Not bred? What do you think?

[Jay27]

I pasture breed. In the past, my does have always kidded at a date suggesting she was bred within 10 days of being placed with the buck. I have been doing it this way for years at various times throughout the year (stagger breedings for year-round milk). I got a new buck this weekend and after 4 hours of having (literal) p1$$ing matches with my other buck, he hoped the fence to get in with the girls... Ah, no biggie, that fence was a little short anyway. I caught the 4 month old kids and put them in the buck pen and let the two bucks in with the two 1.5 year old does were already bred (or so I though). All the does in milk (not due to be bred yet) were up in the barn paddocks. The older buck is seriously chasing one of the does I assumed to be bred. In August, the buck spent about 2 months with those does, but to see him chasing her like that, I assume she must not have settled. Neither buck has any interest in the other doe. He is REALLY rutty so could his behavior be misplaced (ie, the doe is bred, he is just desperate)??? Hubby fixed the fence and we played musical pastures just so we don't have 2 bucks with one doe... gotta know who the baby-daddy is, donchaknow. But my question is, does his behavior indicate she likely did not settle the first go around? Could it be the fact that he has competition now? I've always only had 1 buck

[HappyFarmer]

As long as the doe was healthy and well cared for during those 2 months, I'd say she's bred. The other possibility is she aborted for one reason or another so is open again.

Pregnant does emit an odor similar to being in heat, your buck could be responding to that odor. One thing's for sure, she's not standing for him, so she's not in heat now. Don't know where your located to determine a-seasonality, or your normal breeding window.

HF