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  #1  
Old 09/24/13, 08:47 AM
sriston's Avatar  
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Anna, Illinois
Posts: 267
Tell me about wethers..

We want a pet goat. A real pet, one that is child friendly and that is easy to handle. Although we have 4 healthy and happy does, they are not tame and I don't think they ever will be. They are friendly, but that's about it. They won't be petted, and doing anything with them such as brushing them, trimming their feet, etc., requires lassoing them and it is nothing short of a backyard rodeo. We had hoped they would be our future milk supply, but I think catching them up to milk them would be more trouble than its worth.

We still plan on adding a good milk goat if we ever find one. In our area, most goats are just farm goats and we haven't been able to locate a milk goat.

As for the pet goat..if I were to run across the ideal pet goat but it was a wether (I haven't been able to find a pet goat, either) would I have any problems keeping a wether with our does? We had a buck once. For about a week. He stunk so bad it didn't take us long at all to decide we will never ever have a buck again. Would a whether have any odor?

Thanks for your help and information.
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Last edited by sriston; 09/24/13 at 08:49 AM. Reason: Correcting the auto-correct.
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  #2  
Old 09/24/13, 09:50 AM
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The only problem you'll have is that he will get all the rich food that the does will need, and he'll take up the space/resources of a productive animal in the herd. If you want a tame animal, does can be very tame. Most of my dairy goats won't leave me alone if I'm in the pasture.

Are your does a dairy breed? I would breed your does to a dairy buck. Pull the daughters and raise them on the bottle a few days after they're born. If you take them at 3-4 days of age, you can go right to a 3x per day feeding schedule and don't have to worry about colostrum etc. The kids transition to the bottle just fine at that age. Then, you can either sell their dams or keep them - you'll have tame goats to raise for milk/pets. You could still breed the untame does and continue to take daughters and let them dam raise the boys for meat, or you could just breed them meat to make them almost totally hands-off. The bottle babies will not leave you alone, so tameness will not be an issue. It doesn't have to be super time consuming, and the schedule for bottle feeding can be quite flexible.

If you want to try to break the wild goats to the milkstand, start getting your does used to a grain ration on the stand NOW. Doesn't have to be a large amount. If you're thinking of breeding, now would be a good time to start as a 'flushing'. Do not wait until they freshen and expect them to take right to it! Even my bottle babies I start putting in the milkstand a month pre-kidding and start massaging their udder/pretending to milk. Using this method, all FF'ers I've broken have transitioned seamlessly to the milkstand procedure after kidding.

Personally, after you get some replacement daughters, I'd breed their dams so that they're bred for meat, so that they and their kids can keep being wild. I handle my wild boer does just a few times per year- trim hooves 4+ times per year, and copper bolus/BoSe pre breeding and pre-kidding. I observe all kiddings and make sure no issues arise. Help them dry kids if born in the cold - otherwise, they're hands off and that's fine for me. I don't need to pet all my goats - I don't have that many hands. If they have boys, leave them on (or breed to boer and leave all kids on). If they have dairy daughters, keep pulling and raising on the bottle.

I don't like dam raised kids for the milkstand, either. I bottle raise all dairy kids. It means I can get rid of the wethers cheaply and fast, and the does are sold friendly on the bottle and the ones I keep are super friendly.

Wethers have no odor. The only time I saw a wether that peed on himself and stank was a monorchid who still had a teste in his body cavity. He had to have surgery to get the 2nd teste. He probably wasn't very fertile, but the testosterone production was still higher. This is NOT common though.

As for not keeping a buck - I find it's an extreme headache not to, unless you know of someone very close by. And are really good at spotting heats and know when to take the does to the buck (harder when the does don't have a buck to holler at/flirt with). I suppose you could also lease a buck for a month, but that has it's only list of difficulties. If managed properly, they're more a convenience than an inconvenience. They don't have to be your friend. I don't hang out with my bucks that often. Pen them with a wether-buddy far from the house.
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  #3  
Old 09/24/13, 12:54 PM
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This is excellent advice. Why in the world I seemed to be thinking "backwards" instead of thinking of utilizing the does I have is beyond me.

