Chat
11-29-2023, 05:30 PM
The piece of hose was something that just happened to be in my hand at that moment. I strongly recommend getting yourself a 2-foot long riding crop. Most feed stores have a few in stock. Get one with a popper on the end about 2 inches wide. Carry it with you every time you go in the pen and don't hesitate to use it on any goat that is standing in your way. Most does and wethers learn to step back from the gate and respect your space very quickly after they've been hit once or twice with a riding crop. After that, all it usually takes is waving it at a naughty goat or slapping it on your boot or on the fence to get them to fall in line. Bucks are more difficult and take more and harder whacks to leave an impression, and they always need more frequent reminders, but I think most of them will come around if you're consistent, firm, and fair.
Until this fall I never had two intact bucks on my place at once except Rocky and Rambo, and they grew up together and were best buddies. When I brought that arrogant young buck onto my place it was a real eye-opener. He was about 8 months younger than my buck and a bit smaller, and he was significantly smaller than any of my wethers, but he came from a place where he was the only buck on the premises and to his knowledge, he was the biggest buck in the whole world. It was a huge shock for him to come here and find goats bigger, stronger, and tougher than he was. Watching those goats fight was absolutely brutal. It gave me a much deeper respect for how much power and pain tolerance even a small young buck has. Bucks are TOUGH! All five goats brutalized each other for days on end. At one point the borrowed buck was lame on 3 legs because he kept picking fights and getting flipped over. Male goats use their horns to intentionally hook each other's legs and use the leverage to flip each other over repeatedly. Until I saw males fighting this way, I didn't think flipping was part of goat vocabulary. I was wrong. They can and do flip each other. What they don't do us hold each other down for extended periods. Instead, they usually crank that leg until the subordinate goat screams in pain, at which point they release him. If he comes up fighting, they do it again. I am neither willing nor able to treat any of my goats like that!
You may have a harder time with your buck than I had with our loaner simply because you have no larger goats to put him in his place. Having large, dominant, but otherwise gentle goats to enforce social boundaries is by far the best way for a rowdy goat to learn respect. My borrowed buck was mean to everyone, including my females, and that did not sit well with the older, experienced male herd members. They laid down the law and they laid it down hard. When Mr. Big-for-his-Britches came after me, it didn't take him long to submit because he'd already been taught that lesson by all four of my other goats during the previous few days. By the time he fought with me, he was already tired, sore, and very accustomed to losing. Hopefully your buck is not quite as bad as the one I borrowed, and hopefully he can learn manners very soon. If not, I strongly recommend getting him wethered as soon as possible. Other options include a full-disclosure sale to someone who might be better able to manage him (a large herd on large acreage with minimal human contact comes to mind), or having him butchered. There are other, nicer bucks in the world. It's not worth it to keep a mean one if he can't be reformed. They're too dangerous! A lot of folks make the mistake of thinking that a male goat is like a male dog because goats aren't all that big. But if you compare the size of their testicles you realize that you've got more than stallion-sized testosterone, aggression, and libido all jammed into an extremely strong and compact body with horns. Managing that level of muscle, fight, and sex drive is more than a lot of people (and fences) can handle! Above all, keep yourself and your family safe!
Until this fall I never had two intact bucks on my place at once except Rocky and Rambo, and they grew up together and were best buddies. When I brought that arrogant young buck onto my place it was a real eye-opener. He was about 8 months younger than my buck and a bit smaller, and he was significantly smaller than any of my wethers, but he came from a place where he was the only buck on the premises and to his knowledge, he was the biggest buck in the whole world. It was a huge shock for him to come here and find goats bigger, stronger, and tougher than he was. Watching those goats fight was absolutely brutal. It gave me a much deeper respect for how much power and pain tolerance even a small young buck has. Bucks are TOUGH! All five goats brutalized each other for days on end. At one point the borrowed buck was lame on 3 legs because he kept picking fights and getting flipped over. Male goats use their horns to intentionally hook each other's legs and use the leverage to flip each other over repeatedly. Until I saw males fighting this way, I didn't think flipping was part of goat vocabulary. I was wrong. They can and do flip each other. What they don't do us hold each other down for extended periods. Instead, they usually crank that leg until the subordinate goat screams in pain, at which point they release him. If he comes up fighting, they do it again. I am neither willing nor able to treat any of my goats like that!
You may have a harder time with your buck than I had with our loaner simply because you have no larger goats to put him in his place. Having large, dominant, but otherwise gentle goats to enforce social boundaries is by far the best way for a rowdy goat to learn respect. My borrowed buck was mean to everyone, including my females, and that did not sit well with the older, experienced male herd members. They laid down the law and they laid it down hard. When Mr. Big-for-his-Britches came after me, it didn't take him long to submit because he'd already been taught that lesson by all four of my other goats during the previous few days. By the time he fought with me, he was already tired, sore, and very accustomed to losing. Hopefully your buck is not quite as bad as the one I borrowed, and hopefully he can learn manners very soon. If not, I strongly recommend getting him wethered as soon as possible. Other options include a full-disclosure sale to someone who might be better able to manage him (a large herd on large acreage with minimal human contact comes to mind), or having him butchered. There are other, nicer bucks in the world. It's not worth it to keep a mean one if he can't be reformed. They're too dangerous! A lot of folks make the mistake of thinking that a male goat is like a male dog because goats aren't all that big. But if you compare the size of their testicles you realize that you've got more than stallion-sized testosterone, aggression, and libido all jammed into an extremely strong and compact body with horns. Managing that level of muscle, fight, and sex drive is more than a lot of people (and fences) can handle! Above all, keep yourself and your family safe!