# Buying a buck vs. AI



## hscottom87 (Mar 21, 2013)

We are beginners to goat raising. My husband would like to purchase a buck in future when our herd gets a little bigger. We had a local breeder strongly advise us against buying a buck & to stick w/ AI or taking doe to another buck. He said they were difficult to keep in & more expensive to feed. We thought this was a "duh!" Thing & didn't think that was a good enough excuse to not buy a buck. It seemed like he was just trying to get us to come use his buck so I thought I'd pick ya'lls brain on the subject..


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Bucks do smell. When I had bucks, I really didn't find them hard to contain and my bucks were very nice and loved attention. It is one of those things that you need to decide for yourself. I don't have any AI experience but either you need to be able to rent space in a nitrogen tank or own one yourself so there are costs to that too.


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## TVFarm (Mar 25, 2013)

We have bucks and I couldn't imagine not having them. We raised both as bottle babies and smothered them with love and attention. They still think I'm mom. I can do anything with them even when they are in rut without ever getting butted or pushed. To help with the smell we shave them again when they start to go into rut. (No long hair to hold the stink) then once a week I take a wet soapy rag to their chest and front legs.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I own bucks and there is no issues with break outs or them harder to keep or harder to feed etc then does. Actually most bucks are friendlier then does when raised right and a young buck doesnt stink as much as an older buck will. The stink is the hardest part for me. 

as to AI from what I know (never done it) but you need to buy straws, thats a cost, and you need a tank, you have to get that tank filled every so often, thats a cost, then you need to take a class on it, another cost, buy the equiptment for doing AI, another cost and THEN after all that you need to know your does heat cycles and catch her at the very end of her heat so you can AI her. Its also not recommended to AI a maiden doe. So if you have any does who have never freshened you will need to have live cover their first time. 

I found that for the cost of breeding to an outside buck I was better off housing and feeding my own!


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## hscottom87 (Mar 21, 2013)

Buck smell never really bothered me. Some people find it repulsive & I'm standing there like what smell? Lol!


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## IFFGoats (Apr 8, 2013)

I have 7 buck/bucklings they have 20 acers to roam. So we rarely grain them. So if you have enough property (and fencing) it doesn't cost alot at all.


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## rdmtnranch (Mar 4, 2013)

My vet advised me against AI for financial and success reasons. He told me that with goats you are looking at around a thirty to fifty percent success rate and a lot more cost because of buying the semen then storing it then to have a better chance you need to regulate your does cycles with hormones and the semen only lives for 18 hours vs live semen for 24 hours. I didn't really have access to a buck within a three hour window so I bought one. I probably would of had my does covered by an outside buck if there was one around to give my does time to see what I needed to improve on. Then I could better choose the type of buck to get.


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## still (Mar 16, 2013)

The biggest benefit to AI is being able to introduce great genetics into your herd without having to pay for the buck. I don't know what kinds of goats you raise but I have a full-sized 3 yr old Nubian buck and I can't even weigh him with the goat "weigh tapes"! He's huge! When it was time for breeding I couldn't keep him in a pen if my life depended on it. He kept trying to go over to the neighbors place because she had goats too. I don't know what was wrong with my girls but apparently they weren't "sexy" enough. LOL! I've contemplated using AI myself.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Eh, pay for service your first season or two. I was real skeptical of owning a buck at first.
But my boys never really stunk; it was the smell of $. One in particular was easier to handle than some of the does.


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