# Breeding Harness



## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

I do alot of pen breeding and was thinking about getting a breeding harness for the boys. 

I'm wondering how accurate they are, as my younger bucks tend to mount and fall off, mount and stay a while and remount THEN do the deed :laugh: . So I can see does possibly getting marked that didn't actually get bred.

Does anyone successfully use them? And is there one you prefer more?


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2012)

I have thought about it and haven't done it. I had a guy tell me that his high powered buck got his harness tangled in the horns of another buck and killed. His other one got his harness caught on the electric fence and killed him so I really haven't given it much thought. I do write down numbers when I do see him stick one, more as a reference point then anything else since it doesn't mean that was the time or day it took. My buck is pretty good he doesn't waste any juice and he may mount a Doe but usually not before she is in prime heat, younger bucks waste a lot of energy.
I guess its up to you I won't use one probably.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

The does would get marked anytime a buck mounted her wether it was successful or not. Then write down the date and watch for future marks. I know lots of people like them for the larger goats. I have a brand new one for sale if you do decide you want one. http://thegoatspot.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26341


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

I love em!
The bucks mount the does ,leaving a bright mark, I record the date and wait for the second heat.
It has 100% worked for my herd, and VERY accurate


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## RMADairyGoats (Jun 20, 2011)

I've never used one but if your bucks are disbudded and can't get their horns tangled in it I guess it would be fine


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

Thanks everyone!

My bucks aren't disbudded, but all my girls are. And I only have one buck per pen.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

They are good....just be careful that is doesn't rub them raw.. around the arm pit.... :wink:


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I was going to mention the same thing Pam...just be careful of rubbing. I haven't used them, but have heard they work quite well as long as you keep writing the dates down as the does are marked. :thumb:


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

KW Farms said:


> have heard they work quite well as long as you keep writing the dates down as the does are marked.


That's what do already when I see sticky tails, but this year I had some girls that I never saw interested in the buck and they got bred, I'm just not sure when.

Thank you both for the heads up about the rubbing!

I see that some are leather, some are nylon and some are nylon & leather. Is there one that works better? And are there crayons that work better then others?

Can the bucks get urine on them and will they still work?

Oh one last question, how long does it take for the crayon to wear off the doe?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

:thumbup: 

I never used them myself but...I seen a friends buck... that had raw marks on him....from it... don't know what it was made of....


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

I usually put my boys away in their own pens at night, as they have some food aggression issues! So I would be taking off the harnesses at night, I'll do a thorough check for rubs!


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## BareCreekFarm (Nov 20, 2011)

We use breeding harnesses on our bucks. We use the harnesses from Premier 1, we have used both the Cross Your Heart harness and the nylon one, and have had good luck with both. Like others have said make sure that the harness does not rub the buck. You will also need to reajust the harness quite often because the bucks loose some condition during breeding season, so the harnesses can start to come loose. 
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail. ... 4&cat_id=2
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=2


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

I have another question....might be dumb....but do they work on darker brown and black goats? Would you need to use a lighter colour crayon?


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## BareCreekFarm (Nov 20, 2011)

I only have one red doe (all the rest are traditional), and the marking crayons do not really show up on her :sigh: . We use blue, orange, and pink crayons.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

It should show up if he's frequently mounted her during the doe's heat. There should be noticeable markings. Use bright colors. Blue doesn't seem to show up as well as the other colors on darker fur. I use the crayons when I trim hooves sometimes so I can mark the does, then write down the info. once I have a large group done...much easier. But it might depend on what kind of crayon you're using for the harness. ...i'm not sure what those harnesses use.


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

Hmmm the majority of my goats are darker coloured, I'm slowly phasing out my traditional boers for black & reds. Maybe I should just buy a crayon to test, rather then spending the money on a harness (I'll need 7-8 of them), and go from there.


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## Bit of Everything (Jan 28, 2011)

We used a breeding harness last year with our buck. We had 2 red colored does and we were able to see the blue marker fine, didn't stick out like it would on traditional's but we could see it. We only couldn't see the marks after he had being using the crayon for a few weeks. It got dirty and didn't mark well. I found it to be such a hassle we just left it on. I didn't notice any rub marks on our boer buck after breeding season.


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## amylawrence (May 19, 2011)

Being the tightwad I am, I came up with a cost effective alternative to a breeding harness (plus I had heard all the downsides). I bought 99 cent tubes of halloween face paint (nontoxic) and painted my buck's chest with a big dab. My doe's back end was bright pink from his red paint! I used green for the next does he took on. I'm pretty confident about accurate dates based on seeing the deed and seeing the paint.


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## Happy Hobby Farmer (May 16, 2011)

Amy that's a great idea. I found this which is similar: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail. ... 6&cat_id=2

Anyone have any experience with that? Seems like it would be way more cost effective for me since I would need to so many harnesses, and a postive would be that there would be no harness rubs to worry about.


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