Choosing Your Cashmere Breeding Buck

How important is the cashmere buck you select for breeding?

If you use a buck one year in your herd he will pass on 50% of the genetics to our kid drop. 

If you use that same buck in your herd three or more years and your replacement does are selected from this buck’s off spring, he has now contributed up to 87.5% of his genetics to your herd.

This makes se­lection of the cashmere buck the most important choice pro­ducers make to influence the productivity of their herd for generations to come and why only the top 10% of cashmere bucks born each year should be kept for breeding or to sell for breeding stock.

In the absence of industry wide cashmere performance testing or a national data base as in the dairy goat industry to help us identify top preforming bucks or does we are left to using the information we gather in our own herd and depending on the honesty and integrity of other breeders when purchasing a breeding buck.

When assessing a buck you need to be more critical than when assessing does.  The assessment of bucks starts at birth with birth weight, birth number (single, twin) color, pedigree, and deformities. 

As they grow you need to assess their weight gain, testicle development, and jaw and body structure and fleece quality.  Many undesirable characteristics may not show up until their second year.  So purchasing a kid buck may be a gamble.

It is better to start with a superior buck and mediocre does as long as they are healthy.

Desirable Characteristics in the Cashmere Buck

·         Comes from one of the top producing does in his herd.

·         Born as a twin or triplet and/or come from a productive doe or line.

·         Should have 2-8 hard teeth.

·         Breeding bucks should have strong masculine necks and heads.

·         Possesses a rugged mane on the neck and shoulders as this reflects breeding ability.

·         Adequate frame size, well-grown for his age and diet, and well- muscled.

·         A straight body in excellent condition and strong legs, both foreleg and hind leg.

·         There should be a complete absence of any physical defects.

·         Testicles should be firm and be adequate in size. The size of the testicles relates to the ability of the buck to produce larger quantities of sperm allowing the buck to breed a larger number of does.

·         The tail of the epididymis should be slightly rounded and free from any hard knots. This is important because the tail of the epididymis is where most of the sperm is reserved for breeding of the does.  The tail of the epididymis is located at the bottom end of the testicle

·         He should be aggressive

·         A noisy buck is said to be a useful buck.

·         Produced one or two fleece which has been tested (un-dehaired) for micron and curvature.

·         Tested fleece results in acceptable range for age of the buck.   Refer to: The Cashmere Goat Registry Breed Standards.  http://cashmeregoatregistry.blogspot.com/

Undesirable Characteristics in the Cashmere Buck

His sire or dam should not have any of these undesirable characteristics.

        ·    Poor teeth; overshot or undershot jaws.

• Faulty testicles; one or no testicles, small testicles, swollen testicles, twisted scrotum, split scrotum more than 2”, pendulous scrotum.

·         Physical deformities of any kind.

·         Unsound legs, steep rump, sway back, roached back etc…

·         Shy and timid bucks may be poor breeders.

·         No fleece or fleece testing.

·         Fleece testing results outside the range for age of the buck.  Refer to: The Cashmere Goat Registry Breed Standards.  http://cashmeregoatregistry.blogspot.com/

What is a Cashmere Buck worth?
An old rule of thumb is a breeding buck is worth five times the value of a market kid.

By Mickey Nielsen, Liberty Farm Cashmere, Yakima WA USA americancashmere@aol.comThis article must be reproduced in its entirety and the name and contact information must be included at the beginning of any reprint.