False pregnancies all throughout Winter and Spring, is it too late for my buck to be fertile???
by Maggie
(Valley City, ND, U.S.A.)
I have had false pregnancies all throughout winter and spring. I have two does that are are ready to be bred, but they were also ready in March. At the time I only had a seven year old buck that had good genes, but I'm afraid he is not fertile anymore. So we are borrowing a younger buck which has fathered other litters.
It is now July in North Dakota so the temperature goes over 80 almost everyday. Is it too hot for him to be fertile too? I've bred a younger doe (just under one year old) to the younger buck almost a week ago. I'm very scared that we will not have kits again. Next year my sister is graduating and my mom wants them gone by then. So any advice I will take. Please help me!!!
I will try to post any pictures of the babies that I can.
***** Karen Sez *****Over 80 doesn't typically cause bucks to become temporarily sterile. But over 90 will do it. (Over 90 can also cause heat stroke and death...) I would begin to get concerned about the ambient temperature should it begin to exceed 86-88F for several days in a row. At that point, however, you would be providing cooling measures, right?
I hope you have your nest box ready...! :-)