Boys Corralled

When we began to sort this year's bucklings into a corral to keep them from trying to breed the does, they immediately displayed the classic head-butting behavior of goats. If anyone questions the etymology of the phrase "hard headed," one needs to do little more than spend a few minutes around sparring goats. After witnessing the resounding, skull-shaking, head butting behavior there can be little doubt that goats are the original hard headed creatures.

With or without horns the connections can be brutal. The ferocious energy channeled into every head butt is impressive. True, the butting behavior can be merely formal--as when two does cross paths and stop for feint and charge--and backed by little power; however, the behavior is often accompanied by a loud thwonk as heads collide.

Most frequently the heads meet cleanly, forehead-to-forehead and the challenge becomes a test of might as each goat tries to force the other to back down. When the boys began collecting in the raised-bed pen (it has served as a garden plot in past incarnations), the challenges were immediate and unceasing. I hung around to take a few photos, then got bored with the young fellows' antics and continued with my chores.

What I dislike is when the head-butting continues to the point of drawing blood. It is not that horns stab into other goats' skulls, but more that the continued, repeated, sudden pressure of butting over and over again splits the scalp. On horned goats this happens at the base of the horns. On polled goats, I've seen the spots where horns would have been split and bloodied.

This battling to the point of drawing blood is unique to the bucks. While the does and doelings will challenge one another, and crack skulls together with resounding crashes, they do not continue the behavior past a few minutes worth of challenges.

Also, the bloody battles occur among the younger males. Perhaps those are the ones with something to prove. Last year Sting and Brad battled ferociously, sometimes including young Joshua (who is polled) in their skirmishes. This year those three are coexisting quietly and its the 2010 bucklings who are knocking themselves silly.

The photos show Will and Ted, and Gene and Graham. That's Will--a product of the season's first kidding--sporting a bloodied scalp and readying for further battle. The good news is that the behavior falls off after a bloody evening or two. When the challenges are no longer constant, the little heads have a chance to heal.