# Bucks not doing their job? Help



## KinderKorner (Dec 27, 2009)

Right now we have 4 for sure does bred. And 3 that are suppose to be. But haven't.

Does anyone else have that problem?

Everyone says if you have a buck you WILL get babies. But we have had bucks for over a year now. And they just don't seem to breed.

It's not real young bucks either. We had a buck in there that was over a year old. And he bred one last year. This year he bred 2.

Then the younger buck which is like 8-10 months old. he bred 2 the first day. And now he has been in there for around 3 months. And no one has been bred. He don't even seem interested. We are going to take him out for a while, and then bring him back in to see if maybe he just needs to regain his interest?

Whats going on. Why aren't my boys being boys.

The older one does a lot of buck behavior. But when it comes to actually breeding he doesn't. He is much better than he used to be.

But the little one just don't get it. He don't act bucky at all.

Does he just need to mature more maybe? he bred two does already.

It seems like if the girls came into heat they would get bred.

But they never do?

Is it possible they aren't coming into heat. If so why not?

Two are about 11 months old. And one is almost 2.

I KNOW they aren't bred. So thats not the problem.

I just don't understand.


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## ksalvagno (Dec 27, 2009)

Are your bucks living with the does? If they permanently live with the does, they may lose interest. Try taking them out for a while and see if it improves.


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## FarmerChick (Dec 27, 2009)

All my bucks lived with the herd.  AND NO ONE never showed disinterest.

He might be night breeding....sometimes you just don't see it happen..LOL

but all my bucks were very interested in the does in heat.   

8-10 mos is young.  he might be confused or is competing with another buck.

I only ever had 1 buck in my herd.  When the herd got over 100 I split it into 2 herds and put him in with one group.....and then later the other group as to not kill him in breeding..LOL

he had a ball... 

all my bucks perform....if a buck is not interested he has a problem.....or the doe is not in heat.

a bucks nature is to have at it fella..LOL


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## KinderKorner (Dec 27, 2009)

Alright I did not explain how it is very well.

First off. Yes. We think maybe since he is living with the does that be may just need a time out for a while.

We had two bucks. The older, and the younger.

We put some does in one pen, some in the other. Putting a buck in each one.

The older buck got his jobs all done. But the younger only bred two of his girls.

We started  keeping the boys and girls seperate. Then when one of the girls went into heat they would go with the selected boy for a few hours. 

But 3 girls never went into heat. After about 6 months. We decided just to put the young buck in with them. Hoping maybe we just didn't detect it and he would get the job done.

But he hasn't.

I am 99% positive, that they aren't night breeding. 

Why would the does not go into heat? I don't understand. They are healthy, old enough. There is no reason for them not to.

Perhaps taking the young one out for a week or so then putting him back in might work. If not, we may try the older buck. Or try again in the spring.

Goats are funny. Everyone swears the girls will get bred. But no one else seems to have the problems we do. lol We have had goats for years and years. But only started breeding last year.

And it's not good when you spend thousands on breeding stock, and only get half of the does bred with 4 boys. 

Oh well. We may just try again in the spring. Hopefully the boys will mature some more by then. But sheesh. Having 4  does just sitting over winter while we already waited a year or two for them mature is dishearting. We really want some babies.


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## FarmerChick (Dec 27, 2009)

oh did I have it confused?

Is it the girls that are not coming into heat?


What breed of goats are they?

Exactly how old are these 3 does?


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## Roll farms (Dec 27, 2009)

Why is it you're sure they're not bred?

I don't see the deed w/ half of mine...but we've had 16 kids so far in Dec....so I'm pretty sure the deed got done.

We leave does in w/ the bucks for at least 21 days, if we don't 'see' the girls get bred, they stay in for 45 days.


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## goat lady (Dec 28, 2009)

So do most people always let the bucks run with the does? even after you see the deed done?


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## FarmerChick (Dec 28, 2009)

I do.
I always leave him in...he is a protector and never bother does unless in heat so for me over the long long years it has worked fine.   when separated by himself they go nutty actually that I have seen.   I wouldn't want to "not be with the herd"--lol

just the way I do things


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## Roll farms (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't leave the bucks in b/c I don't want my does overbred.   
Only one kidding a year, since I'm shooting for A) lots of milk from my does and B) big healthy kids.  
Does who kid too often usually burn out quicker and have smaller kids than those bred once a year.

(Some does won't cycle enough to have more than one kidding a year, but some will...and I don't want that.)

I put them in according to when I want kids born, planning which does go w/ which bucks months in advance.

Summer born kids (for me, here) don't sell for 4-H like my winter/spring kids.

When the boys aren't working, they live together quite happily.  (We have 3 now but have had 6 in the past, since we have 4 different breeds.)

I usually breed 6 does at a time, by the time the next group of does starts kidding, I've got the last batch of kids well started or sold.


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## KinderKorner (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't leave my bucks in with my does all year around. They have their own buck pen. But I did leave a buck in for 3 months now. Trying to get it done.

I think the girls aren't coming into heat honestly.

I am still pretty sure they aren't bred. I'm not a large goat producing place. They are my babies. They are watched very very closely. We know all the breeding dates.

The year old buck was left with 6 does last year, for 6 months or more. And only one doe got bred. 

2 girls left are nearly a year old, and the other one is 2 years old.

I just don't know. No one seems to know why or how to fix it. As I said. Everyone says we will get babies. But after 2 years of trying. You think I would get some. 

Everyone else has bucks jumping fences and breeding when you don't want babies. And I want babies and don't get any. lol. It makes no sense.


