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I need info on bilding storng houseing for a buck goat of 200 lbs if anyone knows of any sites please contact me ...i have looked for days on the net just for buck houseing with now luck
Ahhhh... Forest, your goat housing continues to amaze me. :0) It really does work folks, he has great luck w/ these things. Alas, though, I know that a buck of that size will not hold up to pallet construction. Your buck is umm... different, Forest. yeah, different, that's a good description. lol
I think that honestly, the pallet construction COULD work, but it would have to be doubled up, SCREWED together with LOTS of screws, and the fencing would have to be way more sturdy than electric netting. Especially if this buck is going to be or is a breeding buck. They will get out of just about anything. Our 170 lb. buck yesterday turned his water bucket over, and jumped on it in a bid to scale not only his 4 1/2 foot gate, but the 2X4 that is placed about 1 foot above it to prevent him jumping out. He almost did it, so on we go w/ more 2X4's above that one. Bucks are very determined to get to the girls, lol.
Bucks can be housed in just about anything, but it needs to be strongly constructed. Last year we had 4 bucks in a 6' high chain link dog kennel, it worked well. The kennel was dug into the ground, and weighted down. The housing itself was simply a lean-to, but it was sturdily built, and screwed, not nailed together. One other important thing to remember is not to place the housing too close to the fence. This will help to prevent the bucks from jumping on it looking to get out. Your FENCE is the most important aspect of fencing your buck, and for that purpose, cattle panels work GREAT. With cedar (or other) posts placed every 4 feet, and in the ground about 2-3 feet these are virtually unescapable.
We lived on a goat dairy while attending college, and we did have occasion to observe this behavior.
At one time, I was sent to get a buck. I was rather surprised at his previous enclosure. It reminded me of a POW camp. This buck's pen was on a concrete slab. It had solid wooden posts with ceramic insulators on them. Ceramic insulators on the inside pointing inward and insulators pointing outward. There was barbed wire strung horizontal at six inch intervals all on ceramic insulators on the inside and going up six foot high. On the outside were more ceramic insulators holding hog wire fencing. Along the top of the pen's fencing was more barbed wire on arms to form a 'Y', with one arm reaching inward over the pen and the second arm reaching outward. The pen's gate was in two pieces, one inside gate that was like a metal bed frame suspended on insulators, and an outer gate that was set in a wooden door frame. All of that hog-wire, all of the internal barbed-wire, all of the barbed wire strung up high above the fence; it was all electrified.
The buck was beautiful, some kind of a cross-bred a Nubian with some mountain goat in him, long belly hair, a goat-tee and huge thick curled horns that curled and the tips were pointing forward.
The previous owners told me that such an exotic pen was needed as they had a lot of does and needed this to control the buck.
I lead him away with a leash. He was docile in the truck. When I got him home he was great with our herd.
Our land-lady had a standard hog-wire fence with one strand of electric wire on the inside. We never penned him separately from the ladies. He did have issues with anyone who touched his horns, and he would then get aggressive. But if I kept a nanny between me and him, I could scratch his back and he loved it, so long as I avoided touching his horns. Aside from that, we never had any problems with him and our fencing.
One bordering property was a pear orchard, when the pears were nearing ripeness; all of the goats would leave their fenced pasture to climb pear trees. Not just the buck, and all of them. It was a round-the-clock issue to chase them out from the pear orchard. The draw was too strong for them, they liked pears.
The buck when kept with his ladies was very mellow and never tore up anything.
It is my understanding that the same behavior happens with horses, trying to keep a stallion penned up within eye-sight of mares is difficult.
A bull penned up near cows, will do this as well.
As a child we often had a bull on my family's property. We would treat him watchfully, but we never attempted to pen him separately from his cows. We never had the fencing that would have been required to hold a bull separate from his cows. Even as a child I could herd all of them, together from one pasture into another pasture.
I seem to recall that one time I was moving them from one pasture to another pasture, and the bull did not want to be moved. I was told to just move the cows and to leave the gate open. Once the bull realized that he was alone, he changed his mind and he followed the cows.
I think that most males want to get to the females. Once full access is gained to the females, the 'problem' goes away.
I think that most males want to get to the females. Once full access is gained to the females, the 'problem' goes away.
You are 100% correct my friend, however, most goat breeders (at least around here) need or prefer to keep their bucks seperate from the does. This is because of course they want to control when pregnancies occur. :0) So I suppose it would work to pen them together if you don't mind not knowing when kidding will occur, but for us (and most I've talked to) they need control to prevent middle of the winter births. Course, I'm the crazy one that does kid in the winter to have those babies for the spring. lol
(your housing still rocks, btw) You know I like free and easy!!!
We intentionally kidded in winter too. We had Valentine babies a couple of times. I had more time to milk in winter than the rest of the year.
There's a covered hole in the back wall of my barn because of a Toggenburg buck in rut. He was in a box stall behind two doors. He opted for the outer wall. He didn't work his way out but he had a good start when I got home. He went to the livestock trailer and kept us awake all night and dented the trailer. He left in someone else's trailer a few days later.
