Chat
01-13-2015, 10:25 AM
^ That's funny Dave! I was just going to say the exact opposite!
I'd say it depends a lot on the goat whether he'll mix with the others or not. I've got a mixed herd of horns and no horns, and while horned Cuzco is definitely the King of the herd, he's not wicked to the non-horned goats. He's a lot more wicked with the horned ones (especially Huck Finn) since he sees them as the biggest threat to his supremacy. He bosses Pac-Man and the girls because they're lower on the pecking order, but he doesn't go after them and he usually pulls his punches unless one directly challenges his authority. My herd queen, Lilly, is my downright meanest goat and she's polled!
So in my (limited) experience I think it may boil down to the individual goat. If this buck is very gentle and laid back then he probably will not use his horns in a nasty way, especially once he's established dominance. His horns, his age, his size, and his long time spent as a buck will probably ensure him the top spot at once, so I anticipate very little fighting with your young guys unless he's just plain mean with other goats. That would be something to ask the owner. Does this buck live with other male goats? How does he treat them? Where is he in the pecking order? Sometimes a sweet, mellow goat who is low goat on the totem pole can become mean when they get to the top (that would describe my Lilly). How does he treat the girls? If he's at the top of his herd and yet gentle with everybody and gentle with people then I think you have a good chance of getting a very nice boy who can be a benevolent herd king.
The buck behavior, on the other hand, may never go away. He'll lose the magnificent mane of hair and he'll lose his bucky smell, but at six years old he's got a lot of learned behavior that isn't going to just disappear. My Pac-Man was wethered after only one season as a breeding buck and he still tries to breed the girls, pees and sucks on himself, and sniffs and drinks everyone else's pee. He's not nearly as bad as an intact buck, but he sure hasn't forgotten how to act like one when the mood strikes. The learned buck behavior will be even more ingrained with a buck that old. But at least he wouldn't smell bad or have that sticky resin all over his hair, and he may abandon all buck behavior when he's working. I find that Pac-Man only acts bucky when he's loose with the other goats but not when I'm messing with him, so it hasn't affected his working life at all. His front legs were too gross to touch during the fall, but unlike when he was a buck, the pee washed off easily with a garden hose. It looked yucky but it wasn't sticky or stinky like when he was intact. Could even be that if you have no girls or intact males around to get him excited, this older buck could stay a lot less "bucky" than I expect.
I'd say it depends a lot on the goat whether he'll mix with the others or not. I've got a mixed herd of horns and no horns, and while horned Cuzco is definitely the King of the herd, he's not wicked to the non-horned goats. He's a lot more wicked with the horned ones (especially Huck Finn) since he sees them as the biggest threat to his supremacy. He bosses Pac-Man and the girls because they're lower on the pecking order, but he doesn't go after them and he usually pulls his punches unless one directly challenges his authority. My herd queen, Lilly, is my downright meanest goat and she's polled!
So in my (limited) experience I think it may boil down to the individual goat. If this buck is very gentle and laid back then he probably will not use his horns in a nasty way, especially once he's established dominance. His horns, his age, his size, and his long time spent as a buck will probably ensure him the top spot at once, so I anticipate very little fighting with your young guys unless he's just plain mean with other goats. That would be something to ask the owner. Does this buck live with other male goats? How does he treat them? Where is he in the pecking order? Sometimes a sweet, mellow goat who is low goat on the totem pole can become mean when they get to the top (that would describe my Lilly). How does he treat the girls? If he's at the top of his herd and yet gentle with everybody and gentle with people then I think you have a good chance of getting a very nice boy who can be a benevolent herd king.
The buck behavior, on the other hand, may never go away. He'll lose the magnificent mane of hair and he'll lose his bucky smell, but at six years old he's got a lot of learned behavior that isn't going to just disappear. My Pac-Man was wethered after only one season as a breeding buck and he still tries to breed the girls, pees and sucks on himself, and sniffs and drinks everyone else's pee. He's not nearly as bad as an intact buck, but he sure hasn't forgotten how to act like one when the mood strikes. The learned buck behavior will be even more ingrained with a buck that old. But at least he wouldn't smell bad or have that sticky resin all over his hair, and he may abandon all buck behavior when he's working. I find that Pac-Man only acts bucky when he's loose with the other goats but not when I'm messing with him, so it hasn't affected his working life at all. His front legs were too gross to touch during the fall, but unlike when he was a buck, the pee washed off easily with a garden hose. It looked yucky but it wasn't sticky or stinky like when he was intact. Could even be that if you have no girls or intact males around to get him excited, this older buck could stay a lot less "bucky" than I expect.