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## goat lady (Dec 28, 2009)

Those that separate their bucks from the does. How close is your buck pen to the doe pen?  We have a 7 month old buck that has ran with the adult does since he was 8 weeks old. We got an adult buck to breed with our adult does about the third week of Oct. The owner of the buck decided to give him to us in trade of a newborn doe of his choice when we have babies in the spring.  Both bucks are running with our 3 adult does and I have seen the adult buck breed 2 of them.  We have a separate goat pen, but have three little does in there right now. One 7 months and two twins that are 5 months. Too little to breed and run with the adult does right now.


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## ksalvagno (Dec 28, 2009)

My barns are in an L shape and the girls are on one side and the boys are in the other barn so there is some distance. They can hear each other but can't see each other.


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## lilhill (Dec 28, 2009)

My buck pens are 100 feet away from the doe pens.

If you have a 7 month old buck running with your does, then I'm surprised he hasn't already bred some.


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## goat lady (Dec 28, 2009)

He is just starting to show interest in them.   Lil do your bucks get out and try to jump the fence?


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## Roll farms (Dec 28, 2009)

Our buck pen, aka Fort Buck, is 200' long x 8' wide.  It runs beside the 'main pen' the does hang out in.  I always know when a doe is in heat b/c they stand there and moon-eye the boys, and the boys stand there and moon-eye right back...and talk to them "wha-wha-whatt?".

It's 5' chain link and has railroad ties stapled to the bottom on one side, the other side is 4' chain link fortified w/ cattle panels to keep them from bending it and going over.  I start breeding pretty early (July) so usually about the time the boys are really feeling rutty, I'm ready to bring them to breeding pens to "visit" anyway.


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## goat lady (Dec 29, 2009)

I have just heard and read different stories. Leave bucks in all the time and then separate them. Some say they have to see each other because of being herd animals then some say no. We started our small herd in March so I still consider us in the learning stage.  It is a matter of what works.  We are trying to get where we don't have to transport a goat to breed and can have our own bucks when we want to breed our does. We only want to breed once a year.  I think the ladies need a break.   Each of our goat pens have a good size three sided lean to that they can go in when it rains here in Florida and I have hay racks in each goat house so the hay stays dry.


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## FarmerChick (Dec 29, 2009)

Alot will depend on your operation.  I am meat goat herd.  I need breedings constant to make a profit. And I do well cause I do handle it like a business.  I shoot for 2 breedings per year definitely. (well not as much now as in the past..lol..I am grading down, getting old and tired of the farm biz)

Dairy herd for profit is handled different ---etc. etc.


So when you know what you want to do, how to handle your herd will be specific to your use.


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## KinderKorner (Dec 29, 2009)

I wish my buck pen is within sight of the girls. Instead we have to lead the bucks out everyday and take them to the fence, and see if any of the girls drool over them.

Roll Farms how do you deal with the early breedings. It's so cold this time of year. My babies that were born last week shiver all the time.

I like to know when all my does are bred. And I try for early March babies. But mine are pretty spread out.

I think 2 breedings a year is too much. It's hard for a doe to recover from birthing and feeding. Just my opinion though. And although my goats are here to make money, they are also my pets.


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## Roll farms (Dec 29, 2009)

Since I catch / raise my own kids, they are in the kid area, a 12' x 12' room w/ ventilation and heat lamps when it's below 20 degrees or there aren't enough kids to keep it warm enough.  (Heat lamps out of reach, of course....)   
I have to have kids now or they don't sell as well.  4-H folks love their early-born wethers....:/
There are toys / boxes in there for them to climb on to build muscle and play.  
We handle and feed them 3 x a day.  
They enter that room anywhere from 4 hrs to 24 hrs old. 
(Before then, they're in a playpen in an unheated room here in the house.  Once they've eaten well and can stand, they join the other babies.)
Point being...the weather is really only a bother / inconvenience to me...the kids don't mind.

I agree with once a year kiddings.  Mine wouldn't make half the milk and wouldn't have the nice big, healthy kids they have if I did that.   

I'd rather have more milk for cheese / ice cream / fudge, etc. and kids that hit the ground running and easy births, etc.  

I dunno HOW many local boer breeders I know (who also usually don't bother to deworm or vaccinate...) who can't understand why ALL my kids make it, and why they sell well, when they're losing 30% of their kid crop and "stuck hauling theirs to auction and losing money."  

I treat this as a business, but I do believe you get out of it what you put into it.  It's more work my way, but this is my JOB...I'm one of those old fashioned-folk who thinks work is good for you.

Meat goats are 'terminal' animals, they are bred til they can't produce 2 kids 2x a year, then sold off / culled / eaten.  I know it's a business, same as beef and chicken, but I can't bring myself to treat my goats that way.
*shrugs*

Our pens were originally built for llamas years ago, then updated to hold horses, and now just goats (and the lone, old, fat ewe).  We had to learn the hard way that goats are a tad hard to keep in....


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## KinderKorner (Dec 29, 2009)

One more question. Lots of people including you  pull the kids from their mothers and bottle feed them. Why do you do that exactly? I know there are some benefits. But it seems so much easier for the kids to just nurse from the mothers. I could never figure it out. I've bottle raised plenty of kids. But only if I had to.

Hehe is there some secret to this? Perhaps once I get my does going nicely and producing something I might try it. It would certainly keep the babies warmer since I have the perfect stall to keep them in. And I would like to milk.

The people around here take the babies away at night. And milk the does first thing in the morning. And turn the babies loose back with them all day. No bottle feeding, and you still get all the milk produced overnight.


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## Roll farms (Dec 29, 2009)

I pretty much covered all my reasons in this thread:

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3021

Helmstead has some good points as well.  I really don't want to have to retype all that...


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