(I hope this is in the right section...)
So I am hoping for some kind advice from more experienced goat keepers. What do you do with a buck that maybe shouldn't be bred anymore?
We started small with our first Nigerians. They were for pets, pasture clearing, and to know if goats would be right for our needs, as much as they were for milking. They weren't from the top-notch famed half a gallon a day milking lines, and that was okay. Now that we know goats are perfect for us, we've begun improving our herd. Our new buck is from top-notch breeding.
My quandary is about my first buck, Brownie. I love him to bits. He has the greatest personality ever. This spring I'll get to see how his first 3 daughters do as first fresheners. But as he grew, he developed some structural problems. I see it in varying degrees in his daughters and wethered son also, so I don't think it's a physical ailment.
My first thought was to find him a new home with someone who wanted a gentle starter buck, as I did. If you like bucks, he's the best pet ever (for some reason I can't smell the buck smell, so I cuddle him. He loves a good scritchins. Lol). But ethically it doesn't seem right to let him go on producing babies if they aren't really good babies. If I were breeding Nigerian meat goats, he'd be fine as a terminal sire. But I cannot eat my Nigis, no way nohow. His babies are all practically born tame and make great pets, but structural correctness is just as important to me, if not more so, than all the other criteria. Even if I was just breeding pet goats, I would want to breed sound, healthy goats that are as conformationally correct as possible.
Am I overthinking this? And if I'm not, then what do you do with a perfectly happy, mature, and very bucky little buck that shouldn't have any more babies?
Maybe I should post pictures to get experts' opinions on conformation, but you couldn't see it right now anyway, in the winter with their yak coats. There aren't really any local experts I could get to come out and look at them. I'm just not sure exactly what to do with Brownie if we decide not to breed him anymore.
Replies
Thanks!
I wethered a 3-year-old la mancha buck with a Burdizzo, and he stopped stinking and peeing on himself after about a month.
I really do...he's just so darn funny. He tries so hard to be macho but underneath he's this big fat teddy bear... :P It's a shame he's not as good as my junior buck because he is so talented and mannerly at courting the girls.
We do have a wonderful mobile vet here. I should talk to him.
Obviously you love this little guy so I would go along with others and say to wether him. That way you need not worry about passing on something undesirable traits and you have your sweet little boy and a companion for the new buck. Of course, because I am big-time chicken, I would have an experienced goat person or a trustworthy vet do it.
Sweet!
Would he keep the bucky habits like tongue flapping and peeing on himself? Just curious.
Yes! It will! There is a gal here who used it on one of her bucks that she wanted to keep as a pet, and not breed. I can't remember who, but she did it. I think her buck was about 4 years old, and it was successful.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh...I didn't know it would work when they are older. Thank you!
This is where the Burdizzo is super handy. You can castrate at any age. I would consider doing so, if you decide not to use your buck for breeding anymore.