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Pushing the Season

860 views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  Pony 
#1 ·
My bucks, bless their twisted horny hearts, have decided that the end of June is the perfect time to go into rut.

Not only are they saturating themselves with Eau de Stinkeroo, the yearling has figured out how to jump the fence. Not that he fights me when I walk him back to the bachelor paddock, but my girls are NOT in the mood for his antics. Neither am I. I like that Nubians are seasonal breeders, and I want to keep it that way.



I'm at the office atm, but darling sweet DH is at the feed store, gathering the accoutrements necessary to administer a shocking lesson to the boys, should they again dare to breed my girls off-season.

What happened to the sweet buckling I brought home a year ago?

97871


How do YOU keep your boys and girls separated?
 
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#3 ·
When I need a buck I usually trade for one, from someone crazy enough to keep them around all year. I put him in with the doe's for thirty days then I sell or trade him off. No Mr. Stinky, no busted fences, and the babies all come when I expect the to.
I am looking to improve pedigreed stock, so the goal is more than to get the girls in milk.

At this point, however, I may simply shoot both of the bucks. I refuse to pass them along unless I know that they will be treated well. Too many people are out and out cruel to bucks. Can't let that happen to my boys.

DH just texted. When he was at the store getting the equipment, the yearling hopped the fence and bred everyone but the 3 month old doelings. The little hussies actually stood for him.


I am just sick over it.
 
#4 ·
I don't have bucks (yet) but my aunt used to keep her buck fairly far away (they had the space to do it), it was across the road about 1,000 feet +/-. They also didn't use fences for the buck, but tied him to a concrete bucket with swivel ties. They were home all the time and could watch him in case of accidents but they never had an issue and even used that same technique with their first does when they didn't have fencing.
 
#5 ·
Get with your vet and dose the does with the hormone to induce slipping the pregnancy. Basically a morning after shot.

Then rebuild the buck pen.

 
#6 ·
Old thread. I built a pen like Yarrow’s.

 
#7 ·
Old thread with good info about using Lutalyse and amusing snottiness from a person who doesn’t have goats now.

 
#8 ·
I'm concerned about the long-term effects of using lute for misbreeds. Emily and I talked about it at length. At the moment, I'm thinking about holding off. Have to anyway, because of the waiting period before administration.

I did abort a doe a few years back, and wound up having to use cystorelin on her the next two seasons.

DH picked up the electrical stuff we need to get the fence wired. We already bought a mess of cattle panels the day before this whole debacle went down. Unfortunately, DH has been forced on OT lately (DFA refuses to replace the employees who retired this past year, and the stuff is rolling downhill at an accelerated rate.) He's starting to establish boundaries with them, but it's not easy. ANYway, his availability will increase, and we can get this done. I can erect cattle panels, but I don't do the electric thing - especially when it involves burying cable.

Trying not to let this rattle my cage overmuch. It is rather hot outside, so perhaps his sperm count is low. Also, the girls were not in season. Hoping that they will re-cycle. Kidding was only 3 months ago. They're in milk, and not in prime breeding condition.

If they don't cycle again, I'll send blood in to be tested for preg. May as well check the rest of the stuff at the same time. I'll continue feeding senior horse pellets, make sure they have all they need, and monitor.

Goats. One of life's wild adventures.



p.s. Who doesn't have goats now: Vicki, Susanne, or Susie? ;)
 
#11 ·
Hmmm I'm wondering why you are all having such difficulty keeping bucks away from does you don't want bred at certain times of the year. When I designed my barn I had that situation in mind; thus was later able to create a divider wall inside the barn that was built in such a way the strong bucks could neither push through it nor jump it; yet they "could" look over it. The one area had an adjacent "outdoor" pen that could "not" be bred through. (It is constructed of cow panels with horizontal boards at 3 different levels which deterred anything inside from getting near the panel and kept anything outside that pen from getting near the animals that were inside.) Then each day I would simply alter who got out to browse in the pastures, i.e. one day the bucks and one day the does. When all signs of wanting to breed were gone then I could let the herd run together. (I do have a very small herd, i.e. largest ever was 3 does and one buck while at present it is only 2 does and 2 bucks...one the new buckling who is feeling his oats for sure.)

When I first started raising these large Nubians we actually constructed a 16' x 16' buck house with its own 30' x 30' pen over 2 acres away from the barn where all other goats were housed. That was more trouble than it was worth in that it meant two housing areas had to be tended on a daily bases. Thus, the "inside" wall to the main barn (referred to above) was fortified so the bucks could stay up in that area. This has worked well for over 6 yrs now.
 
#14 ·
We also have very little issue with escapes BUT we did have the boys break the chainlink gate off the fence once. My oldest doe was about 3 months after her C-section so we gave her lute just in case. We also DID have one that we suspected bred through the fence because the boys had not gotten out and this particular doe doesn't know the meaning of seasonal breeding. Two episodes over 9 years so I'm thinking we're good. We have boy pasture, chicken pen, fallow pasture and then girl pen so a few fences to negotiate for us. We were fortunate, when we bought the property, they had raised horses and put in the paddock fencing so we've only added to it.
 
#15 ·
DH is outside, singing the song from Ren and Stimpy to the goats: Don't Whizz On the Electric Fence. :)

The yearling buck was hobbled - front leg to back leg - for almost 24 hours before he got his back leg loose. That seemed to be enough to convince him that he could not hop the fence, but now that we have electric running around the buck paddock, I think we'll be doubly good.

The girls have decided to start flagging the boys. Oy... It's like having a group of hormonal teenagers on a field trip. Biting, fighting, posturing...
 
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