I always hear about how you have to have a friend for your buck to hang out with. They get lonely, right? I have set my bucks up, one by one with their friend--usually a wether and have had to remove the wether every time. I don't know if it's just Nubian bucks...I did have an Alpine buck visit my girls and he never had to be removed. He was a perfect gentleman whenever I was looking but he did get the job done.
Nubian bucks, at least the ones I've owned are not this way. They urinate lavishly on their own faces and anyone else whenever posssible, challenge anyone who comes near the girls and try to breed or fight with any other goat in the area. I always feel sorry for the wether and worry about the buck's condition because he loses weight when he's always actively trying to breed or fight (which they seem to want to do with the wether pretty much all day).
This last buck I have is case in point. He started out as a lovely boy...a yearling and sweet and friendly. Then, one of my does went into heat in the middle of the summer and BAM! Monster buck! He was so bad that my kids were afraid of him and I wanted to send him to slaughter. I blamed him. He's such a great looking buck, though and my thought was to do it after breeding.
It got so bad that I moved him into a vacant horse stall by himself. Almost instantly he turned back into the sweet, calm buck that we had brought home. I am figuring that the responsibility he felt to breed and protect the girls was lifted when he was moved into his own space. He's fallen out of rut and is a joy to handle and be around now. This is the third time I've seen this happen with bucks I've owned so it's not just the one buck.
If you have a problem buck and you don't know what to do--try giving him his own space and see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment