The month of November brings with it another kind of madness here on our goat farm…BREEDING SEASON! Anyone who raises and breeds goats of any kind knows too well about the “special” madness that runs rampant throughout the males of the specie as the shortening days of fall arrive…a madness affectionately known as RUT! As a new breeder, I’ve actually only experienced this phenomenon twice, but I must say, it’s a unique and highly entertaining event! Never before have I seen a group of males act quite the way mine do this time of year, all for the sake of “getting a girl” (well, maybe when I was in high school) …grunting and snorting and making oddly human-sounding noises, with their tongues wagging out the sides of their mouths…and hey, what’s that SMELL??? Throughout most of the year, my bucks are a very gentle, mild-mannered group of men who are happy and eager to see me as I walk down the road toward the pasture for their morning and evening feedings. They greet me at the gate with gentle nudges and kisses in anticipation of the head rubs and back scratches they have come to expect from me. However, just like clockwork, when autumn arrives, everything changes! Suddenly, they don’t care about my presence anymore…”Just drop the hay in the feeder and be on your way” is the clear message they’re sending as they follow me around with their slurpy-sounding tongues flapping and foul, malodorous, stenches. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my bucks! Their antics really are the “life of the farm” and I wouldn’t trade them for the world! But, I’ve learned that during the autumn breeding season, it’s definitely best to stay out of the way of their stinky “love sick” madness!
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