Breeding Season or The Joy of Hormones

I have a pen of 9 sweet little 50# PB does. Right along side is a pen of 3 kid bucks. they're fighting and butting heads and mounting each other, blubbering at the girls. Then my big buck gets out and he's been blubbering around the little girls for 2 days. By that I mean, he was running around the pen on the outside, fighting with the little bucks in their pen throught the fencing and trying desperately to get to the girls. Knowing I was going to drag him back to his own barn, he wasn't about to let me catch him.

I go down yesterday to feed. Horror! Here's the 3 buck kids running amuck! the old buck was so upset and running around the outside, pushing the gate and sticking his head in. He just couldn't get over it. Just couldn't figure a way to get in.

The little girls are running around and around in the doe pen trying to get away from them. But there's no way to get away from 3 horny little bucks. One of the larger ones seems to be in heat but wasn't standing. And a couple of the other little girls had managed to get into the buck side. They were too spooked to let me catch them.

One person can only do so much.

I managed to get the three buck kids back on their side but the does wouldn't cooperate so I had to leave them in on the buck side, too. Poor things. They were jumped and mobbed and molested continuously until someone could go down and help me separate them.

Yeah, it's crazy all right. I don't really think anything got bred, but you know goats! It'll be over in a month or two. TG.

Breeding Dairy Goats

Many people probably don't realize that dairy goats are seasonal breeders. They start coming into heat towards the end of August and on through the fall up through about January. Going into breeding season, the bucks are starting to go into rut, which means they get stinky and disgusting.

Although our bucks are sweet as they can be, there are times when you can smell them before you get to the driveway. A couple years ago we wouldn't have company or let anyone come over it was so bad. We sold a litter of pups and I drove them down to the truckstop and met people there in order for them not to come over.

Many people will hand breed their does. That means they have to recognize a doe in heat and then take them to the buck. This has never been a successful technique for me. When I have tried to do this I have missed a couple. So I pen breed. I put the buck in with the does I want him to breed and let them do their thing.

Choosing which bucks to use on what does is just your best hunch. In the past I have had older proven bucks and I pretty much knew what to expect out of their milking daughters. This year and last I have used young bucks with no milking daughters, just relying on their impeccable breeding and the quality of their dams.