Buck maturity...

[Georgiamainers]

We have a nice spring buck kid Boer/Togg cross that we want to breed to our Sanaan. I want the Togg in him and hopefully get a doe from breeding them together. We intend to butcher him this fall. My questions are:

As young buck born in mid-March will he have all those buck qualities I'm not looking forward to? Will he be hard to handle, taring up the barn, peeing on himself, etc even at this young age?

Will my doe's milk start to have the bucky flavor I've heard happens if he's too close to our milking does?

Will his meat taste bucky if we butcher him without ever castrating him?

When do bucks begin to stink?

I'm asking because he'll only be 3-8 months before we butcher him this fall.

 

[freemotion]

My experience with two bucks has been....yes, he will pee on himself and stink, but not as bad as he will the following year. He can be destructive, depending on his personality, but not as bad as he will/can be later.

My first buckling was quieter and my current one (buckling last season) was very bucky and got aggressive rather early, but he smartened up right quick and is a sweetie now...but I never turn my back on him and drive him back if I need to bend down to do something even on the other side of the fence. I've been rammed through the fence and even that is not fun. Some lessons you have to learn the hard way!

I didn't have a problem with bucky milk, but he didn't run with the does. I had an escaped buck last winter, but it was later in the season and I just left him in with the does after that. The smell fades as the winter progresses.

Don't know the answer to the butchering question. I'd wait and do it late winter/early spring, though, when the stench is fading, if it were my buck.

 

[Goatherd]

My experience with two bucks has been....yes, he will pee on himself and stink, but not as bad as he will the following year. He can be destructive, depending on his personality, but not as bad as he will/can be later.

I really hope you're wrong about that! (although I bet you're right)

I am one of those people who felt the need to have his own buck even though I only have the two does. It's one of those things that I wanted to be in control of how he was raised/treated and providing for his health care and testing.
So far, I have no regrets.

In all honesty he hasn't peed on his face, he has no odor and smells no different than my does and he really is sweet; very much an attention hog. He's a year and a half old.

I know time will tell, but I hope he's that one in a million that doesn't fit the stereotype. Hopefully, I won't be singing a different tune in a year or so.

 

[julieq]

I wouldn't think he would get too smelly in that short of a time. We keep our adult ND bucks (three right now) in the same large vintage dairy barn as all our does and kids. We milk in the barn and have no problem whatsoever with off flavor or smell in our milk. Didn't even have a problem back when we had standard size Nubians in the same barn (including bucks).

We do body clip our bucks every summer and that seems to help a lot with the smell. And it keeps them much more comfortable in the July and August heat here in the high desert.

 

[Goatmasta]

Most of my young bucks are peeing on themselves by the time they are weaned at 8-12 weeks.