2015 Buck Collection with B&D Genetics
This has been a super busy week out at the farm. Like I posted earlier, we had been working overtime to get the farm ready for a special event. We were honored to host David and Brittany Carwell, of B&D Genetics for a buck collection. For those who are unfamiliar with this, let me explain. Livestock breeders typically spend top dollar to purchase the best bull, stud, or buck (male goat, or billy goat) they can afford. Often, this is quite an investment. Because of the impact one top level male can have over the genetics of your herd, it stands to reason that he should be your best animal. In order to protect that investment, it is possible to collect semen on these animals and freeze it in liquid nitrogen. It’s kind of an insurance policy, should anything happen to that animal that keeps him from breeding. It also allows other breeders to use his semen to breed to their females on other farms without transporting the buck to their farm (a biosecurity risk and hassle). Believe it or not it is possible to buy and sell semen from bulls or bucks or horses, or other species. This process also allows breeders to preserve the genetics of exceptional animals for future use.
With all of this in mind, we invited David and Brittany to come to our farm to collect our bucks. To make it worth their time, we also invited other breeders to participate. We were pleased with the response we received. We were very happy to host Dick and Sally Rutherford of Bear Creek Kikos in Illinois, Phillip Willborn of Just Kiddin’ Caprines in Alabama, Gary and Lydia Richardson of Overlook Farm Kikos from Georgia, Robert Shonerd of Kennesaw Mountain Kikos from Georgia, and Josh Headden of Headden’s Kikos from South Carolina. Between us we brought twelve bucks for collection.
It turns out collection twelve bucks is a lot of work. Of course the work started for us about a month ago. We had several discussions with David and Brittany to get an idea of what they would need to make this day successful. We wanted a smooth day- for them to have a good experience since they were so kind to travel from Arkansas! We took their suggestions and modified our facilities to make this work.
The process of collection is would seem weird and maybe gross to many. So, read on at your own risk. But the technique David uses is certainly humane. He gets in the pen with the buck and a teaser doe. A teaser doe is a mature female that has been hormonally programmed to be in heat the day of the collection. When the buck goes to mount the doe, David leaps in there and catches his penis in a sleeve-like device (technically an artificial vagina) that collects the ejaculate. David then hurries off to the trailer to preserve the specimen. You’ll get no more info from me on that process (except to say that after peppering David and Brittany with questions all day, they really know their business).
The Kiko breed is more challenging than other goat breeds to collect, according to David and Brittany. Because Kikos spend so much time on the pasture being goats, they typically have less human contact. Even though a calm disposition can be bred for, Kiko breeders are focusing on other traits like average daily weight gain, parasite resistance, superior mothering, etc. When people are around Kiko bucks can get nervous and reluctant to breed, making them hard to collect. This is why we spent a lot of time and energy remodeling our goat barn. We added walls to the old horse stalls, dropping them from 12′ x 12′ to 6′ X12′ and lower the wall height. We thought the drop in height would improve air flow and also allow the bucks to see as well as hear and smell the teaser does. The does themselves we put in the center of the barn and enclosed them in a six foot high kennel made of welded wire. Our bucks and does were put in the ban on Monday allowing them two days of close contact. The other bucks were moved into the barns soon as possible. Judging by the reaction of the animals, the layout was quite a success. They had each other quite riled up by collection time. There is one modification I am going to make before next time. I’m going to add another foot of height to the stalls using goat panel. We did have one buck who was motivated and athletic enough to jump the gate and try to dance too closely with the ladies (luckily no unauthorized breeding took place).
From what David and Brittany told us afterwards, it seemed like our layout helped them a lot. Like I said earlier, they really know what they are doing, but Kikos can be dang hard to collect. After being in there with the does, though, several of them took about 10 seconds to collect! One of them was mounting as soon as the female got in there, before David even got in the stall. By noon (I think), we had completed collecting all twelve bucks successfully.
Of course David and Brittany still had plenty of work.
We were really happy with the results of the collection. B&D Genetics gets my unreserved recommendation! They are very knowledgeable, personable and professional. They have their own mobile lab, so they really don’t need too much from the host breeders (except some attention to the layout). All they need from us was a water source. Electricity is nice, too.
I also wasn’t to thank each of the breeders who participated in the collection. Without them, we would not have been able to make it worth the trip for David and Brittany. And, to anyone who is relatively close and would have liked to participate, we are pleased to announce that B&D Genetics has agreed to return to our farm next year for another collection! It should be around the same time next year, but we don’t have dates, yet. If you’re interested, contact B&D Genetics or us on Facebook at Pleasant Ridge Goats, or on our website at www.pleasantridgegoats.com.
Rich Davis
Pleasant Ridge Goats
Carrollton, GA
- pleasantridgegoats@gmail.com
- October 25, 2015
- 0 Comments
