# Buck Temperament



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Do you find the bucks of certain dairy breeds tend to vary in friendliness? Certain breeds more stubborn or attitude filled than others. Probe to aggression? 
And how do you manage your bucks during breeding season to keep them Behaving around people?


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## Kath G. (Jul 13, 2017)

I can't speak to generalities between breeds but I do believe within lines, definitely. I would also say that a goat willing to insert goat over human in herd order is somewhat hereditary, somewhat learned behavior.

How you manage bucks is a personal choice; I'm much more hands on than some. Much easier to keep an appropriate relationship between you, versus correcting the issue when the buck has a misunderstanding on who's on top (been there, done that). We do keep our bucks separate from the does all the time (we don't run a buck with the does), so if that's not your set-up, there might be different aspects to your buck keeping than I've experienced.

Squirt bottles, super soakers, etc, work okay (whoda thunk, when they seem to _like _a stream of urine, that a measly squirt of water would scare them?!) but they're smart; they see whether you have it or not; I get tired of hiding it, or I forget it. Since then, it has worked fantastically for us to discipline like a mama goat by grabbing an ear-- think a pinch without any nails-- and it sends the perfect message to someone being bratty, as opposed to appearing like another buck using challenging behavior. Halter training them and handling them, but imposing boundaries, helps a lot. Beyond that, I put them in situations to make them behave appropriately (as opposed to some people I know who design their pen, waterers & feeders in such a way that they don't need to enter the buck pen regularly at all-- not wrong, just a different style completely). Watch your herd queen, hopefully she is a gentle soul who rules kindly, and imitate her. She does not tolerate anyone budging her out of their way; they are expected to move for her. Similarly, when I bring food for them, they will remain respectful, they _will_ make room for me, they _will not_ crowd me, even as I put it out. Another example, they _will not_ crowd past me through the gate unless they are called out (my pet peeve there; I want to be able to walk in with my arms full of hay and not have them all run out!).


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

No matter how nice a buck seems, they are still male and can suddenly get stupid or aggressive, especially during rut. I have 10 dairy bucks in a big area together. I carry a riding crop just in case, and occasionally have to remind them with a cattle prod, if they get to excitable during feeding or breeding time.


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## mariella (Feb 23, 2017)

I find that bottle raised bucks tend to know you better and respect you more then dam raised bucks. As for breed I find Lamancha to be the sweetest but they get tunnel vision when in rut and don't see you in the way(As with all bucks). If we were going for which breed is my favorite I would say Nubian they seem to hear you more when in rut.
I always carry a crop(Sens one buck) with me but I have never had to use it.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I've only owned Alpine cross and full blood Nubian bucks, but from everything I've heard and seen from other buck owners, Nubians are generally the gentlest bucks around. Alpines are on the opposite end of the personality spectrum and tend to be more aggressive in general, and if a personality trait is in the breed it will tend to be magnified in the bucks. My Alpine/Nubian crosses tend to take more management and be more "testy" than my pure Nubians have been. All have learned manners, but the crosses took more training and we've had more issues with them fighting among each other and with the senior members of the herd than the Nubians, who seem to just get along with everybody from tiny babies to old grumpy pack wethers. There will be good and bad bucks among any breed, and all breeds can be trained to have good manners around people. But some will take more effort than others.


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## intrepid-dreamer (Jan 2, 2017)

In my experiance, the best tempered bucks seem to be lamanchas and saanans. My lamancha buck is super easy to handle, even in rut this last year, and even my son was able to handle him (with supervision)! The ones I have known with the worst temperaments are Alpines and Nigerian Dwarfs. That's probably because they are so little and cute that they are allowed to get away with all kinds of bad behavior well they are growing up, so that lack of discipline is quite obvious when they are all grown up.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

All good advice.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

My experience with bucks is limited. We have owned 3 buck. An older Nubian that was a dream to handle. He is gone now. We have on hand a Boer billy that is a pretty good gentleman but we had one occasion where we had an attitude adjustment and since then there have been no other issues. Also we have a coming year old in March Nubian buck. "Rowdy" that has become a nice boy but it took a couple of adjustments to his attitude to get there. His testosterone level was exceedingly high this fall and he had a hard time controlling himself. Now he is doing great. But I have plans to sell him this spring and purchase a Nubian buckling that is registered with great bloodlines that is out of some really big nice does and buck.


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## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Do you all find that keeping bucks together is a challenge? Is fighting an issue? I am inclined to have just one buck and a wether together and keep them separate from the does unless I have a doe ready to breed. I have yet to be very good at identifying when a doe is cycling, but sometimes I have at least potential clues. Also how far away does a buck need to be to keep the milk from being "goaty?" just separate? or separate with some distance?


