|
Before you get your first goat, go
visit a goat farm in the fall! Bucks are what has given goats
their stinky reputation. The bucks have ahhh, an 'aroma' that
is rather,,, ummm; distinctive. No denying it, they stink.
They have good reason for it, but
human olfactory systems are definitely not designed to appreciate
it. Lady goats think it's the most wonderful aroma since 'Open
Garden Gate', so goat folk usually try to keep the sexes separated.
It's a plan that works 'most of the time'. If you notice the female
madly wagging her tail and lusting after the buck pen, you can
haul the buck of choice out to service her and note the exact
time and date. Kids appear fairly predictably 150 days (or so)
later.
Since a doe will come in heat every
18 to 22 days after onset of her cycle every fall, it's useful
to pinpoint the kidding date fairly closely. And, no way to do
that if the bucks live with the adult doe herd. By keeping the
milking herd apart from the herd sires, you eliminate a chance
of bucky odor in the milk supply as well. And, even out of breeding
season, the bucks generally are ever hopeful and worry the milking
herd needlessly. (NOW?? Can't we practice??)
I've noticed when I did allow one
older gent to run with the female pack, he became herd boss out
in the field. As his condition and body needs are extremely different
from a milker (who is likely to be pregnant), they didn't get
the forage nutrition they required. A doe herd will stalk out
and contentedly munch on the nearest greenery that meets the Herd
Queen's approval.
When a guy comes on the scene, he
wants the goat equivalent of pizza and beer. He'll dash here and
nibble a tendril then race over yonder to inspect a rise of plum
thicket. The poor does, dragging their udders behind them, burn
up more energy than they ingest. And, the end result is less milk
in the bucket, and more grain supplemented to get it.
Bucks just can't help it. They're
the James Dean of caprines. Live life to the fullest then die
young. Rarely do bucks live to a ripe old age. We've had some
9 - 12 yr old guys but they could barely remember to whiz in their
beards come breeding season. "A flash in the pan" should be changed
to a "Buck in Rut".
 This
is Pan's Pride Medicine Bow. Purebred Oberhasli buck, very nice,
and had some great kids, but tough on fences!
I've heard several theories, the one
I'm most inclined to believe is that all that testosterone rots
their brain. And, you have to admit Nature had a plan when wild
goats covered the temperate (and not so temperate) zones. If a
herd sire is allowed to breed his daughters and their daughters,
the genus starts adapting into something more freeform. In the
wild, this does happen, but a son will come along and have his
share till the ol' goat can be pushed off the nearest cliff or
otherwise replaced.
Since human intervention has interrupted
the wild goat breeding program, we often combine the same bloodlines,
but we call this judicious linebreeding, as if we actually can
predict the outcome. Although, yes, that's somewhat true. There
is a percentage of heritability traits that can be fairly accurately
tracked. I'm no wizard at the 'who gets what from whom', so I
just try to keep the best bloodlines I can afford in my herd sires,
and hope they live up to the hype. But, since one buck is half
your goat herd, you can't ignore him nor abuse him for being himself.
Mid summer, we start adding more grain
to their diet, so by September, they've put on body mass and condition.
There is a vitamin mineral supplement we add called Buck Power,
available from Caprine
Supply to increase libido. As much as the raunchy habits are
detested, they're a part of the make-ready the guys go through
to get them through a successful breeding season.
Bucks marked for artificial insemination
candidates need particular attention paid to them during this
most disgusting time. You don't want to waste the technician's
time and the buck's effort unless the sperm count is high and
frisky. A mineral supplement when fed in advance can often enhance
a buck's virility to keep him actively interested and viable.
Once breeding season has started in
full swing, bucks often would rather fight with each other, whiz
in their beards, expose their genitalia and lubber at the ladies
than worry about dinnertime. (A good reason to plan the buck corral
somewhat away from the public eye!) And make it stout. Bucks will
top out at 300 pounds and can break the welds on stock panels,
rip nails out of fencelines, and crash some pretty impressive
fences. Even the younger guys are amazingly successful at escaping
just in time to breed the wrong doe.
We gave up trying to keep two breeds
for that reason. I was creating a new breed of goat with tons
of 'hybrid vigor', but no marketable traits! A baby six months
old is capable of servicing the entire doe pen, so if you keep
replacement herd sires, they have to be planned accordingly. Of
course they can't live with the older guys, (like you thought
it would be EASY?) Mature bucks
fight and run each other around the pens and if a baby is enamoured
of a doe, he'll get the full brunt of Granddad's anger. And, no
one can convince the teenagers, but it really will stunt their
growth!
Recommended breeding rate for yearlings
and under is less than 10 females or 10 breedings the first season.
Of course, they're busy mounting each other and the cat, so who
can say WHAT they'd grow up to be like if they were truly restricted?
Good grooming:
Sometime prior to breeding season,
we like to give the bucks a full body clip. If you keep up on
their feet, trimming on a schedule, they're more used to it, and
you can maintain them with the briefest of trimming.
Bucks are unreasonably proud of their
urine and politely urinate in their own beards. Some goatfolk
trim the beards off, but they're going to spray something, let
a nice long beard catch the brunt. Forelegs get sprayed as well,
so plan on occasionally wiping them down with a body lotion, or
petroleum jelly to prevent urine scald. I'm not a big proponent
of Vaseline, but something that coats easily and quickly is certainly
needed here.
The more I write this, the more disgusting
I make the bucks sound. True, it's only during breeding season,
(which lasts approximately the last half of the year). And, 2,000
years of goat cultivation hasn't resulted in better behaved bucks.
But, the adorable bouncing babies next year, the liklihood the
daughters will be better milkers than their dams, are all what
keep us all appeased when the bucks start to curl their lips and
sniff the air attentively.
Text
and images copyright 1998 Martha
Wells
|
