# Buckling with unusual behavior



## Ariel301 (Oct 4, 2010)

I got a new LaMancha buckling this spring. He is now about six months old, and I am a bit concerned about his behavior. I've only ever raised one other buck, so I don't have a whole lot of comparison.

Baruch still shows absolutely no interest in females. He is penned with my does, from ages 6 months to 9 years. They have been through a few heat cycles and he showed no interest at all, and no bucky behavior at all towards the girls. I had to bring in a different buck to get our girls bred. He does not stink or pee on himself. My other buck, an Alpine, was mounting other goats at a few weeks old, and successfully mating by 3-4 months. Baruch looks very nice and mature for his age, he is more masculine looking than the Alpine buck who is 2 years old; he's got a good beard coming in and a big thick neck, and he's well developed in the...well, male area... so I don't think he's lacking in male hormones or anything. :/

On top of this, the only mating behavior he has EVER displayed was towards male goats. He had a wether companion for a while, but I had to take the wether out because Baruch was riding him all the time, tongue-flapping at him, and trying very hard to mate, he actually did "mate" the wether at least a few times, to the point that the wether hid in the corner all the time with his tail tucked in and sort of whimpering until I moved him away. Once the wether was gone, Baruch quit acting bucky, except for a few brief displays again to the older buck I used! 

Should I be worried about this boy?


----------



## mully (Oct 4, 2010)

I would not worry.... he will come around in his own time.  Some bucks need a year.  You could get the vet to do a testosterone test to see where he is. Maybe he is under stress


----------



## warthog (Oct 4, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much, I have only raised one young buck, he was eight weeks old when we got him, and whilst he was trying to mount anything in sight at 10 weeks.

He only got round to the serious stuff at 8 months old, at that age he bred with two of my does, possibly three, in that I didn't see the act, I am not too sure about the third.

It was only at this time, that he started doing his tongue flapping, and peeing ritual, oh what fun to watch.

I am sure he is OK but like the OP said, if you are seriously concerned, you could get a vet check.

Personally I would just let things take its course.

Good luck


----------



## warthog (Oct 4, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much, I have only raised one young buck, he was eight weeks old when we got him, and whilst he was trying to mount anything in sight at 10 weeks.

He only got round to the serious stuff at 8 months old, at that age he bred with two of my does, possibly three, in that I didn't see the act, I am not too sure about the third.

It was only at this time, that he started doing his tongue flapping, and peeing ritual, oh what fun to watch.

I am sure he is OK but like the OP said, if you are seriously concerned, you could get a vet check.

Personally I would just let things take its course.

Good luck


----------



## warthog (Oct 4, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much, I have only raised one young buck, he was eight weeks old when we got him, and whilst he was trying to mount anything in sight at 10 weeks.

He only got round to the serious stuff at 8 months old, at that age he bred with two of my does, possibly three, in that I didn't see the act, I am not too sure about the third.

It was only at this time, that he started doing his tongue flapping, and peeing ritual, oh what fun to watch.

I am sure he is OK but like the OP said, if you are seriously concerned, you could get a vet check.

Personally I would just let things take its course.

Good luck


----------



## warthog (Oct 4, 2010)

I wouldn't worry too much, I have only raised one young buck, he was eight weeks old when we got him, and whilst he was trying to mount anything in sight at 10 weeks.

He only got round to the serious stuff at 8 months old, at that age he bred with two of my does, possibly three, in that I didn't see the act, I am not too sure about the third.

It was only at this time, that he started doing his tongue flapping, and peeing ritual, oh what fun to watch.

I am sure he is OK but like the OP said, if you are seriously concerned, you could get a vet check.

Personally I would just let things take its course.

Good luck


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 4, 2010)

I have a male that is about 18 months old and he is only just now showing interest in girls. Some lines are just slower than others.


----------



## warthog (Oct 4, 2010)

Sorry about the repeated posts, my computer is playing up.


----------



## Ariel301 (Oct 4, 2010)

I guess I'm less concerned about him being a "late bloomer" and having to wait until next year to breed him than I am about his current tendencies to be fairly serious about mating other males...


----------



## Emmetts Dairy (Oct 5, 2010)

I would just give him a chance...he does sound a little confused...but he
will fiqure it out....


