Introducing boer billy goats into a feral herd

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Thu, 05/10/2012 - 21:37 #1

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Tony
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 05/10/2012 - 21:21

Introducing boer billy goats into a feral herd

Hi, I was planning to introduce a number of boer goat billy's into a feral herd. Do I need to remove the feral billies completely prior to this? How do the boer goat billies compete for mating as against the feral billies?

Cheers,

Tony

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Sat, 05/12/2012 - 11:55 #2
admin
Last seen: 11/01/2025 - 19:51
Joined: 02/28/2011 - 14:19

Hello Tony,

The answer to 'do I need to remove the feral bucks before I introduce the Boer bucks" is, yes. The reason is not because they will fight, it's because that way you will know what the genetics of the kids are. Not removing your feral bucks would make it impossible to know with certainty the exact ancestry of the offspring. Do not be concerned if you do not see the Boer bucks working because many of them (oddly) only work at night. You can expect the kids to begin dropping one to three days later than the feral kids do. The feral goat gestation period is approx. 149 days, whilst the gestation  period of boer kids is 150-152 days. Because of the forgoing, I suggest removing the feral bucks and leaving a period of about two weeks before introducing your Boer bucks in this way you will be able to know for certain, which kids are feral and which kids are 1st cross Boer kids. I hope this helps.

If you are looking for further detailed information on goat production, have a look at my book Farming Meat Goats.

Cheers,

Barb Vincent

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