# How do you keep your bucks?



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Before we had good goats we just let the does and bucks run together and let nature happen. Now we plan the kidding and keep the bucks separate. Over the last two months it has become more difficult. When a doe goes in heat, the bucks go crazy and tear through fences to try to get to them. We have about a dozen pens on the 15 acres and we rotate the does and bucks around so they keep getting fresh land . I am tempted to make a buck only pen with very strong fences, but I like rotating all the goats. 

What do you do to keep you bucks healthy and secure?


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

We keep our buck on the other side of the house with a wether buddy. Right now our new young buck is living with the does. Kind of didn't want two 9 mo olds bred but that's the way it goes.
If you have that much space I would him on some far side a couple of pens away.


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

our bucks are housed away from our ladies...once breeding time hits we set up a breeding pen...girls come into heat and she goes in the pen...we open the bucks pen gate and he runs to the pen lol...its getting the buck back into their own pen when his job is done that gets interesting lol..
I have the two big guys in a pen about 1/2 acre or so...a large shelter..and the nigies are on the other side where they share the shelter but its walled off ...even though Amos is a gentle buck..hes still 350+ # so I wont risk my nigie boys with him...they have about the same size pen. SO far I have had no issue with worm load...

Maybe you can make a stronger pen for the bucks during rut and once they settle down, go back to rotation


----------



## Riverside Fainters (Feb 6, 2013)

My boys (7 month old and 21 month old) share a lean together, their pen is made out of cattle panels and t-post. I am lucky enough that my big boy is docile and doesn't test the fencing, and therefore teaching his son/buddy to not as well. Have not had a issue. When we breed we have a sliding trap door that opens up into one of the stalls inside the shed, let the boys in, put the one out that you don't need out again, let the doe in with him.


----------



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Is there a rut period? If so, it seems to be now. 

We keep them at least two pens apart and that second pen has always caught them, but yesterday he broke through the second right as I got home from work. Luckily I was there.


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

what breed do you raise? I believe Boer are year round breeders but have a strong season, like nigerian..Dairy goats season is roughly, August through January...Nubian having the longest run over all the other dairy breeds. We peek here about September, where the hormones seem to fly high lol The boys are in rut during this whole time frame. 

For our big guys ( Amos and Storm) we use cattle panels and t post...like riverside, they are not fence testers by Amos likes to stand on his fence which after time leans it forward. We had to brace it this year. But we have never had anyone come over it. A friend has a lamancha buck who is 2 years old and she cant keep him in at all...so it depends on the buck..some need stronger and taller fences.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

How do I keep my bucks? Well I happen to have one living in my horse trailer right now lol that has been the only pen to keep him in so far  but seriously I'm in the same boat as you and yes I totally suggest putting them where they can't even see the girls. I'm making a buck only pen also soon and they are also going on the other side of the house. I'm also going to make their pens out of pipe. The beef panels are just not cutting it so let them bang their heads on some pipe and see how far that gets them!


----------



## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

For breeding season, we keep our 3 bucks in their own separate breeding pens (I attached a picture) and bring the girls in as planned. About 1 to 2 does per buck per month. The pens are made of goat/sheep panels and 4" wooden posts instead of t-posts. We even placed cement on the first few feet of the pen.

We actually had to add 2 rows of steel pipe to every side of one of the pens to keep our one buck in. He can find any possible way out of a pen. He looks like he is in a prison cell now! He hasn't gotten out of the newest pen, but he has bent the steel pipes. Our other two bucks are not troublemakers and stay in their pens like normal!


----------



## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

^^^ this is what we want to do...we want to have one large pen for year round that closes off into single pens with a hall way between each so fence fighting doesnt happen if there is doe in with a buck...to bring the doe to the buck would be awesome!!


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I keep all mine together in secure fencing. Never had a problem.


----------



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

They are Boers. He mainly stands on the fence and he crushed it down. Then he walks over. He just learned this. It doesn't help that one doe is have in heat. She it talking to him and pacing back and forth as close as she can get. 

We just went to the store and bought 5 cattle panels. We put them on the inside of his current pen to strength it on the side towards the girls. 

When the buck got out, I put him in the stock trailer until I could make a plan.


----------



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Does an electric fence work on bucks in rut?


----------



## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

Our bucks wouldnt dream of testing our hot wire.


