3 week old buckling mounting doeling

[RockyToggRanch]

Last night my DH told me I need to separate the kids because Kit Carson is trying to mate with Annie Oakley. I said "no dear, that's just how they play." I went and looked and sure enough...no mistaking his intentions...he was also trying do mount Tagg Oakley.

I thought I had until 2 mos before I needed to separate?

I saw no sign of his boy thing. Is he just practicing? Annie is not impressed.

 

[Roll farms]

At that age it's more of a dominance thing than anything, like when a 3 mo. old pup mounts something...
I've never heard of a problem in a buckling younger than 2 months being fertile, and that's on the very very brink of the danger zone....could happen, but not likely, mainly b/c the doeling won't be cycling.

 

[freemotion]

You'll see females mounting, too. If his plumbing is put away, it is just practice/dominance.

 

[michickenwrangler]

You'll see females mounting, too. If his plumbing is put away, it is just practice/dominance.

Both of mine, wether and doeling mount one another plus the other two kids in the pen. They're all jumping on one another.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Okay, good. I haven't seen his man stuff yet. The other two aren't doing it and they're a week older.

How old is too old to have them banded? What is the ideal age? I may keep one to live with my buck.

 

[cmjust0]

Okay, good. I haven't seen his man stuff yet. The other two aren't doing it and they're a week older.

How old is too old to have them banded? What is the ideal age? I may keep one to live with my buck.

Too old is when their nuts won't fit through an elastrator, basically...but younger is better than older.

That said, there's a caveat to that too.. Their urethra pretty much stops growing when you band them. The earlier you do it, the smaller their urethra is, and the more easily it would be clogged up with urinary calculi..

So, as for an ideal age...it probably depends on your overall setup.

If they're going to be running with young females, I'd do it at two months of age. That's the early end of the fertility danger zone for both sexes, and most everything I've read suggests waiting at least that long to allow the urethra to attain at least some size so as to minimize the risk of urinary calculi..

If they're seperate...I dunno...I think I'd maybe wait until three or four months if I had my 'druthers.

Then again, I've dealt with urinary calculi before and I'm more than a little gunshy about it these days.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

They'll be separated at 2 mos. So I guess I'll wait 'til 3-4 months.

Thanks

 

[michickenwrangler]

When I spoke with my vet about castrating our buckling (now a wether), he said that if the goat is prone to urinary calculi, you can cut off the tip of the penis so that the opening is a little larger. He also said to watch the phosphorus in the diet.

 

[RockyToggRanch]

When I spoke with my vet about castrating our buckling (now a wether), he said that if the goat is prone to urinary calculi, you can cut off the tip of the penis so that the opening is a little larger. He also said to watch the phosphorus in the diet.

I could not do that...I hope you mean a vet could do it :/

Maybe it's better to wait until they're older...

 

[cmjust0]

When I spoke with my vet about castrating our buckling (now a wether), he said that if the goat is prone to urinary calculi, you can cut off the tip of the penis so that the opening is a little larger. He also said to watch the phosphorus in the diet.

First of all...I'm not sure what "prone to urinary calculi" really means, as a good many goats who have one case don't recover to become known as being "prone" to it..

As for removing the urethral process (which isn't really the "tip of the penis" per se...more on that in a second), that's all well and good...but the urethral process is often the least of your worries when it comes to urinary calculi..

A male goat's urethra is......weird. It goes up and makes a hairpin turn inside the goat's body at the sigmoid flexure. Lots of times, they either get a physical obstruction or enough inflammation to cause an obstruction at the sigmoid flexure.. If that's the case -- which, again, it often is -- removing the urethral process is of no value.

Watching the phosphorus in the diet is, of course, a good idea.