How do you group your bucks? I assume there would be a yearling, 2yr, and 3yr old pen... Do you mix some age groups with others to help prevent fighting? When is it safe to move a breeder back in with other bucks? Which bucks would you have sharing a common fence, or should they not share a fence at all? Is shade cloth, or something similar, enough to prevent them from sparring through the fence? I'm sure people have different strategies...just trying to get a sense of what is working good for some of you.
We separate our bucks by age class. Occasionally we will retire breeders and put them back with the yearlings. Mixing age groups has proven to be a problem other than in the hunt preserve where it is large enough to not be a problem. We have never cut an antler since 1979 so our bucks carry their antlers til early April.
We don't move breeder bucks back in with other bucks til everything has shed.we do not let bucks share common fence with breeders unless you really like fixing fence. It also puts a lot of stress on breeding does and bucks. Shade cloth is ripped to shreds by anxious bucks . We tried that years ago without any good results.
We have once mixed 2and3 year olds together for a season when their heads were bald. It worked okay but out of 40 bucks we lost 3 to fighting and a couple suffered eye injuries that affected antler growth the following year.
We don't move breeder bucks back in with other bucks til everything has shed.we do not let bucks share common fence with breeders unless you really like fixing fence. It also puts a lot of stress on breeding does and bucks. Shade cloth is ripped to shreds by anxious bucks . We tried that years ago without any good results.
We have once mixed 2and3 year olds together for a season when their heads were bald. It worked okay but out of 40 bucks we lost 3 to fighting and a couple suffered eye injuries that affected antler growth the following year.