My does are of no particular breed, but they are small, about the size of pygmy goats. One of my does came to us with a baby and we were told she was expecting again in September but she isn't pregnant. We were hoping for babies, but.. Her baby was born in February, and she still nurses. She is a mama's girl; I am starting to think she might never be weaned.

I had no idea that raising a goat on a bottle would be so "do-able" (for lack of a better word). I envisioned night feeding every two hours, etc. I am too old for that.

I would love to have Nigerian Dwarf goats, so I may see if I can locate a Nigerian Dwarf buck. I could even buy one, keep him for a bit, and then find him another home. If he bred all of my girls, I think that would give me a dandy start on pets and milk goats.

Thank you so much for directing my brain to the obvious solution!
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Old 09/24/13, 01:21 PM
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I LOVE my imprinted/bonded bottle fed dairy breed "big" wether boys. They are like part dog-part horse in personality...smart as can be and very respectful of me. I train them very early to be afraid of that evil and painful thing called an electric fence and have no problem with them trying to escape.

Really any goat doe or wether will be friendly (((IF))) you are there at birtha nd hand raise /bottle feed it or at the least handle the goat all the time. The goats that could care less if you live or die are the dam raised one that have never been socialized. I have had wethers for packgoating, and they train easily to carting too. They seem to love to have a job and will work hard and try their best ( except for an occasional lazy goat and those tend to be... but not as an across the board statement=Boer's or Nubian. Tend to be, but there are individual goats who will go the distance and then some in all the breeds. In keeping wethers I am basically rescuing them as no one really wants them except in their freezers or on a chain to clear a bank...and sadly,they often die from broken legs/necks, asphyxiation, and dog attacks. Dogs see them as a snack on a rope to chase and the stress alone from that can cause big problems.

Does are great but so are wethers if socialized and raised by hand. My 200 lb saanen wether "Merrie" likes to flop down next to me on a blanket out in the yard and lay his big ol head against me. LOVE that! He's used to laying at my feet at the evening campfires during packgoat rendezvous campouts too. Packgoats do not run away while hiking like a dog will...that alone is nice companionship and they live to hike!

-Wendy Hannum
SE Ohio
See our Facebook page... Ohio Regional Packgoat Group
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Old 09/24/13, 03:24 PM
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Location: Anna, Illinois
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Thanks! I don't have any qualms now about getting a wether if I find one that strikes my fancy.


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  #6  
Old 09/24/13, 03:56 PM
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Location: Oologah Oklahoma
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I love my wethers. I have four right now. One who started out as pet for our Boer buck we had. Then the second one was the first kid born here. My mom has a wether who help her get through some bad depression and last but not least is a mentally handicap wether. All are loving and sweet but Dopey is the best. He lays on my lap follows me around and is my baby boy. None of our wethers get grain while its summer and very little in winter. As much pasture as they want.
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  #7  
Old 09/24/13, 08:33 PM
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Location: On a dirt road in Missouri
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I pasture our goats, so the added resources of a wether or three is no biggie. They do take a hit on the hay bill for the 8-12 weeks that we feed hay. They are exceedingly useful for us--most notably for buck companionship and sick/injured goat companionship. My advice would be to pick up a days-old bottle-baby boy and wether him when the time is right. He will stick to you like glue. Starting around the end of December through mid March, there is a glut of them.

--Our wethers have never gone bucky, and thus have smelled like the sweet nectar of goat-dom.

--You won't want to feed them the same grain ration as a dairy doe. In fact, I wouldn't feed them any. If your pen/goat lifestyle structure can't accommodate separate feeding for the does, I would avoid getting a wether. It is a health consideration for him, not a financial one. We only have a few dairy goats, and they get pulled aside for grain, so this works for us.
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