----------



## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

90% of our fencing is 5 strands electric wire. The bucks share a fence line with the does.


----------



## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

I have a separate buck pen with a breeding pen - I put the buck and doe into the breeding pen. 
all my bucks are together but I would never add a buck during rut.


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I currently only have 1 working bucks pen, but 2 more are in the works, so they can be rotated during different times of the year.


----------



## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

I use electric and mesh and never had the problem of my boys getting out. I have had one doe jump 2 fences to get into the bucks...


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I use cattle panels and run a couple of strands of electric fence along the inside to keep them off the fence. In the winter, they each have a heavy duty wooden pen in the barn.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

How do you guys keep your bucks from pushing the other into the hot fence. They are always pushing each other into it till they ground it.


----------



## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

I have never had that problem.. Yes every now and again the fence breaks but I check it every day or 2 when I'm feeding. Maybe your fence is not strong enough? I'm not sure. Mine don't push each other into it very often.


----------



## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

Jessica84 said:


> How do you guys keep your bucks from pushing the other into the hot fence. They are always pushing each other into it till they ground it.


Mine will not touch our fence to save their lives. If it has a hot wire near it they stay back off it at all cost. A doe in raging heat won't even get them to come close. They completely ignore the doe until I bring her to the buck.


----------



## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Well I have had one accident. The side the doe was on didn't have electric but the buck side did. The doe back into the fence and the buck mounted her and finished whilst being zapped the whole time! That doe had been bred the day before and that morning by another buck and then this one got her. Although I am pretty sure I will know who dad is as both bucks are very different!


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

No they are not touching it them self they get to playing/fighting and one ends up in it. It's HOT it sounds like a dang bull whip when someone touches it. I'm probably going to end up making 3 separate buck pens anyways and the hot fence on the inside of each. But more then 1 in a pen with the hot fence is just not working for me


----------



## wndngrvr (Dec 10, 2011)

I have one nigerian buck who is pretty aggressive and has punched two holes in the wire fencing around his pen. For now we have pallets tied over the damaged area and he has hot wire all around. Will have to try something better after we can work in there. Our second NB doesn't act as aggressive but will see what happens as he gets older.


----------



## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Maybe this is a dumb question, but can they breed through a single cattle panel or chain link fence? That doe on Friday was the most crazy doe I have ever seen while in heat.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

gwith said:


> Maybe this is a dumb question, but can they breed through a single cattle panel or chain link fence? That doe on Friday was the most crazy doe I have ever seen while in heat.


Yes!!! Till last year I would say yeah right there's no way, but I had 2 doeling a magically become mamas even though they have never been in the same pen as a buck ever


----------



## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

Well I guess I am different from most. I have had bucks that are jerks to me but never really mess with the fences. When it's breeding season I put my buck in with the does and he stays with them until 2-4 weeks before the first doe is due or until I see him messing with a doe as her hormones change. Then he gets put into a pen by himself and hates life until it's breeding season again.


----------



## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

We have a buck pen that is separated from the girls by pasture. Our current buck has been pretty good though he does moan, groan and blubber a lot. We always have a wether friend for them. A few years ago AndCuriouser got out and made it through the pasture fence and nailed a 5 month old.
When I am pretty sure everyone is bred, like right now; I put the herd back together for the winter. That way they have the protection of the barn and Tommy can catch anyone who maybe did not catch or aborted. He also helps keep order as we have a pretty nasty queen who he keeps in line.


----------



## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

I never thought about it but the does always are much more behaved with the buck in with them. When he is not around they all fight.


----------



## cfish001 (Sep 1, 2015)

Right now our bucks are right next to our does and they share a common fence line. This is because we had the throw up the fencing quickly. We were moving back to our property and did not have any fencing up or shelter. had to get it up quickly to beat the bad weather. They were climbing the fence and ending up inside the pen with the does more than once. We went and purchased the hog panels and they couldn't climb the fence anymore. 

It is our plan to have a separate breeding pen where we can move the does to the buck. And for our bucks, it will have to be Fort Knox.


----------



## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

gwith said:


> Maybe this is a dumb question, but can they breed through a single cattle panel or chain link fence? That doe on Friday was the most crazy doe I have ever seen while in heat.


Yes they certainly can!


----------

