Can the fleece from angora wethers be used or will it smell bad like an intact buck? Also, what should you feed these guys for maintnence? Do they need any grain? I'd like to keep maybe two, just as pets and for fleece (not really interested in breeding them, so a doe would kinda be a waste!)Also, if I did have a few does too, could the wethers be kept with them or do you think they would bother them somehow (sounds silly, but ya never know!) Thanks!

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), March 16, 2001

Answers

We raise Angora goats and have both wethers and does. The wethers do smell, in fact angora bucks do not smell, not like dairy bucks. We also keep our wethers and does together. We grain all our Angora goats, 1/2 to 3/4 pound each twice a day, year round.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfamr@mcttelecom.com), March 16, 2001.

Sorry, typo in the email address.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 16, 2001.

The older your wethers get the coarser the hair will get, that's why kid hair is used for garments. The hair will not smell when you finish washing it. Wethers will keep the fine hair longer than does or bucks but, I had two wethers I eventually butchered at about two yrs old and they had nice hair but it was getting coarse. Had the hides tanned, with about 4 inches of hair, and they were BEATUIFUL!! Sold them for $125 each.

I just kept these two wethers in with the doe flock, until breeding time of course, and they did just fine. Feed them like the does, grass and hay most of the year. I never grain my goats until flushing for breeding. I did grain when I first got them and they got fat (it certainly doesn't look like they're fat but they are) and then had problems kidding the does. They really need very little grain if you have good quality hay or browse. I think it's far more important to keep them on a good worming program, worms cause tons more problems than being a little lean.

Interestingly enough, I did the same thing with my ewes this year. I'm a slow learner I guess. Sometimes we can cause all kinds of problems with animals just by treating them to well. Next year the ewes will get the same treatment as the does, grain to flush for breeding and then back to quality hay until a few weeks before kidding/lambing. Lesson learned the hard way with several hours of helping too fat ewes lamb. Boy did I get off the subject, sorry.

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), March 17, 2001.

Mine also got too fat, Betsy. The goats act like they are DYING of hunger when you feed them, the little turds. When you give them alfalfa, they act like they havn't eaten all week! I thought they were fat because they were heavy with kids. They are just fat.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 17, 2001.