Last year I sold my Anglo Nubian buck Kodiak to a hobby goatkeeper, as I wished to focus more on my Saanen breeding. Recent events (described in my last blog entry) meant that I brought Kodiak back home a few weeks ago. He travelled well and settled in quickly as if he had never left. Not wanting him to fall into a bad home, I was prepared to ensure he had a forever home with me.
However, I have now hit an unexpected complication with poor Kodiak, and it is not his fault at all. All four of my Saanen does have fallen head over hooves in love with him! One after another last week they came into season and refused point blank to have anything to do with my Saanen bucks. We tried hand mating, restraining the doe, and penning them up together but my does now refuse to have anything to do with the white boys, instead they will stand at the fence batting their eyelids at Kodiak the Nubian buck, and will willingly stand for him to mate them.
This puts a bit of a spanner in the works as I wish to breed Saanens – not “Snubians”. We have tried rubbing the smell of the Nubian onto the Saanen boys, letting the does smell a buck rag from Kodiak while the Saanen boys mate them, letting the does nuzzle Kodiak while the Saanen mates them, and we have even put a coloured spotty blanket on the Saanen but the girls know they are being tricked and they want ‘the real deal’.
So Kodiak has gone to live with a neighbour who has some Nubian home milkers for a little while. Let’s hope by the time my girls are in season again they will have forgotten the ruggedly handsome Kodiak and will be happy to settle for the Saanen boys.
Perhaps my girls are trying to convince me that Anglo Nubians are the superior breed after all!
However, I have now hit an unexpected complication with poor Kodiak, and it is not his fault at all. All four of my Saanen does have fallen head over hooves in love with him! One after another last week they came into season and refused point blank to have anything to do with my Saanen bucks. We tried hand mating, restraining the doe, and penning them up together but my does now refuse to have anything to do with the white boys, instead they will stand at the fence batting their eyelids at Kodiak the Nubian buck, and will willingly stand for him to mate them.
This puts a bit of a spanner in the works as I wish to breed Saanens – not “Snubians”. We have tried rubbing the smell of the Nubian onto the Saanen boys, letting the does smell a buck rag from Kodiak while the Saanen boys mate them, letting the does nuzzle Kodiak while the Saanen mates them, and we have even put a coloured spotty blanket on the Saanen but the girls know they are being tricked and they want ‘the real deal’.
So Kodiak has gone to live with a neighbour who has some Nubian home milkers for a little while. Let’s hope by the time my girls are in season again they will have forgotten the ruggedly handsome Kodiak and will be happy to settle for the Saanen boys.
Perhaps my girls are trying to convince me that Anglo Nubians are the superior breed after all!