Goat people......Should I buy it??? Should I????

[patandchickens]

Umm....how much smaller can the buck be to breed the doe? Are they determined enough to figure it out??

I doubt it's a figuring-out problem -- at least with horses, the issue is birthing problems.

Pat

 

[SheriM]

If it's the buck that's smaller, you won't have birthing issues. As for how much smaller he can be, people breed pygmy bucks to nubian does all the time. The resulting kids are called Kinders. The mating instinct is one of the most powerful forces in nature. If a doe is in standing heat and the buck is old enough to know the ropes, they'll probably figure it out. If you want to ensure mating, stand the doe in a depression in the ground, give him a hay bale as a stool, whatever.

 

[FarmerChick]

I am in a dilemma. I have goat fever. I decided to get another doe, and found one on craigslist, turns out kids who weren't doing chores, and they made new promises. She gave them a month, and kept my info.

So I found another person who has a preggers doe that I liked the mixed breeding of, and it is due in about 5-6 weeks. I have dibs on a doeling, if she has one.

While looking at the doe and papa, she introduced me to a purebred Toggenburg buckling for $125. I have been thinking of getting one, but the logistics and the cost of two goats in one year.....

Would electric wire on top of 4" fence keep a buck in? Her buck jumped that, without electric, and broke a leg, which she had repaired and he now lives in a 6' dog run.

I can't afford to do major changes, but I could run a wire on an existing section of fence that is now part of the yard, and enclose a bit of the storage area of the barn that adjoins that pen. He would hear the others but only see them when they go outside and behind the barn. Should he be a further distance?

If I got a doeling from her, it would be half-sibling to the buckling.

OK, understand the I just listened to a baby calling for mama, as the buck is about 3 weeks old and is just getting separated from mama for a few hours, fiascofarm-style. Another thing I like about this buckling is that he is not bottle-raised, so he is VERY healthy. The conditions on her farm were much like mine, but a little more $ behind things. So our philosophies are similar.

She told a story about a friend who recently had hoof-and-mouth disease introduced into her herd and HERSELF, sick for months now, from sending a doe to be bred at a farm that has 4-H events, and the disease was brought in that way. Yikes. Another reason to keep a buck.

See, I almost have it justified.....Help me!!!! Help me! Helllllppppp meeeeeee...........

Electric wire on a 4 ft. fence should easily keep a buck in.....must bucks don't jump fences usually. BUT of course they do all kinds of wild things...LOL-LOL

Bucks smell. Definitely. I don't mind the smell but it HE will be stinky....you almost won't want to touch him. They P on their own legs and rub their faces in it etc. etc....just what they do to make them appealing...etc.........and yes, he will be a buck. Do not make him a pet. He is not. He is going to be a big boy, with big boy attitude. So keep this buck as he should be....a male! I mean that he is not to be played with and all that to a "pet" level. He has to be treated as a potentially dangerous farm animal at all times.

But I have had tons of bucks and they do fine !!! As long as you do the male respect thing! LOL


Also, don't feed alot of protein at all. Bucks can easily die from too much protein clogging their system and giving them blocked urinary tract. Very very very important. There is no cure if they get this and must be put down and yes, they are very very susceptible to it!!!! I found out the hard way of course!


Breeding size doesn't matter so much in regular size goats. Just don't do a Boer to a Pygmy size and all should be fine.

They start to breed at about 6 mos. of age (or at least want too...LOL).......a full sized mature male shouldn't handle more than 30 does at one time. That is all he can handle....even though he wants more..HA HA


good luck and let us know what you do....Toggenburg is a nice breed!!!

 

[freemotion]

Ummm....30? I'm thinking two!!!

I have some experience with raising young stallions, so I understand the "he's not a pet" advice. Thanks for the reminder, though.

Could a June 1 buckling breed by Dec/Jan? One or two does?

 

[FarmerChick]

Sure absolutely possible. Around 6 mos. they want too...by 8 mos. old they can surely reproduce. But by 1 year old he will have all the good equipment ready to go full force!

