Buck and shelter
So, I finally got the shelter done and on 11/1/11 I went up to Blackfoot and purchased the new buckling. You can see him in the picture there to the left. He is now getting used to his new surroundings and being with “the girls”.
I left him alone in the space for a day and then put Connie and Rosie in with him. He is definitely in rut and ready to breed, but the girls won’t be ready for about another two weeks. That’s OK, I was going to keep them in with him for most of this month. Then I will bring them back to the old goat pen and take the younger two out to be with him.
I am still not sure what to call him, Marky thinks we should stick with the country singer theme and call him “BuckOwens” I guess that would be OK, but using the name buck seems kind of unimaginative. I don’t have anything better right now so he may be stuck with that.
In Blackfoot
If you have never experienced the smell of a male goat in rut, well, it is hard to describe. When I bought the girls last year they were still in the pen with (as the guy said) a smelly ole’ Billy goat. Emphasis on the word smelly since my new guy is only nine months old and I don’t think the one last year was more than one year. I happened to mention bag balm on FaceBook once and I got lots of grief for doing so. Bag balm has a very pleasant smell and a buck in rut is anything BUT pleasant to smell.
I brought him here in the back of my pickup and now the whole truck smells like “buck-in-rut”. Not only that, but being a goat he has no sense of where not to go to the bathroom and so I will have to clean out the truck bed if I want to haul other things anytime soon.
My nephew Josh suggested that I develop and market goat scented air “fresheners”. I don’t know, I think it would have a very limited market, but I learned long ago not to dismiss an idea just because I didn’t come up with it. There may be a bigger market than I think.
Anyway, as the title says the buck stops here, and I think he will stay for a while. I’m hoping for lots of cute baby goats in the spring. It’s something to look forward to.
Now back to the chickens.