Buck destruction.

[SDBoerGoats]

We have a 2 1/2 year old Boer Buck. He is docile and gentle most of the time. When he was in rut he was angry and trying to smash everything, and he would charge the yearling buck and run him all over the place. After he went out of rut, he was back to his nice normal self. This was in January.

All the does were bred in August so no does were coming into heat when he was acting like that. We moved him to the front of the property with the yearling. The does are at the back of the property. He can't even see them.

Now he has started ramming his head into the wooden building, and ramming the side of the feed manger til he totally smashed the side in. Yesterday he rammed into Sundance and smashed him in the side of the wall. This is not the first time that he has used Sundance for a punching bag, and I am told that it's not a problem, that bucks live together all the time. He runs Sundance away from the feed mangers. We set up separate mangers outside far away from each other so Sundance can eat. Sundance was bred to 2 does last year and he does not behave this way. He also doesn't have horns either, and Remington does, and I am afraid he will crack Sundance's ribs, in addition to all the damage he is doing.

I personally do not feel that Sundance should have to be subjected to Remington's abuse just because they are goats, if it was 2 stallions, or 2 male dogs, if one was dominant and a bully, I would separate them. Am I being over protective or am I right?

Why would he be behaving this way out of the blue? Do you think the does are coming in heat and he can smell them all the way to the front of the property? I have 6 acres, there's like 2 acres separating them. yesterday I got so tired of listening to him crash into the wall that I hid behind it, and when he came up to ram it, I zapped him on top of the head with a cattle prod, he did NOT like that! But he took off. I don't like using a cattle prod on a goat, but he's about to totally destroy the building.

 

[TTs Chicks]

I have not had to deal with that so I don't have any advice. Knowing how I am though I probably would not keep one if it acted like that, it would be too dangerous for me, my family and the rest of my critters.

yesterday I got so tired of listening to him crash into the wall that I hid behind it, and when he came up to ram it, I zapped him on top of the head with a cattle prod, he did NOT like that!

This so sounds like something I would do I have a mental picture of him trying to figure out what happened.

 

[ksalvagno]

There are enough males out there that I wouldn't put up with a destructive goat. After a while it turns into learned behavior. Maybe he is in rut and maybe he is bored. But I wouldn't want to risk injury to my other goats.

 

[20kidsonhill]

I have a buck by himself, because he is too hard on any of the other animals. I tried keeping a couple other bucks with him, but he was running them around constantly and they were loosing weight.

And a good guess as to why, would be one of those girls caught his attention. And he is frustrated. Hard to blame them, that is what we have them for.

 

[KinderKorner]

I agree with above poster.

I keep 6 - 8 bucks together at all times, of all sizes.

I never have a problem with them hurting each other.

I put young bucklings in with them with no problems.

Yes they shove sometimes at feeding time, or they may pick on each other a little bit when they are feeling good.

But they are way nicer to each other than my does are. They don't mind sharing the hay feeder, and I don't see them constantly picking on the smaller or younger ones.

My does beat eachother up all the time, and will take every opportunty to ram smaller ones into walls and fences with as much strength as they can. The boys just play around and never actually hurt each other, or try to inflict damage.

I would not keep a mean or destructive buck here either.

 

[redtailgal]

I just wont breed an animal that has a bad attitude. Like Ksalvagno said, there are too many good and even tempered animals out there to put up with this behavior.

Not to mention, attitude, aggressiveness and the like can be passed on to the offspring.

Around here, a critter like that gets a one way ticket to the meat grinder.

 

[SarahFair]

I had a buck that lived with does and (goat) kids year round. My (human) kids played around him constantly. Never had one problem with him.
He was gentle around the really young kids.. and boy they would aggravate the snot out of him at times.
He never tore anything up.. but I did learn not to feed him through the fence because if anything got caught on it he would want to rub his scent all over it and eventually would mess the fencing up.


There are too many good ones to put up with the "bad" ones

 

[SDBoerGoats]

Well, he wouldn't come in rut so soon again would he? I thought that was a fall/winter thing. So....you all seem to feel that it is HIS attitude and not just because a doe may be in heat. Because I kind of feel that way too. Sundance doesn't have an ornery bone in his body. He never rams things, never goes after anyone else. My Son in law bought Remington and he was in a field of 5 other bucks, and when they looked at him, he was gentle and docile. When he got here and there were does in heat, he changed gears. He goes back to his gentle self, but then he'll get on the rampage again and ram the crap out of Sundance and crash into the building. I think HE has a problem, instead of just making the excuse that he's a buck.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

I have not had to deal with that so I don't have any advice. Knowing how I am though I probably would not keep one if it acted like that, it would be too dangerous for me, my family and the rest of my critters.

yesterday I got so tired of listening to him crash into the wall that I hid behind it, and when he came up to ram it, I zapped him on top of the head with a cattle prod, he did NOT like that!

This so sounds like something I would do I have a mental picture of him trying to figure out what happened.

I got lucky, usually he sees me coming, but he was ramming with his head down and didn't even know I snuck up. I just waited til he hit it again and reached over and zapped him. He leaped way up in the air and almost fell down he was so shocked. He did have a complete WTH look on his face and he was ticked. But he just kind of stalked off. I just had enough of the constant ram, ram, ram. I could hear him clear in the house and it just pissed me off. He didn't touch it again all day.

 

[redtailgal]

I understand the concept of "rut".....I have to....I have a 3 1/2 foot iguana. Lizard males get a hormonal SURGE during specific times of the year, coming into heat much like a female does. He gets moody.....but even then I dont tolerate certain behavior.


Our bull will get more "bullish" when the cows are in heat. We keep this in mind. He can holler. He can pace. He can whine (boy can he whine). But, if he ever makes us scared........meat grinder. The first time. Period, no questions asked. If he ever gets snotty with the other animals, yup, you guessed it. A little A1 sauce fixes the problem.

We had a bull once who decided it was cool to tear up the trees when the heifer came into heat. He moved onto the barn when beating up the trees didnt satisfy him. We wondered what would be next after the barn didnt take care of his frustrations, and he became dog food. Oddly enough, ALL the heifers that we kept out of this bull ended up as culls because of their sorry attitude. One of his daughters actually KILLED another cow by ramming her repeatedly. She died where she stood right there in the pasture.

It will be the same with my goats. I can understand sexual frustration, I can tolerate noise and pacing, but I will not make excuses for an aggressive animal, under any circumstances.

I guess I sound heartless, I dont mean it that way. BUT the herds here..........are easy going and low stress animals. I dont hesitate to walk in and among the herd, with the cows, heifers, calves, AND the bull.

Do what you think is right, its your farm and your animals, so only you know the right answer. Just be cautious that you dont end up breeding him and ending up with a bunch of snotty females.