Fred Has to Go

For reals. I just came to a horrible realization today as I observed Fred making obnoxious overtures towards his sister. Ginger is in heat. Her tail is flagging and her vulva is red and swollen. Fred spent half the day with his nose in her backside


 or blubbering and nibbling at her neck,


all the while moaning through his nose, low and subdued, as if he had a rag in his mouth. Fascinated by the antics, I thought Fred was just showing off his ever increasing manliness. Until, that is, I witnessed him suckling his sister's teats. Even worse, she let him and seemed to be LIKING it.


Shit, shit, fucking shit! I had completely misread the literature. The sources I read said that a doe could be bred at seven months, but that you should wait until she is at least a year to breed her. In my mind, that meant that a female wasn't capable of procreating until then. Oh no. I just read that does can reach sexually maturity by three months and that a buck can impregnate his mother as early as two months. Fuck! Fred should have been separated from everyone at the beginning of November.

I'm really worked up into a dither on this one. It is not good. Lucy went into heat last week and Fred attempted to woo her, but she was having none of it. She headbutted him until he quit the shenanigans. So I didn't worry. Bad, bad, BAD irresponsible farmer! Fred is almost as big as his mother. It's completely possible that he could have had his way with her. My anxiety is not eased by the fact that Lucy's milk supply has suffered a serious decline since estrus.

I really dropped the ball on researching keeping intact males. I never planned on having a buck around, thinking that all males at Itty Bitty would be wethered (castrated) or eaten. I am so mad at myself right now. It's like the urban farm version of MTV's "16 and Pregnant" with a bit of incest thrown in for better ratings.

I jest, but not lightly. I attempted to separate Fred from the herd, but he jumped two impenetrable (up until this point) fences to reunite with his family for nighttime snuggles. With our limited space issues, I feel like I can't exert the kind of control that I need to have over this situation. If a pregnancy comes out of all this, I will be devastated.

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