I have a small herd of dairy goats,(Nubian)and I am curious about using a disbudding iron in the area near the horn buds to cauterize/kill the scent glands on a buckling. I read about this in Caprine Supply Company's catalog, but have not seen any information about it in any of the goatkeeping literature I have.

Any or all information on this procedure and it's results would be greatly appreciated. There is rental property on our land, and it is hard enough to keep it rented without keeping bucks, so I breed outside our herd, but if it were possible to actually keep the scent under control, I may consider doing so.

Are the results significant enough to justify the additional stress the procedure would inflict on a kid? I have one really beautiful buckling this year I have not neutered yet, of a line some breeders in my area have been successful with, and am seriously considering the possibility.

Thanks for responding to my question.

-- Pat Johnstone (patjstones@scican.net), February 04, 2002

Answers

Pat...I've descented several Alpine bucklings one of which I kept til he was 5 yrs. old...with very little "buck" aroma. I now have a Nubian buck who is coming on 3 yrs. and he seems to be developing a more noticable odor, although not overpowering. Maybe it's a breed "thing"! The bucks will always have more of an aroma than the does, but the descented ones are MUCH less noticable! I don't think it causes that much more stress, just give him a break between burnings :-)! Mine are always bottle-babies so a bottle between burnings helps to take their minds off it. Good luck.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), February 04, 2002.

Why descent them? I don't particularly mind the smell, except on a hot, humid day. And even then, it's not that bad...except the one we called Stinky...he was vile. But we sold him, so it's O.K. now. I figure it just comes with the territory.

-- (imashortguy@hotmail.com), February 04, 2002.

Pat very honestly you can't descent. The smell in an older buck comes from the very depth of his soul! Hopefully by the time your cute little guy is 6 you love him so much that the stink doesn't seem to bother you as much. The does love the stink, ovulate more eggs, and a 6 year old can breed all your girls in a week! Course you also pray late summer for a breeze, any breeze! ;) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 05, 2002.

I agree with Vicki. The only way to "descent" a buck is to make him into a wether. Disbudding will do nothing to affect scent. I personally believe that all goats in a managed herd should be disbudded. Best to do this at about eight days old (for Nubians anyhow). In time, you will learn to appreciate the musk of a buck in rut. Their behavior is pretty hilarious too. If you have a buck with very good pedigree, that strong odor is the smell of money: breeding fees and the value of his offspring.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 05, 2002.

I just sold a two year old buck that had been surgically dehorned as a kid. He hardly smelled at all. The does loved him! Of course he still sprayed so he wasn't entirely odorless...but it was a far cry from the horned buck we owned first. My experience has been that the horned bucks smell the worst, maybe it's from the horns pushing on the scent glands. Disbudded bucks smell less, but they still smell. I had three bucks this fall- two had had attempts to burn the scent glands out, the third one was surgically dehorned, all three combined didn't smell as badly as when we had the one horned buck.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), February 05, 2002.

Over the years, most of the bucks I've used on my does were bucks that I had disbudded and descented at the same time when they were bottle-babies. I've almost always gotten twins and triplets after breeding my Alpine does to these almost odorless bucks. I didn't know that a really smelly buck would produce more kids! Maybe I'll get quads or quints from my Alpines?? Thanks for the info, Vicki!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), February 05, 2002.

There is a pretty good set of instructions on how to do this in the Caprine Supply catalogue that you can ordere for free from an ad in the countryside mag.

-- Okie=Dokie (tjcamp6338@aol.com), February 06, 2002.

low oder bucks , well , my first "stan like thought", was get him a muffler , but , no , that wont work :)

what i do , for low odor , is , trim his beard, legs and belly, then when he gets bad, and its not desired , make a bking soda past, with water, use a wash cloth , rub his legs chin and belly down (thisis the best thing , and safe, let it dry on him for a few minutes(like 5-10), then rinse it off, it will dampen his smell.... but , it will come back , thier habit of urinating on them selves , just makes it the way it is , although , i will say , my bucks dont get as nasty , when they are adround does, even bred does, since they dont seem to need to "attract" with thier odor, and no, i have no problems with "bucky" milk flavor,

simple hygene, helps the boys out an awful lot

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), February 07, 2002.