Comparing the average daily gains of bucks
and wethers as measured bi-weekly.
Source: Final Report, SARE Project No. LS02-141

Animal related factors are exposure time, previous experiences, and social interactions. With more frequent feeding, goats will consume more. They will readily consume familiar materials. Dominant animals will consume first. Forage consumption will depend on its availability.
To improve fertility, flushing is a practice of feeding supplemental protein or energy to breeding does 30 days prior to and after the introduction of the herd sire (buck), especially for dairy goats. This may not be necessary for meat-producing animals if the quality and quantity of available forage is ample.
Creep feeding is not a common practice in meat goat production but may become profitable with changes in goat marketing strategies that promote premium prices for larger, more highly finished kids. Lightweight goats or lambs that are in poor condition or have had a long stressful haul, may be reconditioned through a controlled grazing scheme and with no or limited grain feeding.
Generally, most of the male kids and those female kids that are not used for replacement herds are either sold as weaned kids or are fed for meat production. On most farms all the male kids are castrated as soon as possible for easy handling and docility of the animal. However, if you are going to feed the weaned kids for the meat market, castration will stunt their growth, reduce the average daily gain, and increase the length of time needed for goats to reach their market age. Our research indicated that intact buck kids gained on average 0.3 lbs. per day whereas castrated wether kids gained on average only 0.15 lbs. (Solaiman et al., 2006). With this practice you lose almost 50% of the potential gain.
My recommendation is that, if you are going to slaughter the animals in six months for the meat market and are able to keep bucks separate from does, eliminate the cost of castration and let intact bucks gain weight as fast as they can; however, it will depend on your management practices.

Solaiman, S. G., D. Bransby, C. Kerth, B. Blagburn, R. Noble and C. Shoemaker. 2006. A
sustainable year-round forage system for goat production in the Southern U.S. Final Report,
Project # LS02-141, Southern SARE.

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