Choosing a Buck

by Sue Huston

There are those that say a buck is 50% of the herd, but there are others that believe that the buck gives more than 50%. Either way that buck should be chosen with great care.

To begin, look at his dam to see what her general conformation is and especially look at her udder. Does she have a good udder attachment? Is her rear udder held high keeping the udder out of harms way? Does her fore udder blend smoothly from the udder to the belly? Does she milk well and does she milk easily.

When choosing a buck look at his general conformation that he is level across the top and that he does not have a sloping rump. The Kinder goat is a dual purpose goat so the buck needs to carry fleshing in this front end, neck and shoulder area. Take a good look at the rear of the animal. His hind legs need to be spaced far apart with good angulation to those hind legs. That scrotal attachment needs to be high and tight, the scrotal should be even and not loop sided.

The feet and legs of the buck should be strong making sure that he is not weak in his pasterns. The toes should be close together so as not to toe out. If buying a mature buck make sure he is not over the breed standard which is 28 inches. You do not want a buck with very long legs like those of the dairy animals but you want an animal that has shorter legs that will give you the dual purpose Kinder.

Remember that there are very few male Kinder that should be used as a herd sire. Take time and look closely at the buck that you are going to buy to improve your  herd. Buy the best that you can afford and buy from a reputable breeder.

(Watch for upcoming articles that discuss and illustrate each of the conformational qualities discussed in this article!)