breeding - is this normal behaviour ?

[hoggie]

Hi again

The visiting nanny who has come to see Wilfred seemed to be in season yesterday. So I took her into Wilfred, and she seemed to stand for him fine. Thne she turned around and starting butting him and attacking him (she is horned also).

I grabbed hold of her and took her away (i don't ant him to either get scared OR learn to start getting rough with those horns of HIS)

Is this normal mating behaviour - or was she just being a bit of a bully?

hoggie

[AnnaS]

She might be at the beginning of her heat. Does are sometimes indecisive early on. I bet she will stand for him within six hours.

Does that are receptive may butt a buck who is spending too much time courting & sniffing.

An occasional doe does not fancy the buck at all. She will need to be held by the collar while she is bred.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Hormones.

[Gailann Schrader]

...she may have decided he was a punk amateur and not worth her time...

seen it with a HERD of does not liking an amateur buck.

Hormones will eventually wear her down. She can't help it.

[hoggie]

Hhhhmmm - something strange going on here.

She did the same thing yesterday - seemed to stand and then turned and went for him.

But what is strange is that he doesn't seem to have the interest in her that he does in my girls. it's not because he knows them better, as he was the same the first time he met them. The second he lays eyes on them, he sticks his tongue out and gets all excited and starts saying "uh-uh-uh-uh" if you know the noise I mean ? LOL Doesn't matter if they are in season or not, he acts as though they are.

But with the visitor, he looks a bit puzzled. He sort of gets behind her, rests his chin on her back and looks at me as though to say "is this wha tyou want me to do?" Then he'll have a go. But he doesn't seem to view her as a girl in quite the same way that he does with mine. I suppose I ought to check that she did bring me the nanny NOT the wether

I don't know if it is from living out all the time, with not the "protected" life that mine have, but she does seem to have an "attitude". Maybe she is just a tough nut and he doesn't fancy her LOL

Oh well - it's all part of the learning curve.

hoggie

[DixyDoodle]

...she may have decided he was a punk amateur and not worth her time...

LOL I had that issue with one of my does. She's keep turning and giving him a headbutt. Buzz off! She finally gave in though. That was BillBob's first time with the ladies and all that. He knew there was "something" he had to do, took a while to figure out what. Too bad he didn't watch my wether, Rusty, who gives it a go with the does every chance he gets. Maybe he was castrated later in life and is recalling the "good old days"....or maybe he was trying to give BillyBob some tips?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Herd behavior is a fascinating thing. We are new at this, and we've had two bucks with our girls. The first was a very young Nubian, and the does thrashed the heck out of him for days, and he never was very bucky. I am pretty sure one doe is bred to him, but the other cycled again.

Now we have an older, more masculine and mature buck visiting. The first hour was female dominant, because he was the new addition to the herd, but then his male-ness took over. He's definitely the buck in the goat yard now! The whole dynamic of power and dominance changed.

Take a chair to the goat pen and watch for an hour. Better than television!