Bucks Get a Grazing Paddock


The two buddies, grazing together in the forest, makes me happy

Today was a big day for the bucks (and us too). They got a paddock outside of their pen so they could browse and graze in the forest. Prior to today, I would chop down saplings and bring them fresh forage. Now they can harvest their own food.

With the bucks there's some worry about them escaping. We keep them outside the perimeter fence, so if they were to escape we're not too sure where they would end up. At least with the other animals we know they would be somewhere on our property. These boys could end up down the road if they got out. They are also much more difficult to control than the female dairy goats, so we generally keep them in their pen.

However, over the past few months they've gotten more comfortable and I've learned how to manage them a little bit better. I felt I could trust them not to run down I-40 to Nashville and am confident they would remain in or around their pen if they did escape. In fact, one time they busted through the fence and I found them right outside the pen browsing on some trees.

I set up a four strand polywire fence, ran a little chute out to their grazing cell and attached the wire to the electric fencing we ran across the top of their permanent pen. That way they always have access to their pen if they want it.

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Goat Buck Pen - The Finer Points



Electric fence insulator, gate handle and hot wire clip

The last post on the bucks omitted a lot of the little details about the pen that we just made up on the fly, but that might be helpful for someone looking to build a pen. Before we started frequenting the Co-Op and Tractor Supply I never knew most of the stuff we use everyday even existed. I hope that by sharing the details other readers who are interested in the little stuff can get a better idea of exactly how it's all put together. I'd also love to hear feedback and what other people have done that worked well for them.

As you can see in the photos above and below, we put an electric wire around the top of the cattle panel using 2" insulator attachments that we got from Tractor Supply. The purpose having it stick 2" inward is so when the bucks climb on the fence they get zapped on the head and learn not to do that. If they are allowed to climb the fence will slowly lean over and they'll be able to climb out (and it will look ridiculous). At each gate there is a gate handle so we don't have to duck under the wire if we don't want to or if we need to bring something into the pen.

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Goat Buck Pad


My lovely wife putting on the finishing touches

Male animals on the farm are a difficult proposition. They’re harder to manage, they’re stronger and they generally only have one thing on their mind. Yet you need them to make milk. If you don’t have babies you don’t have milk. So we needed some bucks to help us breed our ladies this fall for milk in the spring.

Enter Gozer and George. One is a Nubian (such as Bridget) and one is an Alpine (such as Mayday and Sabine, Queen of the Truck Roof). Both have excellent blood lines for milk production, which is a critical quality for our bucks. They are responsible for 50% of the genetics in our herd. Each doe has less of an impact than the bucks. Yet neither buck has produced kids, so we can’t be sure that their progeny will be up to par. But that’s the risk you take with bucks. No one wants to sell you their best buck, you almost always have to go with an unproven youngin’ from good blood lines.

 

 

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