# What are some of you doing for Big Buck's Shelter?



## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I am curious to how some of you all are doing for sheltering a large big horned Boer or other big buck. Our buck hadnt been a problem with his shed until last spring when the does abandoned him to go down the hill where he couldnt see them. He also had been so cooped up with the rain..Then a little sunshine, a little happiness, a lot of built up energy caused him to bang up his buck shed. We had to take it out.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

He has his spool that he loves and a huge tree to scratch his horns on. The spool is anchored down as he was loving pushing it to electric fence and had contemplated jumping over fence in this way but I caught him. He had a fit about us anchoring his spool down too and tried to budge and tip it. We are prioritizing a new buck shelter for rains coming soon.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

We had the same issue before...we had to dissemble our wood shelter ...because he had actually torn the heck out of it..and it was about to fall down ..it was so frustrating and then the rains came....so I felt sorry for him and put in a calf hutch... he was fine with it until the rains stopped... then started bashing that too.... with alot of force...pushing and slamming from the inside......and moving it around....so.... we had to take that out as well...then we decided to sell him.... that helped the problem... we just couldn't get him to stop... :GAAH: :doh:


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Well, this buck of ours is really our first and seems to be getting bigger and badder with attitude. He is funny and does make me laugh. My hubby has been looking through some ideas for a solid safe shelter and has thought about the calf hutches.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Concrete bldg? hlala: Yeah I know, not much help. Just dont build it out of thin cedar planks & dont ask why.
If you can get discarded street brush rollers they make great rubbing/head butting devices.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

It is hard to stop them ...once they start slamming.... they get to the point to where... they want to destroy everything..very frustrating.....not sure.. what you can use... unless it is a extending high ceiling building and the walls are on the outside of the pen... :scratch:


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I will let you know what we come up with. he does have a bit of shelter for now under his feed trough area. He decided he shouldnt bang that up. Our kitten keeps trying to tease him by sneaking up on him and jumping at him and running for her life to get away. Crazy little gutsy thing.


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## megan (Aug 25, 2011)

I saw a goat shelter at a friends ranch that would probably work for you. She uses corrugated steel pipes cut in half, the really big ones used in water culverts. She buries the edges and part of one end in the ground. They are really heavy and because of the arch in the pipe the buck can't get his head flat against it to push or butt. However they are a pain to find and super heavy so hard to move.[attachment=0:3v4bbwf0]pipe.jpg[/attachment:3v4bbwf0]


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

LOL is the kitty named super kitty? I am just picturing that in my mind LOL

We only had the one adult buck, but he never destroyed his shelter - it was pallets with several thick tarps tied all the way around it <worked great too especially on windy winter days, no drafts got in>. 
We're making our new buck's shelter out of pallets too, nothing fancy at all, going to eventually put OSB siding on after we get the roof done. We'll most likely use tarps or something inexpensive and easy for the roof because we don't want to spend a bunch of $$ on roofing if for some reason it doesn't work out in the end like we want <it's kind of an experiment I guess LOL>. If he doesn't destroy it by spring, we'll invest more $$ and work into it, heh...


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

We have a wooden shed we made for our buck, its just plywood outer and he hasn't destroyed it yet. We did have to anker it down though, he'd push it like it was nothing, we'd have to get the tractor to put it back on the pad we had for it. I have a 100 gallon water trough out in his field now, he pushes that around. And there is an old fence post we never bottered to move that hes been beating up. We had him in a calf hutch temporarily, he would beat that thing up all day. I posted a video of him on one of these threads of him pushing it. The problem with that was that he would get it flipped upside down then I'd have to run out and rescue him in the pouring rain because he had no shelter. I had him in the barn with the does and it was a nightmare. We have an apt upstairs and at 4 am I'd hear him down there ramming the hay feeders :hair:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> I will let you know what we come up with.


 :thumbup:


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Megan, That is an awesome culvert shelter! It looks tough too. At least he wouldnt be able to climb on top of it..


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

Are bucks more destructive or is it b/c of the horns?

And why shouldn't I use cedar? (not likely due to cost, but just curious b/c my barn has cedar shingles)

I will have to build a buck house before the babies arrive but haven't finalized my plans yet. (and he may be getting a buddy too - the daddy of my little doelings might be for sale and he has the nicest temperament)


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

It is good to read what some of you have done for buck shelters. I am enjoying reading this. I am kinda embarrassed to tell you all that our first buck shelter could have ended his life by him breaking through it. We made it from a steel frame. My husband welds and had some square poles he obtained to weld up a metal frame. We covered it all from top to sides with heavy metal sheeting and fixed the edges under so there were no sharp edges. It was quite a sturdy hut. 
Then one day, big Mateo jumped on top of it. I heard this loud sound, and he was so proud of himself dancing on top of his roof making a loud thunder noise. I told him to get down and he actually obeyed promptly which surprised me.. Several days later he thought it funny to bang his head into the side. I went out there to see what the banging was all about and he had split the side of the metal open. OH MY.. it was instantly removed! He could have smashed his thick head/neck through, panicked like goats do and could have cut himself up extremely bad. I am so thankful this did not happen. So.. I tell you this because we had no idea these bucks can spontaneously get all full of bangful energy like this. He had a bad day and got bored. We just didnt expect that to happen. He is way stronger than we thought. I am sure the culvert metal shed would not bend open as that metal is so thick. It would be hard to even put a dent in that stuff and the roundness would strengthen it. I would not recommend ever using thick roofing metal for the sides on a boer buck's pen and we actually feel terrible even tho nothing bad happened to him.. it sure could have.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I am sure that you all have an image in your mind that we have some sort of a monster buck on our property. He really isnt that enormous. The metal split at a rivitted seam. I have seen some photos of metal sided barns and I think.. oh.. my.. that is not Mateo buck proof at all.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

He felt he is macho man...and brought that shed down with his mighty strength... :laugh: :wink:


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Ya he was proud of himself.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:laugh:


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## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

My bucks don't tear up their shelters (the horned ones did but that's why we don't keep horns on anymore) I have also noticed though that my bucks don't ever try to butt any of their shelters or playthings because they have eachother.. My boys LOVE to play...they spend everyday at dusk wrestling and growling and mock butting each other...then they curl up together and go to sleep.  Maybe your boy just needs a buddy to play with!


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Ya, he does get lonely. I know that is his frustration. It is his life as a lone buck. I am not sure how he would do with a 'lil' buddy. He may look at another buck as competition. He has the does where he can see them for most of the time. I know if he didnt have horns, he probably wouldnt be banging around as much but his horns are mighty and kinda set him apart as a rather dignified looking creature. He is quite proud of them and we like them on him. It makes him do power up things but... he is a BUCK and that's what they do I guess. Today, he was showing off by gently bumping his oak tree. He would run at it and then stop and bump it lightly. He is lonely but only for a while. In Three weeks the does will be rotating in for visits. My husband has come up with a pen idea. We will be sharing soon when we start it. He has his feed trough shelter that he leaves alone.


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