Housing Goats

HomesteaderLexi

Ridin' The Range
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I've recently heard that a buck can cause a doe to miscarry, is this true? Is it because most bucks become "bullies"? I've noticed our buck starting to bully or doe, butting her away from the food and chasing her away from areas so I'm going to separate him today.
Also, can you keep several buck together do do they each need their own pen?
 

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Southern by choice

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We have anywhere between 14-16 bucks on average.
None of our bucks live with does.
First it can make the milk taste off.
Second we have many different breeds and some cycle every 3 weeks (Nigerians)
As long as does are in heat a buck will want to breed.
Never had a buck bully anyone. Bucks however will try to run and mount does that are having any kind of hormonal swing. So, does that are close to kidding or have kidded will get run and jumped on because it is basic instinct to breed. Constant running of a doe can cause miscarriage.

We have 3 areas for our bucks. One field 5 bucks, another field 3 huge bucks, another 5. All the groups of bucks live peacefully, love each other, cuddle together.
During rut there can be some sparring and show of dominance to the others. On our farm it is so mild there is never any real aggression, no injuries, etc.

Bucks that are human aggressive, rip up fences, jump and scale fences are not worth keeping. Buck behavior is very much in relation tto how they are raised and knowing the signs of marking etc.
Correction as babies make for great mature bucks.

Personally I prefer intact bucks together over a buck/wether. Wethers tend to get perpetually "mated" and is often very stressful for them.
 

HomesteaderLexi

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Sorry for auch a delayed response! Thank you so much, your information is exactly what I needed to know!! I'm glad you told me about bucks and wethers, I'd contemplated getting one but definately don't want that happening.
 

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