Help, new to goats and have lots of questions

[gatorshark75]

You are advising someone to keep an intact buck as a pet? Good grief!! Adult bucks smell, they pee on their heads, they blubber, and they have other not so nice habits. The only thing an intact buck is good for is a breeding animal. Unless he has superior genetics he should be castrated. A wether can be used for a number of things. He can be a pack goat, a pet, a companion for a horse, or a brush eater. He can even end up as someone's dinner and that is not a bad thing. I disbudded and dehorned all my goats. Why? Because in my situation horns were difficult to manage. Horned heads would not fit in my feeders or stanchions. Horned heads would also get caught in woven wire fences, and in the hot the hot summer days if the goat is not found quickly and released it will die. Plus I showed my dairy goats, and horns in the show ring are a disqualification.

yes i am i do not agree with any of your thoughts or reasoning ive never had a problem with a buck and have never had a stinking goat i do not believe in dehorning a goat i see it as cruel and not needed and as far as showing them thats not what we use them for and a castrated goat in my area is as worthless as a doe that is barren and how can they protect there selves from predators if they have no horns

 

[Stacykins]

yes i am i do not agree with any of your thoughts or reasoning ive never had a problem with a buck and have never had a stinking goat i do not believe in dehorning a goat i see it as cruel and not needed and as far as showing them thats not what we use them for and a castrated goat in my area is as worthless as a doe that is barren and how can they protect there selves from predators if they have no horns

The sweet smelling bucks who don't act bucky are a rarity. Mine are sweet enough personality wise, they respect me, but I keep them at an arm's length because they are rank smelling. It doesn't matter if a goat makes money or not if is going to be a pet. That is what it sounds like the OPs goal is. Also, if you keep an intact buck around, you MUST keep him separate from does who aren't ready to be bred yet. I don't know if you like your does dying early, but breeding cannot be back to back, breeding after breeding. Or if the does get bred too young, they suffer too.

Some of us actually protect our goats from predators. So the lack of horns and predators aren't a problem.

 

[cassie]

yes i am i do not agree with any of your thoughts or reasoning ive never had a problem with a buck and have never had a stinking goat i do not believe in dehorning a goat i see it as cruel and not needed and as far as showing them thats not what we use them for and a castrated goat in my area is as worthless as a doe that is barren and how can they protect there selves from predators if they have no horns

What kind of goats do you raise? How many? If they are Boers I can see why you think as you do. My Boers were far more mellow than my dairy bucks and their odor was minimal. I have no experience with angoras and I don't remember whether the one Pygmy buck I had smelled or not. Dairy bucks, however, have a strong odor particularly during the breeding season. During the non breeding season the odor is far less noticeable. Bucks have musk glands situated just behind their horn buds. How rank a buck is depends on the individual, the breed, and what time of year it is. Meaning whether or not he is in rut. A dairy buck in full rut stinks. His head and beard are wet a lot of the time because he pees on them. He will blubber at you and he will do his level best to get his scent all over you and your clothes. Personally, I like bucks and enjoy their antics. But I don't expect them to be anything other than what they are. And, for the record, horns are of minimal protection from predators. I once saw a herd of horned brush goats absolutely decimated by a dog attack. Some were killed outright and others were cut to ribbons and had to be put down. Their horns were not of much help.

 

[gatorshark75]

What kind of goats do you raise? How many? If they are Boers I can see why you think as you do. My Boers were far more mellow than my dairy bucks and their odor was minimal. I have no experience with angoras and I don't remember whether the one Pygmy buck I had smelled or not. Dairy bucks, however, have a strong odor particularly during the breeding season. During the non breeding season the odor is far less noticeable. Bucks have musk glands situated just behind their horn buds. How rank a buck is depends on the individual, the breed, and what time of year it is. Meaning whether or not he is in rut. A dairy buck in full rut stinks. His head and beard are wet a lot of the time because he pees on them. He will blubber at you and he will do his level best to get his scent all over you and your clothes. Personally, I like bucks and enjoy their antics. But I don't expect them to be anything other than what they are. And, for the record, horns are of minimal protection from predators. I once saw a herd of horned brush goats absolutely decimated by a dog attack. Some were killed outright and others were cut to ribbons and had to be put down. Their horns were not of much help.

pure bred nigeriens and Spanish and right now i only have two but more to come soon

 

[cassie]

pure bred nigeriens and Spanish and right now i only have two but more to come soon

If I weren't such a nice person I would sincerely hope you acquire some full sized mature dairy bucks to add to your menagerie. Like a big hairy Togg or Alpine or even both. But, since I am such a nice person (most of the time anyway), I don't.

 

[gatorshark75]

If I weren't such a nice person I would sincerely hope you acquire some full sized mature dairy bucks to add to your menagerie. Like a big hairy Togg or Alpine or even both. But, since I am such a nice person (most of the time anyway), I don't.

my Spanish weigh in around 300 plus pounds and my nigeriens about 100 but i dont raise dairy animals and the person that wanted the info on goats isn't either so calm down and be nice cause i never said any thing about you just that i dont agree with what you had said about all goats its different depending on breed

 

[Stacykins]

my Spanish weigh in around 300 plus pounds and my nigeriens about 100 but i dont raise dairy animals and the person that wanted the info on goats isn't either so calm down and be nice cause i never said any thing about you just that i dont agree with what you had said about all goats its different depending on breed

Nigerian Dwarves are a dairy breed...

 

[cassie]

Nigerian Dwarves are a dairy breed...

Yup. But they are little. And cute.

 

[H Diamond]

And still get stinky... you said you only have 2 goats right now. The Spanish goat being a buck.. is the Nigerian a buck or doe? If a buck, I can now understand why your bucks aren't stinky. They don't have any girls to impress, so they will keep their stinkiness to a minimum. I don't recall CELESTE mentioning what breed or type of goat they have or are getting.

 

[cassie]

my Spanish weigh in around 300 plus pounds and my nigeriens about 100 but i dont raise dairy animals and the person that wanted the info on goats isn't either so calm down and be nice cause i never said any thing about you just that i dont agree with what you had said about all goats its different depending on breed

I didn't mean my post to sound snarky even though it did. I did mean it exactly as it was written, however. Since I am nice (sometimes) I really do hope you do not acquire a full sized Togg or Alpine buck. Yes, I know the OP wasn't raising dairy animals. But an intact buck as a pet is a really bad idea. Especially for a novice. Even my little Pygmy was a handful. You don't agree. That's certainly OK with me.