My girls were in heat Aug 27/28th.
They will not cycle again or by receptive to breeding until a month has passed, right? Should I not even bother bringing them to see the bucks until the end of the month?
Am hand-breeding in the hall way, I just let them go over to the boys' door & if they show interest I will let him out on a leadline to do the deed.
Replies
Oh that is horrible, Deborah. I am glad you mentioned that, I will remember that when I get sheep.
My sister Diana, w/ myotonics (w/horns) says her boys sometimes come up with blood running down their faces, I know she hates it for them, but it is the nature of the beast and lots of the myotonic folks don't disbud like we do. Seems to me that in general, most meat people leave horns and most dairy people disbud.
The boys just get completely crazy during breeding season. I don't think there is really any way to keep them totally safe unless they are so far away they can't see each other! Last year, Pegasus kept trying to butt heads with the buck in the pen next to him when a doe was in heat in either pen, and he wound up injuring his eye so badly I took him to U of I. This year, I had him pen breeding five does, and the silly boy was doing it again! So far, no injuries though! A couple years ago I had a yearling buck continue to butt heads until he gave himself a concussion -- he couldn't walk more than a few steps without falling down, and his eyes were going in different directions -- but that's the worst thing I've ever heard of happening with ND bucks. I know rams will fight to the death.
I don't have a clue, my bucks are separated right now and both have does with them but my guess is that it is normal and sooner or later they will have to work it out anyway. I bet he was furious!
Happy you got her bred and yea, you might as well let them breed all they want to, that is what a lot of people do. I have resorted to leaving mine together at the moment so I don't have to worry about missing them since I am trying to figure out what I am doing! LOL! Cause they seem to know what they want to do, that is for sure!
Well...either I was wrong about the dates or I don't know...because this morning Penny was hollering when I opened up the barn (not that hollering is unusual for her but she was REALLY carrying on) so I let her go down there and she was makign eyes at the boys. I let Bliss out with her & she was definitely receptive. He bred her once first thing and again around 10am. Looked successful.
Should I let them do it as often as possible till she's not interested anymore to try and get better odds since I am not pen or pasture breeding?
I let Annie come see him this morning too, but she didn't want any part of it.
Side note: Miyagi of course watched all this from the sidelines and he was SO MAD. When I put Bliss back, Miyagi chased him around relentlessly until I finally locked Bliss away from him. Is this normal bucky stuff? Should I let them work it out?
I personally, don't think so. Hubby and I both think that if anything it will probably through the new doe into season with them. If it is about time for her she may come in with all of them but it should not delay them. Most animals tend to go into season in groups.
From the sound of things it sounds like they could go in very soon. I would watch them very close. I know we have decided to pen breed and we just split up the bucks and added the girls, left them and are watching. It now appears that most of what I had hoped were due soon are really going into season. Now that they are with the bucks, it is VERY obvious that they are in. Nothing like when we were putting them in and out of the boys pens this spring. They are ozzing gunk and puffy and standing etc. The boys are going crazy. Quill blubbers all the time and pees on himself. uck! I actually SAW my Oak breed Popcorn and I had been wondering about his ability since he is so short and fat but he did great. So I am very happy with this!
Oh...thanks for pointing that out. Imagine if I missed another one!! ARGH! Does anyone know any reason why bringing home a new doe would mess up breeding for them? I may bring home that mini mancha this weekend or next week.
If their last heat was August 27/28th then they should be back in season early next week, so you don't have too much waiting to do! Good luck!
Juliana Goodwin said:
Sigh. I missed TWO heats on them already. I'm too impatient to wait until the end of the month!!! :)
They come into heat every 21 days +/- a couple days. Seems like I have a lot of does come into heat around 19-20.