----------



## ()relics (Oct 5, 2010)

Sexual orientation is not a choice, at least thats what the "experts" say about people...I have seen this twice before, neither buck belonged to me.  In both cases the buck was culled before he had ever bred a doe, even though he was old enough and should have been capable.  In 1 instance the buck costed the breeder an entire breeding season before he finally culled the buck, thinking all along that his does may have been the problem.  Missing a breeding season would KILL me so  I always have a Jr. or Sr. herdsire that runs with each group of gestating does, Just In Case.


----------



## glenolam (Oct 5, 2010)

Ariel - I'm in the same boat.  I have 2 bucks in with my girls, both were born in March - one in the beginning and one in the end of the month.

One is mounting everything and anything, making the silly faces, pleasing himself, etc and the other - the one I really like better - hasn't had ANY 'bucky' tendancies whatsoever.

Luckily, the other buck is most likely taking care of business for all the girls, but it all just means I now have to wait another year to have kids from the buck I really want to get kids from.


----------



## Ariel301 (Oct 5, 2010)

Well, I'm in love with this little guy, so he is here for good either way. If nothing else he'll be a fun cart goat, I am planning on training him and his matching-colored half-sister as a driving team, both are pure white so they will look very classy pulling a wagon. I guess if in another year he's still not working as a breeding animal, I can always wether him and keep one of next year's bucklings; I'm really hoping this kid straightens up because he's so pretty and I really want to breed him.


----------



## warthog (Oct 5, 2010)

He will, just give him time


----------



## Ariel301 (Oct 6, 2010)

Does anyone think penning him for a while with an older, fully stinky and disgusting (but gentle) buck might help him learn proper behavior? It's a thought.


----------



## warthog (Oct 7, 2010)

The short answer to that is, I don't know, but it can't do any harm.

Well actually maybe it can it will make him smelly too


----------



## Emmetts Dairy (Oct 7, 2010)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> Well, I'm in love with this little guy, so he is here for good either way. If nothing else he'll be a fun cart goat, I am planning on training him and his matching-colored half-sister as a driving team, both are pure white so they will look very classy pulling a wagon.


Thats GREAT!!! I love it when I hear people giving goats a job!! Seriously!
They love something to do!!  I pack two of our goats to take with us on hikes and they just love it!  Makes our trips fun and much lighter.  We've even taken them overnite...it was awesome sleeping on the side of the mountain with my husband and my goaties!!! 

Nice to hear!!!  With the trouble goats get in I think they NEED the work sometimes..

Whats that old saying..."Idle hands are the devils workshop"


----------



## TheSheepGirl (Oct 8, 2010)

> I guess I'm less concerned about him being a "late bloomer" and having to wait until next year to breed him than I am about his current tendencies to be fairly serious about mating other males...


It may have just been a dominance thing. The whether would have been viewed as the weaker one of the two and that would explain the mounting thing. I've seen it in our doe pen before.



> If nothing else he'll be a fun cart goat, I am planning on training him and his matching-colored half-sister as a driving team, both are pure white so they will look very classy pulling a wagon.


I jsut love to here about others who are training cart goats. i'm planning on traing my sheep as a cart pair. 

Can you post pictures of your goats in their harnesses? I've been having troubles with a design.


----------



## Ariel301 (Oct 9, 2010)

I don't have the harness or the cart yet. My husband is building me a goat-sized buckboard wagon that will be pulled by a team of two. I am making my own harnesses, but the two I plan on training are still a little small for them, since they're meant for full-size adults. I'll definitely share when we get some progress made though, I'm really looking forward to it! 

I pack with my goats also. We did our first overnight trip with the younger goats a couple of weeks ago and it went really well, the two we took started crying in the middle of the first night, wanting to get back to their herd, but after that they were fine and perfectly well behaved, they followed us around loose and never needed to be tied or penned, they just went to bed on the back porch of our little cabin. They certainly enjoy sitting around a campfire, I was surprised by that, since most animals seem to have a natural fear of fire. Not the goats, they stretched out as close as they could get and just soaked up the heat! 

Here's some pictures from our trip, these are the two we are working on training for both pack and harness--the buck in question and his half-sister. They're such a cute pair.


----------

