# Opinions on a buckling



## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

I have a buckling that I'm going back and forth on whether or not I want to band him. He would just be commercial and used only on two does for what would be next years 4H wethers. I have a buck but he is really big and these two particular doe are yearlings so I'm afraid he might be a little too big for them. His kids also tend to be really big so for first timers I would prefer to use a smaller buck and hope that they have smaller kids.
He is currently 7 weeks which would mean that if I band him it will be in 2 weeks or leave him intact and take him off his mom. So can I please get some opinions on how he looks? If he would make a good wether sire or a better 4H wether. 
The pics were taken when he was 6/7 weeks old (Before anyone says anything I didn't use the prong collar on him, I just put it on him so I could figure out the size of a collar that would fit the kids)


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Prong collars are great tools especially with the more stubborn ones.
Love the chest width & horn spacing. What's his rear like?
Tell you what, if I go back & forth he get banded.
Personally I tend to believe that it's the amount of grain in last month or two not the buck that makes for big babies at birthing.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I think he is a nice looking boy. Have you tried to offer him for sale as a commercial buck? He looks nice and thick, love his chest, and he has some really interesting coloring on his face to go along with nice looks. If he has a good butt, I'd offer him as a commercial buck, no interest, then either band him or use him as a buck for your 2 young does


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## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

nancy d said:


> Personally I tend to believe that it's the amount of grain in last month or two not the buck that makes for big babies at birthing.


I believe that also but I only gave about 1lb of 16% per doe and grass hay. My kids were all twins over 10lbs except for a set of triplets (the above buck and his two brothers) and they were each over 8lbs. In the past with different bucks and the same grain ration the kids were usually twins around 8lbs.That caused me to worry that the size of the kids had something to do with my buck.

I just want to use him on my two does this fall, I think selling him afterwards will be easy. I think that he looks nice but I'm worried that that's because he's from my own farm and I'm partial. It's always nice to have an unbiased opinion


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## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

HoosierShadow said:


> He looks nice and thick, love his chest, and he has some really interesting coloring on his face to go along with nice looks.


The color is interesting. He started out solid red but as he gets older he is getting some white. When I bought his dad 2 years ago he was completely red. After the first year he had some roaning all alone his back and down his sides, but now he has white spots all over his body. It will be interesting to see how he sheds out.


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## midlothianffa (May 5, 2013)

He would make a nice buck IMO but look and see if he would be able to compare to whats winning in your local shows if he's looking about like the goats tht are placing you might want to leave him a buck so you can get more of his style and build in your herd


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## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

I reeeally like him. I wouldn't band him personally.


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## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

I don't know much about butts, does he seem narrow?


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Are both his testicles fully descended? They look a little uneven in that photo. If he has perfect teat structure and perfect bite and the testicles are A-Okay and he is on track to hit a good weaning weight then I would leave him intact. 

Using a younger/smaller buck will not result in smaller kids. That is a common misconception. If a buck comes from a line of large birthweights, then it will throw large birthweights regardless of how big he is. A buck can be from a line of 12lb birthweights but get stunted as a kid with coccidia - that doesn't change the genetics. Is this buck out of the buck that sired large birth weights this year? But with all that being said - the feeding program probably has a bigger impact on the birthweight than anything else as Nancy pointed out.


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## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

SalteyLove said:


> Are both his testicles fully descended? They look a little uneven in that photo. If he has perfect teat structure and perfect bite and the testicles are A-Okay and he is on track to hit a good weaning weight then I would leave him intact.
> 
> Using a younger/smaller buck will not result in smaller kids. That is a common misconception. If a buck comes from a line of large birthweights, then it will throw large birthweights regardless of how big he is. A buck can be from a line of 12lb birthweights but get stunted as a kid with coccidia - that doesn't change the genetics. Is this buck out of the buck that sired large birth weights this year? But with all that being said - the feeding program probably has a bigger impact on the birthweight than anything else as Nancy pointed out.


Thank you for explaining that, I was thinking smaller as in when he breeds them he won't physically be too big for them. I wasn't taking genetics into consideration though with birth weights. Since it will be winter when they kid I will have to really be careful with what and how much I feed them.

His bite is good and he is 1x1. I went out and checked him over just to make sure but he wasn't uneven in person so I'm thinking that it must have been the angle.


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