# Buck to Doe Ratio



## 77Herford (Oct 5, 2011)

How many Bucks should there be for 250 does.  My educated guess is 1 Buck for every 20 Does.


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## marlowmanor (Oct 5, 2011)

Depends on how many does each buck can handle!  Perhaps one buck may want 50, while another is content with 10!  You may have some greedy bucks!


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## 77Herford (Oct 5, 2011)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> Depends on how many does each buck can handle!  Perhaps one buck may want 50, while another is content with 10!  You may have some greedy bucks!


I'm not sure if that was helpful, lol.


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 5, 2011)

I would think easily 20, if the buck is mature and healthy, I would think closer to 30 or 40 for a mature healthy buck.  Ours would cover 20 and have them all bred with in 10 days of each other.


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## 77Herford (Oct 5, 2011)

Thanks kids, this will help.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Oct 6, 2011)

x2.  20 easily.  If given breaks and breedings are in groupings you should be able to have each mature buck handle closer to 30 or 40.  Just remember to keep them well fed during breeding season. They have a tendency to ignore food in favor of the ladies.  (unless you are my Piggy McFaterson and then you shove the preggo ladies off the food so you can help yourself)


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## Roll farms (Oct 6, 2011)

I've read 40-50 per buck if it's the beginning of the season, (when they're more eager/energetic) and then 25-40 after that if the same buck is used on a second group of does.


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 6, 2011)

i know a lamb farm I was recently at had 50 ewes in with a yearling ram.  They had a marker on the ram and every day they would go out and red tags and record who was bred. They kept a paper with all the ewes written down, with columns after their names for the dates, Since they were breeding so many at once they would change the color of the marker every 3 weeks on the ram. then they would go to the next column and start recording dates. this would help them track any ewes that were bred twice and didn't catch on a previous breeding. 

He is going to lend us a marker harnass next season to let us try one. Although we aren't keeping up with the numbers of animals he his. This year we had 4 bucks to breed our 23 does. I am not too far from the pastures, so I often see the breeding taking place and I record the dates. With the young bucks I am using this year, I have already recorded a couple does being bred and then bred again 21 days later. :/  I do not like my kidding season to be spred out that much. Sure miss the old boy as far as that goes, but looking forward to seeing the new genetics.


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## jodief100 (Oct 6, 2011)

It really depends on the buck, time of year and feed.  15-30 is a good range.  

I know someone who leased a buck to a guy.  The guy calls two weeks later and says something is wrong with the buck.  He is loosing weight fast.  Turns out the guy put this buck in with 80 does.  5 months later 79 of them had kids but it took 3 months to get weight back on that buck.


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## 77Herford (Oct 6, 2011)

Whoa, 80 does.  Some times I wish I was a human herd sire, lol.  It would be a tough job though.  We will be having 8 Bucks for 242 Does but can always add more.


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## RareBreedFancier (Oct 7, 2011)

jodief100 said:
			
		

> It really depends on the buck, time of year and feed.  15-30 is a good range.
> 
> I know someone who leased a buck to a guy.  The guy calls two weeks later and says something is wrong with the buck.  He is loosing weight fast.  Turns out the guy put this buck in with 80 does.  5 months later 79 of them had kids but it took 3 months to get weight back on that buck.


 No wonder the boy was loosing weight, he would have been to busy to eat or sleep but he did get the job done!


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## Goatmasta (Oct 7, 2011)

the issue with not enough is that you will have "misses".  I would go for about 1/15.  I would rather have too many than have "misses"..


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