# Doe and Buck Vs Billy and Nanny



## NubianFan

Ok so I just started my foray into the world of goats but I grew up in the country on a farm. We always called male goats Billies and females Nannies, and of course the castrated male Wethers. The babies we called Kids. When I started researching goats everyone called the males Bucks and the females Does and the female babies doelings and the male babies bucklings and the castrated males were still Wethers. Somewhat like deer. I just wondered what y'all thought about the terminology? Do you call anything a billy or a nanny or a kid? If so what do you consider the difference between a billy and a buck a nanny and a doe, or is it just different terms for the same thing in your mind? Just wondering.


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## NyGoatMom

I think I heard that the old terminology holds a negative aspect to it...can't remember exactly but I heard it is deemed appropriate to use Doe, Buck vs. Billy, Nanny...


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## lottsagoats

I always use the correct terms-Buck, does, bucklings, doelings, wethers, etc. Always have in 30+ years of goats. I never use Nanny or billy. To me that sounds like slang and is degrading and demeaning to the animals.


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## Sylvie

Buck, doe, kid, & wether. 
The difference between a buck & a billy: $$ 

(from http://www.boergoats.com/clean/articleads.php?art=857)
OK... so what's the difference between a buck and a billy; between a doe and a nanny?
In my mind it's quality, not pedigree. A male goat with outstanding conformation to breed standards and great production records is a buck. A female goat with those same qualities plus great mothering capabilities is a doe. All others are either billys or nannys.


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## NyGoatMom

sylvie said:


> the difference between a buck & a billy $$ :d


 :rofl:


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## TDG-Farms

Billy and nanny are slang words. Most goat owners roll their eyes at people who use the slang. So depending upon how "into" goats someone is the more likely they are going to use the correct terms, Buck and Doe. No harm in what you call em though. I call udders, sacks just to annoy my other half. Though the correct slang would be bag. I also liked what I heard from a Montana cattleman one time. "Oh so you raise goats? The poor mans cattle"


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## NubianFan

After drinking the milk I am thinking he may have the poorer option. I used to LOVE cow's milk I drank so much I developed an allergy. (at least that is what my allergist said) I had always heard that goat's milk was strong tasting, after tasting it, to me it is much tastier and creamier.


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## NyGoatMom

TDG-Farms said:


> Billy and nanny are slang words. Most goat owners roll their eyes at people who use the slang. So depending upon how "into" goats someone is the more likely they are going to use the correct terms, Buck and Doe. No harm in what you call em though. I call udders, sacks just to annoy my other half. Though the correct slang would be bag. I also liked what I heard from a Montana cattleman one time. "Oh so you raise goats? The poor mans cattle"


Well I think getting "poor mans cattle" would be a wiser choice....I mean, cleaning up after a goat...or a cow.....hmmmmmmm Easy choice for me! LOL


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## TDG-Farms

LOL you so hit the nail on the head!!!



Sylvie said:


> Buck, doe, kid, & wether.
> The difference between a buck & a billy: $$
> 
> In fact im putting that into my sig


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## happybleats

I was told the difference between and buck/Doe vrs Billy/nanny is like the difference between Walmart and Target lol

but its just a term some grow up using...and are used to..


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## toth boer goats

It stems from old school terminology, years ago, goats, were just goats, kinda thing. Some people still feel that way and we do not like hearing it. But some of the old schoolers, still call them nanny and billy. I have a goat friend, that still calls them nanny and billy. He is a brusher.
Now, they are highly respected and shown, the terms changed to Buck and Doe, cause goats are not just goats anymore.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces

I use Doe, Buck, Doeling, Buckling, Wether terminology. I also use Senior Doe, Junior Doe, Milker, etc
I've never used nannie or billie...


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## Texaslass

I think "buck" and "doe" just sounds way more refined than "nanny" and "billy". It makes me think of deer, which are so elegant, versus an old, shaggy, stinky horned goat, such as people who are also under the impression that "goats eat tin cans" might think of when someone says goat.


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## Sylvie

TDG-Farms said:


> LOL you so hit the nail on the head!!!
> 
> 
> 
> The difference between a buck & a billy: $$
> 
> 
> 
> In fact im putting that into my sig
Click to expand...

Thank you  I actually heard it somewhere else...although now I'm not sure where


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## NubianFan

Now see... I don't even like, Target never have. And I hate it when people pronounce it like a French word without the t sound. To me Target isn't anymore refined than Wal-Mart in fact it is the cheesier option. LOL Maybe it is different in other towns or states, but our Wal marts are clean and organized and well stocked and our Target's are dirty, sloppy, and just ewww. Now I would have understood that better if someone said the difference between Wal-Mart and Dillards. (no offence to you HappyBleats, just my Wal-Mart rant LOL) 
We grew up calling them nannies and billies but rabbits buck and doe, I always thought that was weird, to me, the goats were closer to deer than rabbits so calling goats buck and doe makes more sense to me, but it also makes me think rabbits should be called something else. By the way, we have a male rabbit my daughter named BuckEye Joe. I just think that is a funny name.


