jmgoyder

First it was the dogs, Doc and Blaze, a father-and-son-miniature-dachschund-duo. After we lost Inky (Doc’s wife and Blaze’s mum), Doc kept trying to, you know, ‘do it’ to Blaze. It became such a problem that we had to take Doc to the vet for a hormone implant, after which he left his son alone thank goodness!

Then it was the pigs (half sisters don’t forget!) Vegemite started trying to ‘do it’ to Mathilda. I found this much more disturbing because Vegemite had a rather aggressive sexual drive so when I tried to stop her she would raise her hackles and bare her substantial teeth. It’s not that Mathilda minded particularly; she didn’t even seem to notice what was happening at the back of her, as long as there was wheat in front of her. Anyway, this is another reason both pigs are happier now they are with boars.

It wasn’t until the Indian runner drake did the same kind of thing with his brother (despite the fact that there were two girl ducks available), and the peacocks – the males – started flirting with each other, that I began to realise that the sexual antics of fauna might be a little different to those of humans. I realise this is debatable but my point is that I no longer fret when I see what I now call ‘an incident’.

Oh now naive I used to be! The first time I saw our rooster, Courvoisier, copulate with one of our first hens, I didn’t realise what he was doing. I thought he was attacking her so I screamed out “stop it, stop it, Courvoisier!” But it was all very fast and the hen, Sussex (her breed name), just shook herself and walked off as if nothing had happened, although she did have a rather smug look on her face and that’s when I sort of understood.

And now I totally understand!