ok. so whats the best and cheapest way to pen Nigerian dwarf bucks? how far away from the girls does he need to be to keep him calmish? also those of you that eat your goats what is the best age /size to butcher the boys? do you butcher yourself?
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So far, I've only roasted them whole, but I follow the guidelines here: http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/goat-butchering-da...
(with pics, so please be aware)
ooh oooh if not to gruesome for a public message tell me more about how you process....what cuts do you get? (and we have wethers for the buck, lol)
You should not keep a buck by himself. I personally keep two bucks instead of wethering and having a non useful boy in the pen, so I have two bucks, but a buck and a wether will work too.
I keep my bucks in a pen made from cattle panels. They share a fence line with my does, but I will tell you from first hand experience, that you need to have two fences between the boys and the girls. I use cattle panels, and plastic construction netting along the bottom to keep the babies out of the boy's pen, and on top of THAT, I now use electric wire to keep the boys from breeding through the fence. (they did it, and I still am not quite sure HOW)
You can butcher at what ever age you prefer. I have butchered a yearling doe, and that was a good size, but this year, I plan to butcher younger. I figure the kids will be the size of a rabbit (ish) once they are dressed out, and I won't have to feed them much before I butcher. They will all be around 2 and 3 months old. I kill and process myself. It's very much like dressing a deer.