tHE rUT

The Rut
All the goats were on Bilberry Rock today as I made the last check on them at around 4pm this evening. The wind was westerly, blowing my scent away from them so that I would not be detected. There was a lot of activity going on with the goats.. It was the ruting season. I stood behind a blackberry bush to observe them.

King Puck was with four junior pucks (his lieutenants). He was organizing a fight between the junior pucks to pick the strongest of the four.  Standing on one side, away from them was Queen Nanny, with the rest of the nannes and kids. One male yearling broke loose and ran to join the puck fight, but he was quickly ushered back to his place by Queen Nanny. King Puck bleated loudly. 

The junior pucks head butted with their heavy handlebar horns. Every head butt reverberated through the air. King Puck was the referee and each of the four pucks were put through their paces. At the end of the fights, each puck was pared off with a nanny. King Puck did not fight. As leader of the herd, he could choose a nanny of his choice. He went missing for three days and I wondered where he was. One of the senior nannies was also missing. Leo, security man in the brewery  contacted me to say that King Puck was with a nanny at the back of the brewery and both seemed to be ok.

It was a privilege to see this goat ruting ceremony taking place. It was fascinating to observe and it gave me a greater understanding of their social behaviour. 
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The following spring, King Pucks offspring was a strong and  sturdy little brown and white male kid. A future leader of the Herd.