kittenmmm's blog post - Goat Dilemnas

I've been fairly busy over the holidays as most of us are. However, during the course of this time, Wolf has discovered a couple of abortions among the goats. I've been thinking about them and assuming that they were due to inadequate nutrition. I normally grain the females in the winter...not much, just about 1/4 to 1/2 lb per goat per day, but this winter I decided not to do that and allow them to browse. We haven't had a ton of snow as of yet and they were able to browse the woods and for the most part reach the grass. Goats are most closely related to deer and as such eat the same way deer eat. So, I assumed my grand experiment had gone awry.
I was thinking today though and I think it may not be nutrition because I did have one that had grain every day and still aborted. In her case, I think she was too young to carry but that's a whole other story. A while back, the bucks were allowed to get in with the does. The main buck can be a real cuss when feeding time comes round. I watched him ram the shit out of one of the does when I brought hay out one day. Well, I'm thinking that the punk rammed those does once too often and they ended up aborting.
So, now, I'm faced with the dilemna as to whether I want to keep the bucks in with the girls for the rest of the winter or if I want to start moving some fencing around to house them in the old buck pen. I'm pretty sure I've still got a few girls that are bred out there and I'd hate to see them abort too. They do mourn their kids and that alone can cause problems. Plus, if I get the bucks out and the girls still abort then I can look to nutrition as the definitive cause and I'll know what not to do for the next breeding season.
There's never a dull moment here, I will say that. And the wolf is getting a full education. Today he was shown how to trim hooves, check for worm loads, milk out colostrum (he just watched-can't figure why), give wormer, and finally to treat them to candy canes Hey, even goats like Christmas...wait til the end of the week when they get the tree!!