So I have the buck now.......still need all of you!

[savingdogs]

Some of you wonderful folk helped me through the process of finding a stud for my "mutt" dairy goats (yearlings) on a previous thread and now the topic has morphed into the next stage so I thought I would begin a new thread and hope it stimulates as much interest.

So I have this cute little nigy buck, three years old, chocolate and white with blue eyes. He is supposed to be an experienced ladies man already, threw some pretty blue eyed flashy doelings. I wish I could find my camera batteries and post pictures but alas, I need to go into town for that first. So imagine a stocky little guy. My goats are triplets, a wether and two does that are sorta mini-nubian and whose mother resembled this new buck I have to a great degree, but they are a teensy bit taller, which was EXACTLY what I wanted for this year when they are having their first freshening and I couldn't find an inexpensive real mini nubian.

I acquired him with the plan of keeping him 45 days to breed with both my yearlings and then attempting to sell him for the same amount I bought him for....... as next year I want to buy a mini nubian buckling to breed them to, not a nigerian, and then do the same, sell the buckling. I believed one of my females was already in heat.

Well they were doing what I thought was flagging and looking at him longingly, so I put them together, one at a time. While there was some interesting interactions (so glad I was warned about the peeing on the face....ewe!!!!) but the actual deed has not happened, at least while we were watching, and we have kept them together 24 hours now and have not seen anything except them eating and sitting together, playing, sniffing, etc.
My new guy is very docile, let me trim his feet, is very kind and considerate to my does, lets them eat first. My least dominant female bosses him around. Does that seem normal? He he is a little smaller and kinda fat compared to them and of course they know the terrain around here (thick forest).
Somehow I expected him to romp around and establish dominance and order the way my male chickens and ducks did....but he is not being like that. Since this is the first time I've added a new goat of any kind I'm not familiar with getting one settled in. My first three were babies when they got here who bawled for the first three days........this guy is just calmly eating for the most part. I am very pleased he has not hurt or intimidated my does, or acted upset, but I thought he would have already had his way with them.

Should I leave the one female with him for awhile? Trade back and forth with the girls? I have a wether who I'm putting with whomever isn't with him. The Buck's name is "Sebastian" by the way, and my females are Ginger and Molly, the wether is Donald. Shall I assume Molly and Ginger are not really in heat yet?I do have two pens/enclosures within sight of each other but separated.
Right now I have them two-by-two.

I count on all of you to keep me from screwing up, and yes, I realize my babies will be in February if I breed them now. I'm REALLY wanting my investment fee back in the price of this buck and hope selling him in mid October I can still make back what I paid at least. But I could live with March or April especially with this buck being easier to manage than I expected. He does stink but other than that I really like him a lot more than I expected I would. I think he actually appreciated me trimming his feet (they needed it bad and I need advice about that, too, as they need a second trim I think). I just like looking at him, he is so cute! My family thinks he is ugly and my 14-year old wanted to shave off his beard. We are newbies, obviously.
Thanks in advance for any advice you have for me on how to manage this.

 

[ksalvagno]

If you could put him next to the girls, then you can see if they go into heat again. The cycle is about every 21 days.

 

[jodief100]

Some bucks are "modest". They don't like to do the deed with anyone watching. Others are quite proud of their prowess and everyone for miles around knows when he is making babies, by the noise.

He might be one of the modest ones, or he just needs some time to adjust. You can buy raddle marker and mark his chest. Then you know when he has mounted your doe by the rub-off. Harnesses and crayons make the job much cleaner but are not necessary. I am not sure they come in mini size.

I prefer putting all the does to be bred in with the buck at once. There are varying schools of thought. Everyone finds what works for them.

 

[Ariel301]

Some bucks are "modest". They don't like to do the deed with anyone watching. Others are quite proud of their prowess and everyone for miles around knows when he is making babies, by the noise.

He might be one of the modest ones, or he just needs some time to adjust. You can buy raddle marker and mark his chest. Then you know when he has mounted your doe by the rub-off. Harnesses and crayons make the job much cleaner but are not necessary. I am not sure they come in mini size.

I prefer putting all the does to be bred in with the buck at once. There are varying schools of thought. Everyone finds what works for them.

The buck I have here right now is a modest one. I have never seen him mate the does, but I can tell he has later because the does are all sticky and gross back there....

For a Nigerian, you could probably make a marking harness out of a large dog harness and one of those livestock marking crayons.

 

[savingdogs]

Hmmmm...I have a large dog harness.....

Perhaps he is the modest kind. Molly likes him, but she is shy as well. Where I have the buck pen, it is within view of the doe pen, so no matter what they see each other. Maybe they don't want Ginger and Donald watching.....

I think you are right about him adjusting....he was in a little pen before surrounded by fields and now his pen is surrounded by forest. I think he is looking around because he is a little scared of the woods. I didn't think a buck would act like him, I was expecting mean and ornery. Perhaps he will be more cantankerous once he settles in....but around that time we'll be selling him, poor guy. Oh well, where ever he goes he gets to meet pretty lady does.....must be TOUGH.

Thanks for all your help, I think since Molly has been there two days now I'll let her go back and put Ginger with him.

Should I wash Molly to get that awful stink off? I shudder to think of my sweet smelling goats starting to smell like HIM. Up till now they smell like alfalfa and all nice. But HIM we can smell from the house when the wind blows the wrong way! I can see we are learning the buck pen is too close!

Can that area be used by other animals after him or will the stink linger?

 

[savingdogs]

So I pulled Molly out of there today and put Ginger in. Holy cow, does Molly stink! EWE!

I think I'll start a thread about buck stink and how to remove it, but back to the main point.

He went to TOWN with Ginger. Poor guy is a little short and she keeps moving away. He is peeing on his face madly (EWE again!) but while she does LIKE that, disgusting as it is, she isn't holding still for him. My 14-year-old impressionable son thinks this sight is extremely funny. He keeps trying to mount her and just as he gets the action going, she maneuvers away. If I were sure it were the right thing I'd be tempted to hold her, but to tell you the truth I wasn't anxious to touch either one of them with all that peein' going on and rubbing in it.

My teenager is also hysterical that he keeps trying to lick her and the expressions he makes. I must admit watching this has been more interesting than I had expected. We are DEFINETELY from the city. My hubby (who adores the does) is having a hard time with them "wanting it", like daughters who have gone astray and turned hussy. He plain old won't watch!
I'm sure we sound hopelessly inexperienced to normal country people, but what can I say, I'm 50 and new at this.