The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: macgro7 on September 14, 2016, 09:59:52 pm
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Hello
As you can read in another topic started by me ("sheep in the city?") I am debating whether to get shetland sheep or angora goats.
And I have a question to people who keep this breed:
I have read that angora are the only breed of goats which do not have the scent gland (males). Do females or wethers smell (stink...) like other breeds of goats or not?
Let be honest, other breeds of goats - even females - do have a very specific goats smell.
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When I had them I didn't think them particularly smelly. Just smelled of goat as much as sheep smell sheepy!
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Female goats and wethers of any breed DO NOT SMELL.
The angora bucks only smell in the breeding season and that tends to get stronger when the does are in season and wane a bit between. But they spray themselves the same as other goats.
I have five bucks here and their open fronted shed is getting quite strong each morning and they're not in with the does yet.
If you'd like to compare shetlands and angoras (and other breeds of goat and sheep) come for a day out to mid Wales.
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All animals have their own smell. I get told off for smelly horsey a lot, my house has a distinctly doggie aroma. Unless you find a smell really offensive then they are tolerable except breeding males, my rams really have turned the pong on and male goats can kill noses. So saying my father loved the smell of the male goats!
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I agree with all the other comments. Typically my goats don't smell any more than any other livestock. Certainly it is not something that would deter me from having them in close proximity to neighbours. The buck in season does though, as he is now, it is a very musky smell and like Buttermilk's father, I rather like it, though prefer not to wear it down the pub.
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I have two pet wethers, Anglo Nubian and a toggenburg. They do not smell at all goaty. Not at all.
But I don't know about angoras.
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I'm surprised you suggest female goats 'stink', they may have their own animal smell, no more than other stock, less than many, the only time I smell mine is when I rest my head against their neck, and i love that closeness and scent.
Of course, like any animal, if kept in unclean conditions they will smell, and probably gives them a bad name.
Certainly sheep smell more than goats.
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I meant the goat scent...
The goat scent is quite strong however. Or maybe I'm just more immune to sheep scent lol
Anyway I don't mind myself. I'm just worried about my wife who doesn't really like the goat SCENT ;)
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My pygmy goat wethers really don't smell at all, and as long as you keep their house clean that will stay non-offensive too :D
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It really is only the bucks that smell and then only at this time of year and some days worse than others. Most of the year they don't smell either.
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Maybe when you've met females and wethers they've been housed with bucks? The smell from intact males transfers to all he touches.
One of mine had been housed with a buck and took 4-8 weeks for the smell to dissipate! Maybe this is why you've found females/wethers to also stink?
I can smell females, they don't smell bad, but do smell a bit 'goaty' to me. The wethers don't smell goaty at all. People say fresh goats milk isn't at all goaty. But even when I've had it straight out of the pail I still taste the tang (and don't love it).
On a different note; I LOVE the way tup fleese smells! Must be The lanolin/pheromones or something!
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I meant the goat scent...
The goat scent is quite strong however. Or maybe I'm just more immune to sheep scent lol
Anyway I don't mind myself. I'm just worried about my wife who doesn't really like the goat SCENT ;)
Perhaps scent was the wrong word, but much better than stink ;D
Maybe if you both visited a goat keeper who keeps their stock properly you may change your minds, however I'm tempted to think angora will smell a little when wet? much the same as any animal really, our dog smells (stinks ;) ) when she comes in wet.
As in your other post, why not get a couple of cade lambs in spring, grow them on over summer, you'll have meat for your freezer or to sell, no hassle of feeding stock through the bad weather/ winter?
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Yes that's an option.
Or... I could get oussant sheep! I read somewhere that stocking density for this breed is 10 to an acre!
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My neighbour complained about the buck smell one year, surprised he noticed over the cattle and silage stink from his sheds.
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My neighbour complained about the buck smell one year, surprised he noticed over the cattle and silage stink from his sheds.
Your nose tunes out regular smells. My OH never could smell our cattle unless he had a day away from home and then the smell hit him as he returned. Mind you the first time he met a really rank billy goat he could not smell him until he went back to the car for something and then came back up the yard...