# A couple questions about bucks/wethers



## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

Hi!

I may have a buck kid, or two, in a few months, and was wondering about a couple things. If I plan on butchering him, is it necessary to wether? When does it become too LATE to wether? And when is it too late to butcher him as a buck, if ever. 

Also, when are they capable of breeding, as I'll need to make sure to separate before then.

Thanks a million for sharing your knowledge with me. :thumbup:


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

Ok - I am going to answer what I know first  

Bucklings can start acting "bucky" as early as 4-6 weeks - but they really do not know what they are doing until about 4 months - then you definately want to seperate them. 

As far as butchering - what I have heard is that they should be wethered at least 4-6 weeks prior to butcher to get the "bucky" taste out. However, some will say that you don't need to wether at all.

There is not a set time to wether them - but others will know what is better for the meat goats

Sorry that I was not more help!

Allison


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

Any info is great info!

Thank you. :greengrin:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

depends on what breed of goat you are getting how soon you need to separate. But by 4 months they are usual pretty bucky


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

We have dairy goats and meat goats, and I've eaten bucks from both breeds. Even though they were young bucks(anywhere from 6-9 months) they were all bucky tasting. ugh, horrible.

We wether the bucks around 6-8 weeks of age. Bucks become sexually mature and can breed(and have bred) as young as 2 months of age. 3 months seems to be the medium.

We wether all bucks that have not been previously reserved by a buyer. There is no difference in the growth rate between castrated and uncastrated goats, even though people say there is. They all seem to grow the same, and the taste is sooooooo much better when they are castrated.

There is no time it is to late to wether, but certain procedures cannot be done at later ages. On older bucks, having your vet do surgical castration is usually the best option.


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

I apologize for taking so long to respond!!

The possible bucklings would be from my possibly pregnant doe, who can be seen in the forum "Kidding Koral" under the topic "Pregnant or no? Updated with pics and ?'s". So the breed is pretty much unknown, though best guess is a type of nigerian mix. She is a miniature though.

I had hoped to hold onto one possible buckling long enough to breed again (any resulting kids would be for the freezer), however, if he will taste "bucky" I'd rather not, and I can't garuntee being able to sell a buckling or even an older wether in my area. I had just thought of it as a possibility as I can't seem to find any other goat keepers in my area! I know they're there, somewhere, just haven't been able to contact any. However, I will have 10 or so months of milk, that should be plenty of time to find someone with a suitable buck, right?

Thank you so much for your help.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

start searching on the net. find flyers at your feed store etc. Even if they don't have the breed you are looking for you can contact them anyway and see if they know someone with nigerians etc. goat people dont mind being contacted about goats


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## enjoytheride (Oct 5, 2007)

I have never had anything but bucks and the meat was just fine. But this year I will have my first wether.
Timber has a demand out there for her doelings so I always trade her doelings for bucks but this year one of the trades was for a wether- so I will finally get to try it. I suspect it will not make any difference from what people I've heard say. Almost all here just let the bucklings alone if they are intended for meat. No disbudding or wethering.
But all my meat producing goats are butchered by 5-6 months.


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

I just sold a buckling, he was 4 months old, too a family from Puerto Rico (she works for Hubby). It was for the fathers-day dinner for the grandfather. They said he was wonderful (he was still with his mother, and she was still nursing him, but he was also eating hay and a little grain). Since I'm a newbie, I hadn't wethered him yet and that was great as far as they were concerned. I'll have a customer forever with these folks, they actually prefer them "intact", some "macho" thing I think. 

It was good to find out I have a market for my extra bucklings. I don't even have to advertise, all I have to do is call them and let them know how many I have available and between them and their extended family and friends they'll take them all they said. 

There is an "ethnic calendar", that tells you what people want for certain holidays. Sometimes they want intact, sometimes it doesn't matter. I have heard Jewish folks have a ceremony were the Rabbi, sacrifices the kid, but it's done VERY humanely. Interesting.


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

I'll definitely be watching sale ads in the area, and try to make contact that way. I KNOW there is a person who keeps a nice sized group of what look like pygmy goats a ways down the highway, and I know there's at least three boer goat breeders in the area (they may be too big for breeding too, however, they may know someone!).

As for any possible future bucklings, it looks like that's a desicion I'll have to make at the time. There are alot of ethnic families in my area, in fact, my neighbor's are the ones who had me try cabrito for the first time! So it's not as bleak as it seems!

:greengrin:


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