# penning mature bucks together



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

For the breeders that have 2 or more bucks.....I know when they are growing up together before breeding ......works well .....it's for company and makes them compete to eat more....  
But after they have been in rut and breeding the does.....when it is time to pen them up again...do you wait for so long for them ......to go out of rut before you put them back in with each other....? Or........? just keep them separated.......Just wondering .....how you all do it......


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

All of my bucks are together - even the Nubian that I brought home that was almost a year old. They are even in a smaller horse pen - and do fine together. Now Blue, my new buck is out with the horses, flirting with the girls on the other side of the fence at the moment, but is happy and doing well. They will get to meet here shortly. 

They learn their pecking order and are ok. I even take a buck out on a leash for breeding and when I bring him back - I don't have any issues - but I might be lucky - I don't know.


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## badnewsboers (May 9, 2008)

Right now we only have one mature buck and a three young bucks. However when Ken and I went to go look at a nearby breeder's stock, I was shocked by the condition his bucks were in. They were so skinny because he kept six mature bucks in rut penned up together. They were all too busy chasing the does at the fenceline, fighting among themselves and riding the other bucks to think of eating. I went out again recently and most of the bucks have been separated because the breeder wants to get weight back on them. We actually have one of the bucks at our farm to breed a group of does and he has gained so much weight back and looks so much better now.


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

I have never had a problem keeping weight on my boys - they want to do nothing but eat since they can't "get" to the girls. They can only sniff through the wood and talk. 

Now I went to pick up my Blue yesterday and almost all of the bucks have scabs on the top of thier heads where they have been fighting with each other - so we will see how he does once I introduce him to the other boys. My boys are very submissive and young though.


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

I know a breeder who has seven mature Saanen bucks penned together, they are in pretty good shape, a little underweight, but I've never had or met a buck who kept his weight on during rut(well the boers maybe)

In the dairy herd, we currently have two adults bucks and two young bucks. We just keep the two adults together all the time, they fight some but we haven't had any major issues with them. The younger bucks are kept a pen away from the older bucks, they don't even share a fenceline(the pen inbetween the young and the old bucks is occupied by wethers) The two young bucks fight a lot but again, no major issues


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

With the work goats we have about 20 bucks pastured together, and dont have a problem. At certain times of the year we will take between two and five out for a joining period - they get 3 weeks with the girls, then its back into the buck paddock. The only time we have had a problem was when we reintroduced only one buck into the buck paddock after he had been mated. They beat him so bad he fractured his skull. Now we are careful to introduce two or more back to the group, that way they cant gang up as much and havent had any probs since.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I just turn my bucks in with each other. Even when I get new ones, I put them in there and let them figure out the pecking order. They'll have to figure it out sometime anyway. Just make sure they have room to get away from each other.


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

I keep all my bucks together. They get along fine. I think Bambi is the only one who looks a bit skinny right now. The others are all a nice weight.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I had 2 mature boer bucks one time.....after separating them for breeding season and then... putting them back together after breeding ....they stated sparring ....one of the bucks ...left horn ...was cracked open ...about a half an inch ...I about freaked........ so we separated them ....and took the one to the vet....The vet put the goat under....... so he could check it out...he found that part of his horn has penetrated into his skull pretty deep...it could of killed him... if he would of been hit hard again .... it would of actually penetrated his brain.... :shocked:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I have my 3 boys together...and yes they do fight but the smaller 2 have learned to stay away from the main man when a doe is wanting attention..they have plenty of room to "escape" and I feed each separately and wait til they are done before I leave, this way they all get the right portion of feed. I also have three separate hay feeding areas so they each get their own.


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## heathersboers (Sep 5, 2008)

We keep our grown bucks together- wildman and Trax fought bad at first, but get along great now-as long as there are no does around. We move the bucks to the doe pens to breed the does-then put the bucks back into their pen.


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

Our state vet that we had when we were in the Voluntary Scrapie Program said 3-4 bucks do well since they don't fight as much when they're paired up like that which has worked for some ours but we also have just 2 bucks in a pen together too or 2 wethers and a doe or a buck and a wether together though but we do have 3 bottle baby bucks together and we have twin wethers together too. This works for rams and sheep wethers too, when we raised Shetlands we had all the ewes together and the rams and wether together.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

toth boer goats said:


> I had 2 mature boer bucks one time.....after separating them for breeding season and then... putting them back together after breeding ....they stated sparring ....one of the bucks ...left horn ...was cracked open ...about a half an inch ...I about freaked........ so we separated them ....and took the one to the vet....The vet put the goat under....... so he could check it out...he found that part of his horn has penetrated into his skull pretty deep...it could of killed him... if he would of been hit hard again .... it would of actually penetrated his brain.... :shocked:


ouch!!

thankfully my little guys don't have horns. but i pen the three of them with my wether.. and the only one who went off feed and would only have eyes for the does got really skinny.. till i put up a board so he can't see them..


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

We recently moved our five month Alpine/Nubian buck into a pen with his dad and our Nubian whether, they ar penned right allong side the does. They have kept their weight up well, though we feed them all in seperate places. 
At first they only ran around, fought, gaping at the girls, and mounting eachother. Talk about incest gangbang :shocked: :shrug: 

And now.. well, they still do the same thing, but less.

Only the five month as horns, but they are small yet, the only injury was one his head and it was a cut from a loose piece of tin, and healed well.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> ouch!!
> 
> thankfully my little guys don't have horns. but i pen the three of them with my wether.. and the only one who went off feed and would only have eyes for the does got really skinny.. till i put up a board so he can't see them..


 yes it was ouch ....it freaked me out....but it healed well after the vet pulled the big piece out of his skull.....  your bucks with out horns ...in this situation is a good thing... 

when they are girl crazy ... :shocked: ...that is a hassle.....they are just going to have to be "board".....LOL


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## goatnutty (Oct 9, 2007)

I only 1-3 bucks at a time but they don't bother each other (they are always together except when breeding).


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

sounds like everyone is doing well .... :dance: with putting there bucks together....thanks for sharing....


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