How To Keep A Buck

It can be hard to keep your buck separated from your does if you are a small goat farm and do not have a whole lot of room. I have heard about many different people having problems with accidental pregnancies in goats because their buck or does jumped or broke down fences or gates to get to each other. When a doe is in heat she will do crazy things to get to a buck and if a buck can tell she is in heat he will also do all he can to get to her. It is just their natural instinct, you can't really blame them.

Some people will just keep their buck in with their does year round and he will breed whenever and the does will kid whenever. We prefer to have all of our does to kid at the same time so that we can check on them more often during this kidding time just to ensure they do not have problems. This may be an option for you if you do not care when you have kids hit the ground and you also have the time to check on them more frequently.

Some people that raise goats do not keep a buck on their farm at all. They will use artificial insemination to get their does bred. This can be an option for you too if you do not have the space to keep a buck. This can get pricy (depending on genetics of the semen that you want) and AI does not always stick. There is only a 50 to 70 % success rate for AI. So you could have to do AI several times until you have a successful bred. We do not have experience with AI and have always naturally bred our does.

Another way to not have to keep a buck year round is just rent one or take your does to someone else that has a buck. Be careful in doing this. Make sure that their herd is clean and yours is as well so that you do not spread any diseases to each other.

If you find yourself in the place that you have to have a buck year round on your farm it is not that bad. There are ways to protect your does from getting bred at the wrong time. We have the best way to keep them separate. We have the does at the main farm and the buck at our other house a few miles away. Now, I do understand that many people will not have the opportunity to do it this way, but if you can this is a great way to keep a buck and ensure that you have no accidental pregnancies. Just a reminder that goats are a herd animal and they do need a companion. We use one or more young bucklings to keep our buck company. A wether is also a great companion for your buck.

If you have to keep your buck on the same farm as your does and you want to keep them separate it is best if they cannot see each other. So, if you can keep them on opposite sides of the farm that is great. But don't worry if you do not have the space for this; you do have some other options of keeping your buck. If they can see each other make sure that you have the buck in a secure pen. I have seen that some people keep their bucks in stall like pens. They were very strongly built pens and were large enough for the buck to comfortably live. There have been others that keep their bucks out on pasture but they make sure that there is a tall strong fence in-between the bucks and the does.

Whatever way you decided to keep a buck or get your does bred is up to you. What works for you may not work for someone else. Share your horror and success stories about keeping a buck at your farm in the comments below. We can all learn from the failures and successes of each other.