Breeding age/seasons question

[Fullhousefarm]

So, I've heard several conflicting opinions on this- and so I figured I'd asking for more.

At what age will a full size dairy buck be ready to breed? Not "he could so separate him from his sister" ready, but to where you would count on it.

Second- We are in Florida and our doe comes into heat pretty much year-round she's a Lamancha. But, what about the bucks being in rut? Does it vary a lot? I know some were in March, and our neighbors were last year in Sept/October for sure.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I have heard of people start using them at 6 months, but I have heard more reliably at 8 months. It could vary though by person and animal.

Here the bucks are in rut sept-nov or so.

 

[Little bits n' pieces]

He should be able to by 5-6 months depending on if he is tall/big enough to breed the does. But by 7-8 months I count on it, definitely by 9 months.
I live in California and by bucks go into rut August to February. Though my bucks will breed does out of rut also.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

I think he's 5 months. I need to ask exactly I guess. I was thinking 5-6 months, but my daughter (they are her goats, and the buck is "borrowed") thought he was 3-4. He's plenty big enough, significantly taller than our 6 month old LaMancha doe (who he only got to see through the fence)- but he still acts like a baby.

Anyway, we weren't 100% our doe was in heat, but no action while he was here for 2.5 weeks. We took him back because he was supposed to have a date with some very senior does and he was afraid of them. So, at least it wasn't just our spoiled bossy doe that was the problem. We can go get him again anytime, but I' going to wait at least 4 weeks.

He's a very nice little buckling and the kids love him, but I don't really need an extra goat to feed and it's a bit of a pain to keep him and the two young doelings apart all the time since we normally run our 4 together.

 

[20kidsonhill]

A good rule of them is from 4 t0 6 months he might be interested, 7 to 8 months probably, 9 to 10 months a pretty darn good chance and above 10 months very very ilkely. I wouldn't depend on a buck under 10 months to get the job done if it was my only source of income.

 

[Little bits n' pieces]

Normally by 7-8 months my bucks cover every doe they can, I have had an adult but that was totally uninterested in does before, he never got the job done so I got rid of him. I got plenty of other bucks to choose from.
I keep on average, 3 bucks at my house. And I have choice of any buck in the world with AI around, its cheap and I now people that do it for me for free.
ADGA prefers bucks to be at least 5 months old to sire registerable offspring.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Well, we grabbed him for a day (he was 6 months at that point) the first week of June when our doe was in heat. I had to drop him in the pen and leave for the day since we had an important appointment. By that night when we got home there wasn't anything going on, and I took him back the next day because we were supposed to get a tropical storm and I didn't want to be juggling keeping my young does separate from him during any possible confusion. I figured nothing happened, though the doe was most certainly amorous in the 5 minutes after he came over.

Well, even with he neighbor's buck next door to her pen (the one she jumped the 6' stall wall to get to last year, causing me to jump the fence and wrestle a sweet, but very single-minded boer buck) , she hasn't gone back into heat since- and she's always been very easy to tell. So, I'm optimistically hoping we will be getting some kids around Nov. 1st. We might send blood into biotracking if we can get in with our friend/goat mentor when she sends hers in. Otherwise, it's just not worth it. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that she's not being her typical devious self. She has been uncharacteristically good the past few weeks.