Stanky stank

[Babushka Blue]

So, I have only my had my goats about 3 weeks and they smell soooo bad. I have two small males. One is about 2 yrs old, the other about 9 months. They have both been banded (not long before I got them). They are in a 60' x 30' pen that is filled with dense mugwort (the reason I got them). The dense vegetation makes it pretty impossible for me to clean up the poo. The hope was that they would eat it down and kill it off. In the meantime, what can I do to keep down the stench? Someone recommended lime, but it seemed as though you have to put that down and then take it back up? I have heard there are sprays that can help, but wonder how safe that is for the goats.. I appreciate any advice. Thanks.

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Make sure they are up to date on tetanus vaccination as banding puts them at risk.
Intact mature male goats stink. A lot. If whoever banded these two made certain to get testicle (both) entirely below band, then over next several months the odor will slowly go away. It would help matters if you were to bathe both several times, but it will still linger.
They will need some good hay, up off the ground where they won't step on it. If they don't have horns a bit of livestock panel can be fashioned into a hay feeder.
Do your math, it takes five goats, two weeks to totally eat down all the vegetation on a third of an acre. This was heavily covered with trees, kudzu, wild grape, honeysuckle, poison ivy and was part of a project for Iams Nature Center in Knoxville, TN back about twenty years ago. Our goat club provided goats, fencing, housing, and LGD (we donated him for six months.)

 

[Southern by choice]

If it is the actual feces that is smelling then you should have a fecal run. Goat poo does not "smell". If it does then there is something wrong. Certain bacteria can cause bad odor, but these bacteria should be treated for. Healthy poo doesn't smell.
Determining whether it is the fecal vs the urine or other smell is important. If the the 2 YO was just wethered then the urine may still have that musky smell.

I can tell you I have been around a lot of bucks. One farm, I will never forget, the bucks there had the worst most foul urine smell I have ever been around. Keep in mind we evaluate many herds, we also keep lots of bucks so I am use to bucks in rut and out of season etc. These bucks from this farm - can I just say I wanted to vomit. It truly was horrid! Ultimately it was their diet.
Once their diet was changed they had more "normal" male urine smell.

Are they having normal berry like poo?

 

[Alaskan]

if the stink is from their recent intact male status, and you don't want to bathe them, a spray down of vinegar can be very helpful.

 

[Babushka Blue]

If it is the actual feces that is smelling then you should have a fecal run. Goat poo does not "smell". If it does then there is something wrong. Certain bacteria can cause bad odor, but these bacteria should be treated for. Healthy poo doesn't smell.
Determining whether it is the fecal vs the urine or other smell is important. If the the 2 YO was just wethered then the urine may still have that musky smell.

I can tell you I have been around a lot of bucks. One farm, I will never forget, the bucks there had the worst most foul urine smell I have ever been around. Keep in mind we evaluate many herds, we also keep lots of bucks so I am use to bucks in rut and out of season etc. These bucks from this farm - can I just say I wanted to vomit. It truly was horrid! Ultimately it was their diet.
Once their diet was changed they had more "normal" male urine smell.

Are they having normal berry like poo?

Yes. Their poo appears normal (like small black berries). I bet it is the urine because they were only recently banded.

 

[Southern by choice]

The part that is concerning is you are in NC and it is not rut season. We have 11 adult bucks and several jr kid bucks. There is no bucky urine odor.
Do you have well water? What minerals, hay, feed do you use?

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Get someone to look and see if banding is infected? That could make for a horrible smell, too.