any time of the year & you might not be home to help if needed.

Also your your young doelings can be bred to young if the buck is running with them all the time.

LFRJ · #3 07/17/13, 11:38 PM

Welcome to Kikos. We have em. Your area does not designate where you are, but if not in a desert dry area, your Kikos should do fine. Ours are tough! and tough on brush! Ask me for before /after pictures! Also, ours kidded with absolutely no problems - per the Kiko Code of Arms, so you have a nice herd start, if meat and/or brush clearing are your goals.

It's tough to find a CLEAN Kiko sire, so if you acquire and wish to keep a buck for your needs and future plans, all the better.....however, I'm with BackForty as to keeping them wandering with does. Seems easier at first. but in the end, may be better not to.

We separate our does from our buck - kept a wether with our buck for company, but the two sexes were apart until we decided - that way we knew what to expect, and when. Two words of advice - CATTLE PANELS.

RTinFL · #4 07/18/13, 08:43 AM

I am in FL which from the breeders I've spoken too say they do great in FL. The parasite resistance is huge here as we can have standing water throughout the year. We have 3 sisters and only feed them a small amount of GMO free goat feed every day and the rest is foraging. They are three sisters and the biggest is about 100 lb at 7 months. They look very healthy. Attached is an old picture. Thanks! I have a line on a few registered bucks. Not sure If I will pay for stud service or buy the buck. Didn't think about the young does being bred. Don't want that. What do you mean by "Cattle Panels"?

RTinFL · #5 07/18/13, 08:44 AM

Sorry here is the picture

BlueRose · #6 07/18/13, 09:15 AM

Hi. There is wonderful people on the site that will give good sound advice.

Cattle panels make great fence for bucks.

Did you build your barn?

**mygoat** · #7 07/18/13, 11:21 AM

There are many ways to raise goats that may work for you... but they all have their ups/downs.

You can bring them 'in' for kidding. Run your bucks with the does for a month or 2 breeding cycles, then separate them. Bring the does up to the barns for kidding season and check on them a lot. Bringing them to a barn and constant checking will greatly increase their survivability of the kids and trouble labor does. You can keep track of trouble kidders and put them on the cull list - but save them and their kids so that you can still take them to market or butcher them at the end of the year. It's more smart to assist a birth and save a doe and her kids for the season and thus profit off of them - but keep track of the problem kidders for culling.

You can pasture kid them. You'll have much higher rates of kid and doe loss. Depending on your herd, this may be acceptable. Without assisting does, you'll loose more kids to starvation/hypothermia and more does to kidding problems.

Or, you can keep your bucks separate and 'hand breed' them. When does are in heat, you can bring the doe to the buck for breeding a couple times, then return her to the pen and write down the date. This is less labor intensive because you only have to watch or move does that you *know* are due soon. Makes it easier to plan to be home to assist kidding if needed etc.

motdaugrnds · #8 07/18/13, 01:08 PM

I use to keep my buck(s) separate, taking the doe to the buck who were housed over 300 ft from the main barn and with their own large pen and open pasture. Then I added a partition to my barn so I wouldn't have to walk the distance during winter months. At such time I kept all in the same barn within view of each other...and an EXTREMELY SOLID PARTITION BETWEEN THEM...and learned this worked fine all year around. Now I let the herd buck (Lost Roman so only have Roman's son, Alginon.) run with the herd the majority of the time. After I'm sure all have been bred and are getting close to kidding tiem, I again keep buck separate simply because I don't want him interferring in the birthing process.

I do not recommend keeping a buck with the does all the time UNLESS you are able to keep a close eye on what is occurring. (My does have their kids with them; so I watch to make sure my buck leaves the kids does alone. Have not had an accidental breeding in over 10 years...knock on wood...probably much due to the GSD I had that thought breeding rituals were something she should not permit.) Also, as other have stated, birthing times will be less controlled when all run together.

You have a nice set up for your Kikos. Wish mine was as neat; but my large Nubians are too nosy.

RTinFL · #9 07/18/13, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueRose

Did you build your barn?

No, I bought the place with the barn. My first two stalls are chicken coops and the other two are for goats and my dog.

RTinFL · #10 07/18/13, 03:50 PM

I think at least for the first breeding, I will pay for the stud service. To the Kiko owners, what would you look for in a stud?

wintrrwolf · #11 07/18/13, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTinFL

I think at least for the first breeding, I will pay for the stud service. To the Kiko owners, what would you look for in a stud?

Excellent Idea.
Cattle panels do work but hate using them with horned goats. My friends have kiko's and they even used 4x4 square fencing and the little ones were getting their heads stuck, I know my friend was getting frustrated.
Now even though you have "only" 2 acres you still should consider some cross fencing, I do not have much more then you, I cross fenced so I can rotate. I know sounds like a headache but after last year (drought and poor pasture growth) for the first time I was having to deal with parasites

This year pasture growth has been great so far and should carry well into first snow as long as I manage them well.
My friends with the kiko's own about 30 acres fenced and cross fenced and they do rotate the doe's around, the bucks have a separate area and when they want to breed they move whichever buck to whichever doe pen.
Mainly they have the 2 Senior doe area's, and 1 yearling Doe area, and then the Buck area. They do breed on large scale

when your breeding meat I guess you have too.

aart · #12 07/19/13, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTinFL

...... What do you mean by "Cattle Panels"?

This is a Cattle Panel and some other types of livestock panel. Hope link to search works.

RTinFL · #13 07/19/13, 12:15 PM

I am doing some cross fencing, so that the way I am set up I can let some animals out the back of the barn and some out the front and they will be separated. My concern is I only have one dog to protect my birds and goats, so I don't want to separate. I planned on cross fencing so I can seed some pasture.
Thanks