Best way to tell my goat is in heat?

[freemotion]

It is early in the season...my four girls are just starting to show weak signs of heat, and none have been in a standing heat yet. Buck is just starting to stink....and boy, does he reek!

 

[CrimsonRose]

Some of you mention getting a young buck then selling him... so like How young? I seen a few dairy goat boys that are anywhere from 2-8 months old... (still not the breed I want but I can settle I guess... LOL)

So if I bought a young boy how old is too young to get the job done?

 

[ksalvagno]

He would probably need to be at least 5 months old. The older the better though. There isn't a definite age because they all mature at different rates.

Definitely get the buck rag. Like others have said, all the "usual" signs may not be a good signal. For instance, I have a female that flags her tail a lot. She would constantly be in heat if that was the sign I went by.

 

[freemotion]

Part of how old is when you want your does bred. So if you want to wait 3 more months to breed, as I do, then a five month old buckling will be eight months old, etc. Some youngsters can be shy and easily intimidated by a doe that is impatient so if he is on the younger side, hold the doe. Once he gets the idea, he'll be fine. At first they can have poor aim and the doe can get mad and could scare him....this happened here. It put my schedule off by a heat cycle, but once he succeeded, it was full speed ahead!

 

[savingdogs]

Well I haven't heard back from the sellers, but I think I'll keep all options open. There is another one this morning that wants to sell a buck for 40 plus three laying hens

*looks out window at the chickens, one in particular that lays fine but picks on everyone....*

But he is full grown so will have the full stink.