# Goat Math. From 2 to 6 in the last month. Bought a new buck!



## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 9, 2013)

I picked up an alpine buck today. He was only $50 and comes from a tested herd. I got my lamancha doeling there last febuary. He was one of the few they didn't sell last season. They're getting ready to kid so she was willing to pretty much give him away. I was going to pay $50 + $2/day to get my lamancha bred. Why can you buy a buck cheaper then a stud fee would cost!?  I didn't realize but he's pretty young still. They said 6-7 months old. He has minimal interest in the girls and is only slightly stinky. He sure looks like he has the tools for the job though.. The lamancha isn't due to come into heat until next week if she's not already done for the season. 

My plan was to breed two of the girls and then sell him..(for what i bought him for.)  Thats what I told dbf at least.







You can see the smaller girls in the back pen! They're not ready to be with the buck yet..


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## RainySunday (Jan 9, 2013)

He's cute!  He does look small in those pictures, how much does he weigh?


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## madcow (Jan 9, 2013)

He's a really handsome little man!  I like the little tuft of hair on the top of his head, looks like bangs! LOL!  Congratulations on your acquisition, that sounded like a good deal.


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 10, 2013)

He's only 44lbs.. A little under conditioned but not bad. We'll fatten him up here and resell him.. Probably!    haha. I was talking about naming him yesterday. He's the sweetest little guy.    My doe hates him and my wether keeps trying to mount him though. 




Now I dont know if it the times or what, but I've been on a few differend farms since I've had goats. The goats are either all really skinny, or coughing, or hooves need to be trimmed, or have mites, etc. I have yet to come to a place where I was actually o.k. with how the animals were being kept.     Now let me just say I'm not in it for the "money". I'm not trying to breed and sell goats for a profit. They're my pets and brush eaters. I've been a vet tech for 7 years (up until a year ago when my employer was bought out and closed down) So I take goats in that are skinny, and need their hooves trimmed, and need treatments. I'm probably going to put more money into them then they are worth and I'm okay with that because they're my pets.  

I still dont understand the people who are cutting corners because they're trying to make a profit. If you had a buisiness you'd take care of it to make sure you got the most rewards out of it, right?! Or the people who have goats and dont actually get hands on with them. I've come across 2 people now that cant vaccinate or trim hooves. And they werent small operations either one had over 10 goats, the other had more like 35.. The second one she was grilling me about vaccinating, deworming, and trimming hooves *every 3 months*. Come to find out she doesn't even do those things herself, she has a friend do it for her.. (or _not_ do it for her!) 

Honey Bear came here because she was seriously emaciated. I went for one, even only brought the money for one but she came home too. I didn't even realize how bad her feet were til the next day when she got a bath. Talk about a hypocrite, This is that lady that was grilling me about what I do to my animals EVERY THREE MONTHS. Who knows.. maybe she was trying to get them into a better situation, but you shouldn't charge full price on a starving just goat trying to make money.  
****NOT THE NEW BUCK**** Although his backs are pretty cracked and a little overgrown.. I'll get a pic before I trim them today.


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## madcow (Jan 10, 2013)

Man, it looks like soles on the bottom of his hooves the side walls are so overgrown.  I would imagine that hurts when he steps on it.  Goats don't browse well if their feet hurt and don't gain weight because of not browsing enough.  People don't learn enough about their animals to care for them well enough, or just don't care in some cases.  Didn't this lady think you would see his hooves as soon as you brought him home? She had some nerve grilling you, didn't she?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 10, 2013)

Yep, those are pretty overgrown.


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## CocoNUT (Jan 10, 2013)

WOW!   Those are definitely overgrown! (& here I thought I was compulsive about checking their hooves and trimming them!)


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 10, 2013)

Lol for someone who has to trim my wethers hooves every 3-4 weeks I was shocked and appalled.


I think she either had NO idea they were like that or by the time I noticed she already had her money. The goats were in mud so I didn't look at them while there. This is what made me need a check off list to bring! 

The bucks hooves dont really look that bad. Just the backs need a trim. He seems pretty healthy, just a little under conditioned. Who knows, I might even get attached and have him castrated after he's bred a couple girls.


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 10, 2013)

Heres one of the back hooves on the new guy. I think he's still a buckling, actually.. They're not great, but I've seen worse! lol


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 10, 2013)

I actually like the first hooves better. They, to me are in better condition. With the first ones it's just the sides that are grown out and that doesn't do so much to them. Sure it's not great but they can still walk, they shouldn't be in much pain, it's not growing weird of funky, and it shouldn't speed up hoof rot.

These pictures though, the sides go out, meaning they have to be trimmed more often, and going out means a bigger risk for hoof rot. They also grow kinda funky.

But neither is such a big deal, esp. if you keep up on trimming, which I know you do.


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 10, 2013)

Yeah I backspaced on the sentence where I mentioned going to need corrective trims after the first trim. Thats why I have to trim the sannens so often, cause they grow to the side and his heel grows way too fast. I dont mind though.  

Now this is something I shouldn't be breeding into my goats, huh?! I'm keeping the first year babies from Squirt (does or wethers, single or multiples!) as pets. They'll be mixed anyways and I just want milk from the doe. So it probably doesn't matter because I'm not basing a breeding line off of him. Any doe kids _might_ get bred down the road but to a better quality buck. My little nigirian is supposed to have some pretty good genetics from his sires side. I'm not that far into goats yet so I know nothing about goat lines and registered stock though.


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (Jan 10, 2013)

*Can you post a before and after of his backs trimmed?*


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jan 10, 2013)

CrazyCatNChickenLady said:
			
		

> Yeah I backspaced on the sentence where I mentioned going to need corrective trims after the first trim. Thats why I have to trim the sannens so often, cause they grow to the side and his heel grows way too fast. I dont mind though.
> 
> Now this is something I shouldn't be breeding into my goats, huh?! I'm keeping the first year babies from Squirt (does or wethers, single or multiples!) as pets. They'll be mixed anyways and I just want milk from the doe. So it probably doesn't matter because I'm not basing a breeding line off of him. Any doe kids _might_ get bred down the road but to a better quality buck. My little nigirian is supposed to have some pretty good genetics from his sires side. I'm not that far into goats yet so I know nothing about goat lines and registered stock though.


I have found that if goats have hooves that aren't so great you can really improve them by "shaping" them and trimming them to how you want them to be and look. You do have to trim a bit more often and can't let them go as long but in time that is much better because it will help the goat and cut down on future trimmings.


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