Can I leave my buck in with the does when they kid? (Goat)

Megan Venturella
Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Goats & Sheep

We have a super sweet buck and would like to leave him in with the ladies. Has anyone tried this? The does will be separated for a time when they kid, but after that would it be ok to let them out with him?

Comments

  • Hassena
    Hassena Posts: 345 ✭✭✭

    Good day, my neighbor leaves her buck in. I really think it depends on the herd. Keep a close eye on them. :) Hopefully more folks will experience will chime in.

  • What breed are they and how do you plan to use them in your homestead plan? I can give you what I have learned but I need to know where we are starting lol, thanks!

  • Megan Venturella
    Megan Venturella Posts: 678 ✭✭✭✭

    @Hassena Thank you!

    @seeker.nancy They are Nigerian Dwarf Goats. We breed the does for milk, but they are pets as much as anything else. Is that what you needed to know?

  • Yes @Megan Venturella ! I used to raise Nubians for milk and I have to say they are thus far my favorite breed. I grew up with Spanish goats that Dad raised for meat; the buck always stayed with the herd and MOST does would kid around the same time. Occasionally there would be a problem when a doe was bred too young; she would have difficulty kidding. The Dad went to Boer goats. By far the most contentious breed I've dealt with lol! The buck stayed with them also. Then much later I had moved in with Dad after my Mom passed and we decided on milk goat; it was something we both had wanted to try. (I miss them). I kept the buck separate until I was ready for a doe to breed and produce milk. The reason I kept them separate is because I was told that the "bucky" smell would transfer to the milk because the buck would bother her to get her to go into heat. Since that time I've met and talked with several other Nubian owners that did not have that issue and kept the buck in all the time. Keeping them separate will give you a little more leeway as to when they kid out. So, to make a long story short (finally!) try it and see. If you find it flavoring the milk you can separate him. When a doe comes into heat though said buck will do whatever to get to her if he smells it. Nubians can get pretty big and let me tell you, trying to keep a 200# buck to stay in his paddock then is almost impossible.

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    @Megan Venturella it's been a few years since I kept goats. I never kept a buck just whethers. That said I had friends with bucks and I found that the milk tasted very much like bucks smell. Also the barn, also the milker. I could simply never get over that smell. I took the girls acall'n when the time came and never missed not having a buck of my own. I felt the savings in feed made up for the cost of the visits to the boys. And I didn't have to deal with a buck.

  • RHV
    RHV Posts: 3

    I have had meat goats and dairy, always kept bucks at least a 100 feet away from dairy goats since I drank the milk. Bucks too close milk tasted like a buck smells.

  • bcabrobin
    bcabrobin Posts: 251 ✭✭✭

    We always keep the buck in with the girls. Never really had trouble with the smell as they weren't going after them only when in heat.

    We did take the young bucks (kids) out after they were weaned because they fight with the older male and tease the girls. We raised the males for meat and to sell. Our males for meat loss their balls but if your selling to middle easterners they want them intact.

    We had a older nanny that I wasn't going to breed break thru 3 fences to get to a big male that was chained out in the field. Guess she really wanted him.

  • Hassena
    Hassena Posts: 345 ✭✭✭

    my goodness! @fernblossum@yahoo.com

    I've heard about this sort of thing happening. We have 5 acres, I'm wondering if that's enough space to keep a buck away from our does.

    Impressive!

  • Momma Mo
    Momma Mo Posts: 138 ✭✭✭

    We always kept ours together, but we don't milk our goats right now.