Yep MW, he'd have been gone from here too. We've had only one buck that we've had to get rid of, for two reasons. The first was that he broke out of any and ALL housing that we had, and the second was his attitude. He thought he was king of the world, and would do anything to get to his girls, including butt people and put them up against walls. I won't have that... my bucks are expected to be as gentle as my does. Funny thing was, he was only 10 months old when he left here, and had never bred a single girl. We weren't ready to breed when he came available, so we got him before breeding was planned. He left quickly. Went to a lab in Vassalboro, and is now on a program where he lives like the king he thinks he is, chain link fencing, lush pastures, etc. He gives a pint of blood per month, which is then turned into testing kits for thyroid cancer. Living a great life, and giving back. He was "fixed" and the attitude went away from what I hear. lol
Oh, yes, and just to clarify, when I say my bucks are expected to be as gentle as my does, that means that I can walk into the pen WHILE my bucks are "working" and not have them take an attitude. They just do their "job" and finish, I'm there for the doe's safety. My bucks are both very gentle and sweet. That being said, they ARE working animals, and I'd never leave a child unattended with them the way I might my does. But I bet I COULD...
I'm thinking of getting a couple of pygmy goats (does) just as pets.
If anyone has any experience with goats please give me the pros and cons.
Are they ok in this kind of cold?
I've seen all these little goats keeping horses company and they've stolen my heart. I also fell in love with a donkey down the road (I swear he runs to me when he sees me...of course I feed him). I think a goat's size makes them a more reasonable critter for me.
Thanks for any advice you have.
I have some biases towards the pygmy's because in order to make them show quality they need to have astronomical problems giving birth-get nigerians.
Anyhow I lived in the county since 2001 and I have observed people keeping goats I have kept goats. They do okay in the weather-you need guardian dogs or donkeys.
If you have a whether or buck you need to give them a chemical ammonium chloride to keep them from getting kidney stones. THEY WILL DIE FROM KIDNEY STONES IF YOU DO NOT GIVE THEM THE CHEMICAL ammonium chloride. I did not take the advice from people who knew better and followed the advice of a "natural" type...the result a dead goat.
I have some biases towards the pygmy's because in order to make them show quality they need to have astronomical problems giving birth-get nigerians.
I hardily agree! This is one of the topics where I have little tolerance. I don't think it's ever a good idea to breed animals that need to have problems giving birth, especially when it's to make them look pretty in a ring. Those are the animals that need to be culled. Survival of the fittest is much better overall than nursing along unfit animals to pass along poor genetics.
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If you have a whether or buck you need to give them a chemical ammonium chloride to keep them from getting kidney stones. THEY WILL DIE FROM KIDNEY STONES IF YOU DO NOT GIVE THEM THE CHEMICAL ammonium chloride. I did not take the advice from people who knew better and followed the advice of a "natural" type...the result a dead goat.
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Good luck.
It you take them off manufactured feed and feed them a healthy diet their bodies are designed to eat you'll do a lot to eliminate urinary calculi. We're creating problems that don't need to occur. I didn't know I shouldn't be feeding the goats so artificially. That's how most everyone else was feeding their goats. Then Buddy went down with urinary calculi. He wasn't "just a goat," he was Buddy. So, the vet came, she put him under and right there in the back yard, Buddy got a catheter. He lived with the catheter for most of his ten-year life. The vet came back once to clean the calculi from the catheter once. He was calculi free for six or seven years on a healthy diet of well-managed grass and browse. For those of you thinking 'ewwwww!' it stuck out less than 1/2" and unless you knew it was there, you wouldn't know.
That said, Maine is well known for being selenium deficient. It can be a problem for animals and plants (yes, even plants!) on both natural and unnatural diets. Selenium deficient land can be restored. Until the land is remineralized we do need to make up for that missing selenium to avoid white muscle disease and other problems.
[/b]I hardily agree! This is one of the topics where I have little tolerance. I don't think it's ever a good idea to breed animals that need to have problems giving birth, especially when it's to make them look pretty in a ring. Those are the animals that need to be culled. Survival of the fittest is much better overall than nursing along unfit animals to pass along poor genetics.
[b]
It you take them off manufactured feed and feed them a healthy diet their bodies are designed to eat you'll do a lot to eliminate urinary calculi. We're creating problems that don't need to occur. I didn't know I shouldn't be feeding the goats so artificially. That's how most everyone else was feeding their goats. Then Buddy went down with urinary calculi. He wasn't "just a goat," he was Buddy. So, the vet came, she put him under and right there in the back yard, Buddy got a catheter. He lived with the catheter for most of his ten-year life. The vet came back once to clean the calculi from the catheter once. He was calculi free for six or seven years on a healthy diet of well-managed grass and browse. For those of you thinking 'ewwwww!' it stuck out less than 1/2" and unless you knew it was there, you wouldn't know.
That said, Maine is well known for being selenium deficient. It can be a problem for animals and plants (yes, even plants!) on both natural and unnatural diets. Selenium deficient land can be restored. Until the land is remineralized we do need to make up for that missing selenium to avoid white muscle disease and other problems.
I have to disagree Maine writer if you live somewhere where summer is short like Aroostook County and winters are tough one needs some grain in the diet to keep healthy animals.
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