Bucks Enjoy Enrichment Exercise
Magazine Preview from Dairy Goat Journal (November / December 2016)
Add to Favorites By Alex Becker – Dairy goats are social, energetic creatures. While most breeders keep several does together in the herd, often bucks are penned separately, mostly because they are harder to keep in fences, harder on equipment, typically bigger, more aggressive, and more affected by seasons (rut). This often results in their social needs going largely unmet, except maybe during breeding season. With some effort and ideas toward lifestyle enrichment, bucks can be kept happy in seasons other than rut, which makes for a healthier “half of the herd” in the long run. It might be a rarity to find a pile of mature bucks nestled in a corner together like most does herds tend to congregate. Yet, they are in their own way very social animals, often engaging in head butting competitions or sometimes lounging near the water tank chewing cud peacefully. Regardless of what they
Add to Favorites By Alex Becker – Dairy goats are social, energetic creatures. While most breeders keep several does together in the herd, often bucks are penned separately, mostly because they are harder to keep in fences, harder on equipment, typically bigger, more aggressive, and more affected by seasons (rut). This often results in their social needs going largely unmet, except maybe during breeding season. With some effort and ideas toward lifestyle enrichment, bucks can be kept happy in seasons other than rut, which makes for a healthier “half of the herd” in the long run. It might be a rarity to find a pile of mature bucks nestled in a corner together like most does herds tend to congregate. Yet, they are in their own way very social animals, often engaging in head butting competitions or sometimes lounging near the water tank chewing cud peacefully. Regardless of what they
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