 

[Carolyn]

smell of buck never bothers us either, except my DIL--she almost pukes when she smells a buck. I am really careful to be sure that the goats I buy now are CAE and CL free--to me that is very important and NO HORNS!!!!!! had goats both ways and NO HORNS!!!! I have found it better to keep at least one buck. My Mini Nubian buck was born the end of June and just bred my does. I think it depends on the buck. I talked to the breeder that I got my full sized Nubians from and she said that she has young bucks that cover the does by 6 months and others that aren't ready until the following year. I am looking for another Mini Nubian buck.
We hand raise our babies and our bucks have always been pets, never in 15 yrs had a problem with bad attitude bucks--as a matter of fact, we did have a sheep ram that was bad news--when the ram came to hit me, my Nubian bucks took him on and then walked around me to protect me until I got out of the pen. The ram was sold right away--my Nubian bucks were ages 5 and 6 at that time. We do respect them during breeding time, but never had any behavior issues with them.
Urolithiasis --or urinary calculi (bladder stones) can be heritary--physical make up of the buck or imbalance of calcuim to phosphorus. I have fed straight alfalfa to the bucks, but to the high calcuim of the alfalfa, you have to feed a quantity of grain -phosphorus, or add ammonium chloride to top dress feed. I hear that meat goat feed has ammonium chloride in it. If caught soon enough, it is possible--not always, but possible to save buck or wether. There again, even feeding straight alfalfa and correct balance of phosphorus, and/or ammonium chloride, I have not had a problem in 15 years. Here is an article at Dairy Goats Info by Sue Reith about urinary calculi ---http://dairygoatinfo.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html.
More good general goat info at-- http://goat-link.com/
I can only tell you that I would make sure they have been tested for CAE and CL (my preference) and no horns !! I will always keep at least 1 buck on my premises, breed --purebreed or crosses is your preference. If possible I would want to see if there are milking records for his dam. You may want to use the kids for meat but the buck does contribute to the milk lines in the kids. I have found that even non registered, but clean from CL and CAE and healthy kids- does or bucks -will bring a good price as long as I have good milk records from dam and sires dam or keep the does a year, freshen, then sell the fresh does and the kids. Pick and choose, keep good records, make enough money to at least pay for the feed and hay of your animals. Remember that a poor producing goat costs just as much to feed as a high producing goat--and we do keep a couple of wethers for pets as well as the other goats. Good luck Carolyn

 

[FarmerChick]

LOL interesting I read you are NO HORNS.....HA HA

I love horns. Use them as handles. Great to help catch, work etc. a goat. My preference is WITH horns........funny how everyone has their best idea for critters...LOL

 

[Carolyn]

Oh we have 52" high welded fencing and cattle panels. I don't know about Toggs--only had 1 doe and she had horns, nice to people, but baaaaad attitude towards the other goats with her horns.--She left right away to a dairy and they removed her horns. I have only had about a dozen alpines--they were all fence jumpers and the buck actually climbed the fence to get in with the does when they were in heat--but only having a dozen or so over the years, is not enough to really know if the breed is known as fence jumpers. Some of the smaller, light weight Nubians were fence jumpers, but then we went to cattle panels and didn't have a problem. Now we have the 52" woven fence with electric wire towards the pasture with a solar fence charger. (because of the few horses--they liked leaning over the fence). That was last year, now that the goats were able to walk over the fences hmm couldn't even see the fences this winter, I don't know if we will have a few fence jumpers this year.

 

[FarmerChick]

WOW sounds like you have the "bad kids" in the group..>HA HA HA

I had over 120 goats at one time and my worse was my big Boer buck "walking" over my fence.....and he went right back in with the gals---but other than that no problems.

I am lucky...I got goats that like their pastures..>LOL

 

[Carolyn]

Yes horns are great as handles, but ever had a horn hooked in an udder and rip it? or have a goat lose an eye because of horns? or have a horned goat catch a knee of another between the v of the horns and twist and twist until the leg is mangled at the shoulder? Coming home to a horned goat with its head in the fence on a hot summer day, caught for hours without water? We tried the tennis balls and the stick across the horns so they couldn't get stuck in the fence--turned into another type of weapon. The last straw was loosing a very sweet, heavy milker that was going to have quads--non registered Nubian, we came home to find her dead and gored--opened her to see if we could save the kids--lost 4 beautiful little does and $800.00 for the kids( for day old, non registered does) and lost milk sales-for pet consumption only, of course. these goats were good to people, but found that goats with horns has a bad a$$ attitude. Yes I do like the regal look of a buck with horns, but have had bad exeriences with them.--doesn't matter one way or another for us, but I don't like horns because of what they do to the other goats.
I found that in these past years, I don't need horns to catch them or work them. In the beginning we did use the horns, now everything is done in the milk stand--even the buck. I chased the dairy's, the angoras, the cashmeres, and my brothers pygmies in the beginning. Not any more, walk up with a collar and lead, they get on the stand for hoof trimming, shearing, vaccinations etc. Had to get rid of angoras and cashmeres, but am getting more, but NO HORNS--too dangerous to each other. Although I did have a big white, Snubian doe that took on the donkey, he picked up a kid, she hit him in the ribs, hooked him under the front leg and as he was limping off, he could only get the hee out, no haw until he caught his breath--then he could exhale and we heard him HEE HAW. LOL. Just my 2 cents. Carolyn