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## Texaslass

NubianFan said:


> We grew up calling them nannies and billies but rabbits buck and doe, I always thought that was weird, to me, the goats were closer to deer than rabbits so calling goats buck and doe makes more sense to me,


I always thought that too! Though my sister, who just recently got a Holland Lop, was telling me the other day how rabbits work rather like goats ( they have rumens, eat hay, etc.), so it made a little more sense to me then, but I still think it's weird. :shrug:


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## happybleats

> no offence to you HappyBleats, just my Wal-Mart rant LOL)


no offence taken lol..around here its the other way around..Walmarts are unkept and trashy and Targets are more like a Dillards lol..


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## .:Linz:.

I use buck, doe, buckling, doeling, wether, and kid. 

I also tend to, when window shopping for goats, scroll past the ads that use billy and nanny in their titles - perhaps wrongly, but my reasoning is that a person who's serious enough about their goats will use the correct terminology, those who are just-for-fun backyard breeders (nothing wrong with that per se, just not my goal for my herd) tend to use billy and nanny.


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## NyGoatMom

NubianFan said:


> Now see... I don't even like, Target never have. And I hate it when people pronounce it like a French word without the t sound. To me Target isn't anymore refined than Wal-Mart in fact it is the cheesier option. LOL Maybe it is different in other towns or states, but our Wal marts are clean and organized and well stocked and our Target's are dirty, sloppy, and just ewww. Now I would have understood that better if someone said the difference between Wal-Mart and Dillards. (no offence to you HappyBleats, just my Wal-Mart rant LOL)
> We grew up calling them nannies and billies but rabbits buck and doe, I always thought that was weird, to me, the goats were closer to deer than rabbits so calling goats buck and doe makes more sense to me, but it also makes me think rabbits should be called something else. By the way, we have a male rabbit my daughter named BuckEye Joe. I just think that is a funny name.


Just like it seems so weird to me how people call their rabbits a "herd"...I keep mine separate from each other except for breeding....so "herd" seems ridiculous to me!

Oh and here? Wal-Mart is unorganized, dirty, filthy bathrooms and I hate having to go there...but Target is clean, organized and well stocked. LOL


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## MsScamp

Around here the old-timers use billy and nanny, but this is cow country and goats are not taken seriously for the most part. I refer to goats as bucks, does, doeling, buckling, and wether.


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## milkmaid

It depends on who I'm talking to. I use whatever terms the other person uses.  Generally I use buck and doe. But I don't think "billy" and "nanny" are the least bit offensive when said politely. I've never heard them used derogatorily anyway. And besides, I think they're cute, and I hope they don't become taboo like so many other perfectly good words have done. :roll:


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## NubianFan

I wonder if it is because I am in Arkansas closer to the corporate offices that makes the Wal-Mart's better here. Maybe they get surprise check ins by corporate officers more often or something.


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## NyGoatMom

Could be....our K Marts and Targets are cleaner...by far...and have more registers open too


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## NubianFan

I like K-Mart I wish more people did because I am afraid they are going to go out of business. We only have one left anywhere close around here and it is about a 45 minute drive. I like their shoe department so much better than Wal-Mart's I like their Jaclyn Smith clothing line too. No one is ever in there though, it is just sad to me. I remember Magic Mart back before Wal-Mart got so big and popular. Our town had a Magic Mart before we had a Wal-Mart and as a kid I was so mad when Wal-Mart put Magic Mart out of business. I don't guess Magic Mart exists anywhere anymore, at least not that I know of anyway.


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## NyGoatMom

Never heard of it...we had Ames...lol


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## IvyMayPygmyGoats

I say billy and Nanny because to me a Doe and Buck I used when talking about my rabbits and it gets confusing


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## SFCCracker

Hello all. I think IvyMayPygmyGoats is on the right track. The terms billy and nanny immediately denote goats, rather than deer or rabbits. Coming from an old Florida farm family that is the terms I heard. Why? most of the old timers didn't like to spend time explaining something when one concise word will do.


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## toth boer goats

LOL, my friend calls them billy and nanny, it bothers me each time.


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## JML Farms

I've always thought it was a regional thing. Kinda like here we say "tank" others say it's a pond. We say "supper" others call it dinner. We call all sodas a coke....like when you ask someone "what kinda coke ya'll want?". My Kentucky kinfolks call sodas "pop". But as far as billies vs bucks and nannies vs does....even the San Angelo market report lists them as billies and nannies. The USDA market report uses both. I guess it doesn't matter to me unless me calling my billy goat a buck makes him more valuable! Like calling rust on a pickup "patina"😆


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