# Two questions: Disbudding meat goats, and keeping a buck



## Udder Folks (May 24, 2013)

We jumped right in to the goat scene this year, including our purchase of three already-bred boer does. We'll be having our first kids in about three weeks! Our plan is to keep any baby girls, in order to grow our herd, and to raise any boys to butchering weight, and then have them for meat for our family.

Our does are disbudded, so I know we will want to do the same with any girls that arrive. My question is this: is there any reason to put any bucklings through the process of disbudding, if they are only going to become meat on the table?

Question #2: I am interested in getting our own buck. It only seems to make sense, for future breedings. But then, I'm wondering just how that works, as it seems that means he could end up breeding his own daughters. I love a quote a read somewhere, that said it is 'line breeding' if it works, and 'inbreeding' if something goes wrong. But really, what do people do? Keep buying new bucks?

Thanks for your help!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

I wouldnt bother disbudding anyone going for meat.
Now, if you want a buck who is also disbudded you are going to have to reserve one so that the iron can be brought out the first week of life. 
But it's going to take alot of research on your part & a trusted breeder who knows as soon as those kids hit the ground who has real potential as a herd sire & who does not.
Most meat breeders dont normally disbud.

Just throwing this out, you can use a buck for as long as you want. It all depends on your goals. I know breeders who line breed heavily but they are very seasoned people.


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## TrinityRanch (Mar 26, 2013)

We breed our buck to his daughter every year. There is never any line breeding problems and we get some great kids from them. I wouldn't go too far with it though. I have heard of a goat's father being the grandfather and the great-grandfather and the great-great grandfather, but it is not something I personally would do with my breeding program. Also, be sure that the buck's genetics that you are breeding in are desirable, so you are not breeding in bad qualities to all of your herd. Remember- Always grow in quantity _and _quality.


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## Udder Folks (May 24, 2013)

Thank you! Is there any problem in having a horned buck with my disbudded girls? I would plan on having them live separately except for at breeding time.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Hehe, he'll be too interested in doing his job.
Once ran a disbudded Nub with the Boer gals; guess who was queen?


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## Kaneel (Oct 7, 2012)

Try not to jump in too fast getting a buck. First, you need to figure out if it's financially better to find a nice buck up for stud in your area, or buy a buck and pay for it's upkeep. If you decide to buy a buck then, you will need to figure out where you will keep the buck, make a nice, sturdy fenced pen in case he decides to try and get at his girls early. If you plan to keep him in a separate pen, you will need to get him a buddy.

Then you need to do some research about what you want for your herd. Are they simply for the freezer? Are you breeding for show(4-h)? Come up with a budget, but do some research on general prices for each type of buck, so you can adjust it to fit around that, because if you want a phenomenal show buck for breeding, you should expect to pay quite a bit, if you go in with a low budget, you will get a lower quality animal. Regular bucks are certainly cheaper, but you may not get the muscling you would get on a show quality buck.

To solve your problem with linebreeding, even though it can be beneficial if you know exactly what to expect(traits, both good and bad, are enhanced), I know someone who buys a buck, keeps it for a year to breed to his does, and then sells it to buy a new one, that way they are never in/linebred. This can be difficult however, if you can't manage to sell your current buck or buy a buck decent enough to breed to.

Remember, your buck _is_ your whole herd, if you rush and buy a bad buck, most likely his kids will turn out bad.


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## Udder Folks (May 24, 2013)

Thanks for the great advice, everyone! I was just telling my daughter how amazing this is - all of you taking the time to share your knowledge with a newbie is much appreciated!


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