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Whether to get Wethers

Quite often when people decide to get some goats as pets, they assume that they want girl goats (who are called does). Usually this is because somewhere along the line they’ve heard that male goats are smelly. And, well, yes, INTACT male goats (called bucks) can get quite stinky, especially during rut season. On the other hand, castrated males (called wethers) don’t have this odor. In fact, without looking at the goat's “private parts” you probably couldn’t tell a wether from a doe. We have several wethers that live with our does, and visitors never notice. As a dairy, we certainly wouldn’t have stinky goats in with our milkers.  If we did our milk and cheese would likely pick up those odors (yuck!).

Wethers are sweet, friendly, even tempered, wonderfully playful fellas. They make great pets, pack goats, and companion animals. They are amazingly easy to care for – just like big, happy puppy dogs.

Many goat breeders simply kill their male kids at birth because it is too inconvenient to find homes for them. We at Black Mesa Ranch don’t do that. We like to give all our goats a good chance at a great life. If you are looking for goats and don’t need the milk – get a couple wethers. They are much less expensive to buy than does and don’t get “goaty PMS” because of hormonal changes the way does can.

Getting into goats couldn’t be easier or more fun than getting a pair of friendly, lovable wethers.