How much do Goats really "stink"?

Southern by choice

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Since SBC is a Buckaholic I'm not sure she could be considered unbiased. :hide:lol:

@Mike CHS - truly our first year I couldn't handle the rut smell. I have an ultra-sensitive sniffer. I use to make the kids take off their jackets outside it was just too much for me. Now I go... awww are boys are smelling rather good now.
I guess perspective changes as the does like the stronger scented bucks.
 

Mike CHS

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I grew up on my Grandparents farm and they always had goats in for dairy. I don't remember them being stinky. Even when I go to my neighbors I do notice an odor when they are in rut but maybe my sinuses are somehow older than I am and it doesn't bother me. :)
 

Alta Loma Ladies

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I cant get my goat out of my woodpile, any suggestions? Other than moving the wood pile? rs
 

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mikiz

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My first ever encounter with a Saanen buck ended with my mother almost leaving me behind at the farm. I had this great idea to let him rub all over me, I was only about 10 and I didn't mind the smell at all as long as I didn't put my hands near my face! My mother and brother were not so fond of the stink...
The girls never smelled, but that boy was pretty ripe, I guess it depends on your tolerance for smells as well as the potency of his perfume.
 

promiseacres

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My sister had a pygmy doe bred, she stunk up my dad's blazer.... badly after her visit. .. but it did wear off. Certain city folk (& non city dwellers) are always not going to understand having livestock. You need to do what you want, let them stick their noses up in the air. Their loss.
 
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Thank you all for the info and positive comments. We should be getting 2 doe and 1 buck Nigerian Dwarfs in October. Have to get the pen built first.

Thanks again!
 

Bunnylady

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There are certain oily acids that make up a significant part of the fats in goat milk; if you have ever drunk it and noticed that it was significantly different that cow's milk in flavor, well, that's the "goatiness" that we all know. Goats smell like that, too, only a bit more so. All animals have an odor, and once you get used to it, you don't notice it. As others have said, the bucks have this smell in spades, some more than others (I have known bucks that I could smell 50 feet and more downwind). A lot of bucks have a habit of peeing on their beards and faces to enhance their buckly attractiveness; unfortunately, a lot of bucks are real attention hogs, too, so you wind up basking in their glory for a long time after you have been with them.

Incidentally, most people keep the buck separate from the does except during the fairly short periods when they want them to breed. This means building two separate pens, with the buck away from the does most of the time. A lot of people have a wether as a companion for the buck, so he doesn't get lonely. (I can hear it already, "What? We're getting 4 goats, now?!"):th
 

Moody

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Bucks usually smell pretty awful ESP if you are down wind.

I think they may get smellier as they age which is just purdy smelling perfume to the lady goats. I have a one year old buck and a 3 month old buckling. The buckling smelled on his head but could have rubbed on another buck at the breeder. My one year old isn't stinky at all but it isn't rut season yet. He was a bit stinky last fall. I have been to breeders with bucks and honestly I left with the smell stuck in my nose and I didn't get within 100 feet of their buck. It stayed in my nose for an hour. It takes some getting used to for sure. And put their pen down wind.
 

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