Is he for sure a wether??

I have a wether that I did using the burdizzo at about 6 weeks of age.  He turned three months on the 5th.  I'm sure he looks like the wether in the photo HERE

Even my 8 year old says so when I ask her which one looks most like Butch.  However, today is the first day I've seen him act bucky at all.  He's trying to mount all the does.  I've seen him try it with at least three of them this morning.  Should I be concerned at all?  I've never kept a wether here as long as this one, so not sure what to expect.  If he was just following around one doe who was in heat, I'd be a lot less concerned.

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  • If his scrotum is the size of the little guy on the right, you have a wether. By 3 months of age testicles are quite large and hang deep down to the bottom of the scrotal sack,away from the body.  If you feel his testicles, they should be quite small and pulled up towards his body. Actually, at 6 weeks for castration, you may barely be able to feel anything in there. 
    It is not uncommon for them to mount, even does will mount others in heat and many will actually keep a wether in with their does to assist them with knowing when a doe is cycling :)

    So mounting- yes, you will see that. What you should not see is urinating all over himself and displaying actual rut. 
    I've attached a photo for comparison of two 14 week old bucklings. 
    Tammy

    10821577467?profile=RESIZE_930x

    • Little guy on the right in the photo you provided. Would be the one on the left in my photo ;)

  • I am having the same issue and it makes us a bit nervous. We actually had the vet do burdizzo. She didn't recommend it but I wanted the lower pain. I also wanted someone with experience who I felt should know for sure she has the right spot. She had done them in vet school. The first guy we did was in May, you can't even feel his testicles and yet he is shows a lot of Bucky behavior. He was possessive with one doe in particular, we figured she was in heat. He blubbers, tongue flicking, fighting with any others who come near, mounts her. She actually seems to tolerate him and even like him. When he isn't actively mounting her she seems to hang out with him.

    the others were done about 8 weeks ago. Their testicles were larger and they were older.  They have not completely shrunk but I thought after 6 weeks, as long as they were shrinking, they would be good since supply line os shut off. 

    there are 4 wethers and 4 does.  Now the smallest 2 are in heat I believe. All four wethers are going nuts for them. They get chased off by the first one, but they will fight him and try. 

    the first guy and his sister are the oldest, the OG (original goats) and nobody really seems to bother her. I'm thinking she is likely to be the queen. (Some may butt heads back at her but she seems to be very diligent in trying to keep them all in line.( she actually will start to pant a little if hot outside, and that in itself is understandable but it's often in the shade where closer quarters and she needs to work harder. Does that make sense? 

    • Alexis- forgive me if this comes through twice. It is hard to tell who the reply goes to since they changed the layout here :/

      If his scrotum is the size of or smaller than the little guy on the left below, you have a wether. By 3 months of age testicles are quite large and hang deep down to the bottom of the scrotal sack,away from the body.  If you feel his testicles, they should be quite small and pulled up towards his body. Actually, at 6 weeks for castration, you may barely be able to feel anything in there. 
      It is not uncommon for them to mount, even does will mount others in heat and many will actually keep a wether in with their does to assist them with knowing when a doe is cycling :)

      So mounting- yes, you will see that. What you should not see is urinating all over himself and displaying actual rut. 
      I've attached a photo for comparison of two 14 week old bucklings. 
      Tammy
      10821581071?profile=RESIZE_930x

  • Thanks Rachel and Deborah.  Wow!  Deborah, you've had so many experiences with your goats!  Thanks for sharing this one.  I think at this point both his testicles are maybe the size of small olives.  Bigger than peanuts, but small and firm.  Of course, he's not fond of being handled in that area, so I'll have to get him on the milk stand to feel more thoroughly.   I think I forgot to mention that he's a Nubian, so that might make a difference size wise.  He is being raised for meat and is still on his mom.  That's also the reason I was concerned.  I'd hate to see what would happen if he wasn't a wether, but I'm really sure he is.  I just wasn't expecting that behavior from him.  I am going to get a better feel tomorrow though, just in case.  Thanks again. :)

  • If his scrotum has shrunk up, he should not be able to get a doe pregnant. A couple years ago when we were blessed with 29 bucklings, we still had 8 wethers by fall, and one of them was acting very bucky. One day I saw him actually breed a doe. At that point, I felt his testicles, and one of them was a little larger than the other ... so it was like an olive and a peanut rather than two peanuts. Testicles on a fully intact buck would have been like a couple of bantam chicken eggs at that age. A vet who raises NDs suggested that I try to get a sperm sample and look at it under a microscope to see if anything is swimming. I never did that. Instead, I just waited. We didn't have any surprise kiddings from any does, including the one that I saw him mate, so even though he could do something, he wasn't producing sperm. So, in addition to looking at the boys' scrotums now, I also feel to make sure both sides are shrinking equally. In the case of that little dude, there must have been some tiny amount of blood flow left, but not enough for him to be a fully functioning male. I think that maybe what I wound up doing to him was something more along the lines of a vasectomy rather than a castration on that one side. He was not even stinky though, so it was sort of tempting to keep him as a teaser buck to help me determine when does are in heat.

  • Wethers will try to mount girls too, so if you're sure his scrotum looks like the wethered buckling in the picture, I would say that you did the job.

  • Oops, I just realized that the photo is the only thing showing up in that link.  So just for anyone else who is searching for info on wethers in the future, the wether is on the right in the photo, and the buck is on the left.  They're two month old brothers.  This picture is from Fiasco Farm.

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