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

I'm sure it depends on the bucks. My Nubian bucks get along famously. They've had a few fights where both end up with bloody heads from knocking off their scurs (I really wish they had horns!), but I've never had to separate them. In fact, I think they'd be very upset if I separated them. They're quite attached to each other and usually sleep curled up together. They also live with my older and larger pack wethers, so this may help keep their temperaments in check. Both my bucks are very gentle with the does and kids too, so for the most part I try to run them with my herd as much as I can. I separate them from the girls at night and any time someone is in heat. Right now the girls are pregnant so the bucks are living with them. I've not really had a problem with "goaty" milk except when the girls come in heat.


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## Kath G. (Jul 13, 2017)

My bucks call for each other the moment they're separated. Generally they only fight/headbutt when someone mature is introduced, or there's an upset in their herd order; but it's also short lived and usually not very intense. Sometimes the herd order gets changed and we don't even see them sorting it out.
When introducing a small/immature buckling, I have constructed creep areas and housing to where only a baby or half grown goat could fit... and I have doors at both ends, just in case a mature buck would worm in there. The creep areas ease my mind but they've been largely unused, as my bucks have welcomed little ones in and are very gentle. Not that I trust them for that, mind you; and I don't turn my back on any mature male animal; just reporting my experience thus far.

I also have heard stories about nasty bucks that purposefully urinate on you any time you're walking past their stall, try to pin or hurt bucklings, try to butt you, that sort of thing... and those were also Nubians, come to think of it, so I think it just depends on what you're working with. Fwiw for me a nasty temperament like that would likely be used for meat, no matter how nice the conformation.


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## Madgoat (Jan 8, 2017)

Kath G. said:


> I can't speak to generalities between breeds but I do believe within lines, definitely. I would also say that a goat willing to insert goat over human in herd order is somewhat hereditary, somewhat learned behavior.
> 
> How you manage bucks is a personal choice; I'm much more hands on than some. Much easier to keep an appropriate relationship between you, versus correcting the issue when the buck has a misunderstanding on who's on top (been there, done that). We do keep our bucks separate from the does all the time (we don't run a buck with the does), so if that's not your set-up, there might be different aspects to your buck keeping than I've experienced.
> 
> Squirt bottles, super soakers, etc, work okay (whoda thunk, when they seem to _like _a stream of urine, that a measly squirt of water would scare them?!) but they're smart; they see whether you have it or not; I get tired of hiding it, or I forget it. Since then, it has worked fantastically for us to discipline like a mama goat by grabbing an ear-- think a pinch without any nails-- and it sends the perfect message to someone being bratty, as opposed to appearing like another buck using challenging behavior. Halter training them and handling them, but imposing boundaries, helps a lot. Beyond that, I put them in situations to make them behave appropriately (as opposed to some people I know who design their pen, waterers & feeders in such a way that they don't need to enter the buck pen regularly at all-- not wrong, just a different style completely). Watch your herd queen, hopefully she is a gentle soul who rules kindly, and imitate her. She does not tolerate anyone budging her out of their way; they are expected to move for her. Similarly, when I bring food for them, they will remain respectful, they _will_ make room for me, they _will not_ crowd me, even as I put it out. Another example, they _will not_ crowd past me through the gate unless they are called out (my pet peeve there; I want to be able to walk in with my arms full of hay and not have them all run out!).


I think we need a Goat Etiquette Clinic and Kath G. needs to be the head speaker! I have failed totally on the crowding" and waiting for me to dump feed.....


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## Kath G. (Jul 13, 2017)

You're very kind, but you learn all sorts of things when you're dealing with having done them wrong !
What's the saying... good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from poor judgement?


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

My Alpine bucks were the sweetest, easiest to manage bucks going. Never had a problem, never were challenged by them, great to handle even during rut.

I think it's more the individual buck rather than a breed. I've had Alpine, Nubian, Boer, Oberhasli, Sanaan, Lamancha and Nigerian bucks and none have ever been an issue. Most were bottle raised, some were dam raised. I always made sure that they were respectful of humans, my kids and me, from the very beginning.

I keep my bucks together spring, summer and the warmer part of fall. They do spar, but I have never had them fight to the point of injury. I currently have a Nubian, Lamancha and a Nigerian buck. They all get along well.

The bucks come inside when it's chilly outside. The 3 buck pens surround the milk stand, so the smell is very strong during rut. The milk has never picked up a taste from them being in the barn and only about 4-5 feet away from the stand.


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