# New buckling added, but does are mean to him.



## madcow (Sep 1, 2013)

Well, found someone who had a young buckling for sale close to here and checked it out on Friday.  Needless to say, I came home with our new herd sire, whom I have named Ringo.  He's a pgymy and about 3 months old, so a little young to do the the task and probably couldn't right now if he wanted to, because all 3 of my does are acting like real b*tches towards him since I brought him home.  Poor little guy.  They won't allow him to eat unless I or Bruce stands guard over him or the does will chase him away and eat all his food.  They won't let him get anywhere near close to them at this point.  He's really lonely right now and I've had to protect him at every turn from them butting him around if he gets close. He cries most of the time because they won't allow him to be part of the herd and with him being so young he's missing his mother.  I know they need to establish the herd hierarchy, and bucks are always low man on the pole so to speak, with wethers even lower than the bucks, but is this normal?  Should I just move him with our wether to a separate pen and try to introduce him again when he's a little older and more able to fend off their attaching him, or should I just give them more time and let them work it out?  I feel really badly for him.  I can see them outside right now and he's all alone in the back of the pen and the rest of them are a good ways away from him shunning him as usual.  What should I expect?  All of the goats I have besides him are related to each other and I wonder if that is something that affects the dynamics of introducing a new buck.  When I brought a borrowed buck (who was full grown) in a few weeks ago they at least allowed him to get close and didn't chase him off every time.  Anyone else have this experience and if you did, what did you do about it?


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## madcow (Sep 1, 2013)

Oh, forgot to post the pictures! Introducing Ringo!  You can tell how dry Texas is by the grass in the picture!  Glad autumn is on it's way!









Here's new of b*tch #1, Miss ET




And one of her mother (B#2), Ginger




She even looks like she has an evil smile on her face!


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## HoneyDreameMomma (Sep 1, 2013)

Haven't had the problem with a buck, but we had a similar experience with three doelings we recently added to our herd.  The first few weeks our girls were awful to them - pushing them away from the food, butting them at every chance they had, even pushing them out of the loafing shed at night when the herd was trying to bed down.  The doelings would follow the herd around (at a safe distance), and for quite awhile we wondered if our older girls would ever accept them.  I'm pleased to say that was a little over a month ago, and the doelings are now accepted members of the herd.  One of our older does that was a real meanie to them before actually lovingly herded them into the loafing shed tonight, because it was raining.

I hope your little buckling gets integrated soon.  It's always sad to see them getting picked on.


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## madcow (Sep 2, 2013)

Well, I'm happy to say that he has now started standing his ground and challenging first the lowest ranking doe out of the 3 with head butts.  I later saw him challenge ET, who is 2nd doe in command and then I saw him challenge Ginger, the herd queen later.  He's smart enough to know if they all gang up on him as one he turns tail and runs.  He's been challenging Waldo, our wether, too.  So I'm glad things are starting to get sorted out and I've seen him eating more.  I'm still trying to earn his trust so he will come up to me as the other goats do, but I know that will take time and most likely the herd ranking and finally their acceptance will need to be sorted out before he will feel relaxed enough to come close to me.  He seems like a really sweet little buckling and I think he's going to make some really nice looking kids.


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## woodsie (Sep 2, 2013)

I hope it works out for him soon...I hate seeing them get picked on too. He's a real looker...love that vibrant red against the sharp white markings.


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## meme (Sep 2, 2013)

He's a cutie! 

Currently, our 5 month old Nubian doeling and her mom stay on one side of the pasture during the day, out Nubian wether and Alpine doe are on the other side, and our new Lamancha yearling is in her quarentine pen. At night, our adult Nubian doe, our Alpine, and our wether sleep together while our doeling is alone right next to them. Yesterday I tried to put them all together for a few hours, but my Alpine doe is brutal towards our 5 month old. They fight fairly for a while, but once the doeling starts running, our Alpine will chase her like no tomorrow and ram her every chance she gets. So, that didn't last for long! Today I don't have the time to chase them around 4 acres for hours in the hot sun, so they have gone back to their perspective sides. I am not sure how I will ever integrate our tiny, pregnant lamancha. She is very timid. The joys of goats!


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## HoneyDreameMomma (Sep 3, 2013)

Hooray - points for Ringo for standing his ground!!   I'll bet with a little more time, the girls will love him... lol, a lot.


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