# Buck Pen



## Shootingstars (Jan 22, 2011)

Hi, we are building the buck pen today and we should have did this months ago but live and learn.  It will be for a buck and a wether to keep him company for now but eventually I wouldn't mind two bucks. I have a Nigerian dwarf buck that doesn't smell bad at all right now but he is young so I am assuming as he gets older he will smell worse. 

Questions - how far away from the does should it be?  If I put it about 100 feet from my garden will the smell get on vegetables?  Our closest neighbors are downhill from us but there is a vacant overgrown alley, then their horse pasture and then their house, will they be able to smell him and complain?  I raised a pig here this fall and none of the neighbors even knew it.  

Thanks!!!!!


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## elevan (Jan 22, 2011)

Sensitivity to buck smell seems to be individual to the buck and the individual human nose.  Meaning that not all bucks get super stinky and not all humans complain heavily at the smell.  I raise pygmies and my bucks don't smell that bad in the opinion of me and my DH.  I just think he smells a little musky, but my 6 yr old boy thinks he stinks something awful.  Now I'm the first to complain when something smells awful, but I really don't mind his scent as it's not strong (imo)

As to how far away from the does...mine are right next to each other but the connecting wall / fence is strong and secure...except I'm gonna have to make it higher because I've got a 3 month old doeling that jumps onto the llama's back then onto the pen wall and into the buck's pen  

The consensus seems to be that small breeds smell less than larger breeds, I don't really think you're going to have a problem with your neighbors complaining.

I don't know the answer to your vegetable garden question...hopefully someone else can help with that.


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## Shootingstars (Jan 22, 2011)

Thanks for answering, everybody around here - at the fair, friends and everybody I have talked to go on and on about how much bucks stink in general.  

I have very little experience with bucks except the one I have who I love.  

I just have to make sure my veggies aren't going to stink or taste funny because I sell some of them.


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## elevan (Jan 22, 2011)

You know come to think of it our buck ran in the big field late last summer that was adjacent to our veggie garden and we didn't have any off tasting veggies.  And at that time he was in the height of peeing on himself    And the goats spent quite a bit of time trying to push that fence to get to the veggies.

So I would think that 100' away would be just fine.


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## Shootingstars (Jan 22, 2011)

elevan said:
			
		

> As to how far away from the does...mine are right next to each other but the connecting wall / fence is strong and secure...except I'm gonna have to make it higher because I've got a 3 month old doeling that jumps onto the llama's back then onto the pen wall and into the buck's pen


This is very very funny, probably annoying, but extremely funny.


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## elevan (Jan 22, 2011)

Thank goodness we've always been there to get her out right away.


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## Shootingstars (Jan 22, 2011)

elevan said:
			
		

> Thank goodness we've always been there to get her out right away.


That is true, she is definitely too young to get bred but that risk aside, it is still amusing.  She is an acrobat.


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## elevan (Jan 22, 2011)

Shootingstars said:
			
		

> elevan said:
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> 
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> ...


She is that! Yesterday she learned that if she leaps onto the llama's mineral block, she can get to his feed pan - which she uses to get to the top of that wall.  Good thing it's a false wall and is only there to separate two spaces and to hold feeders 

I have a buckling that is 2 weeks younger than her and he's not really adventurous at all...but she is an absolute trouble maker!  She figured out that there was a small space that she could squeeze through to get into the feed room!  Thank goodness she couldn't get into the feed cans!  But she had all the "fresh" hay to herself.  Of course all the adult goats told on her because they wanted in too!


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## freemotion (Jan 22, 2011)

My neighbor didn't complain about my buck until he started pee'ing on her.....According to her side of the story, he lures her over to the fence with his cuteness then sprinkles her without warning!  

Seriously, build a fortress.  We will be replacing our buck pen fence with a double-high cattle panel fence in the spring before getting another buck.  Yep, 8' high.  This will be the ONLY year that I have goats bred that I don't want bred.  Determined little buggers.  4' woven wire with three strands of electric on top was not enough.  It was 7' high.  He disabled the electric one night by pulling the low wire off, shorting it out, then climbed/jumped over the woven wire and had the night of his young life.  

Build a stinkin' fortress.


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## Shootingstars (Jan 22, 2011)

freemotion said:
			
		

> My neighbor didn't complain about my buck until he started pee'ing on her.....According to her side of the story, he lures her over to the fence with his cuteness then sprinkles her without warning!
> 
> Seriously, build a fortress.  We will be replacing our buck pen fence with a double-high cattle panel fence in the spring before getting another buck.  Yep, 8' high.  This will be the ONLY year that I have goats bred that I don't want bred.  Determined little buggers.  4' woven wire with three strands of electric on top was not enough.  It was 7' high.  He disabled the electric one night by pulling the low wire off, shorting it out, then climbed/jumped over the woven wire and had the night of his young life.
> 
> Build a stinkin' fortress.


Free - what kind of goats do you have again?  We will be using cattle panels also, I was planning on only one panel high.  Hmmmmm.


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