The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Steph Hen on November 23, 2016, 04:47:04 pm
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If you castrate a buck late, say age two, do they retain masculine traits or settle down, stop stinking and looking for ladies? Just wondered.
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That's interesting. Thanks
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I had my billies castrated late (over a year). The smell went, they stopped seeing on themselves and (sadly) lost their beards but they still chase and mount the ladies! No kids will ensue but they seem to like trying!
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If you wish to see some other Boer goats for comparison there are some members of the British Boer Goat Society in your area. See the membership by county page. We have wether Boers and ours do not have beards and are not sexually active. Weight gain is similar to that of intact bucks of that age. Intact bucks do have beards by 6-7 months are are pretty sexually active by 5-6 months. They are not overly smelly even if they do pee on their front legs. We feed our bucklings approx 400g twice a day of standard cattle nuts - typically 16% protein. If you condition score them as per sheep they ought to be 3. Ours are a little podgy at a 4 but they are commercial. There are a couple of good books on Amazon on raising meat goats. The books we recommend to our buyers are as follows: Storey’s Guide to Raising Meat Goats (2nd Edition) by Maggie Sayer. (Good diagrams). The Meat Goat Handbook by Yvonne Zweede-Tucker. (Lots of photos). Goat Health and Welfare by David Harwood.
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It's only 6 months for my boys.