Although it might be entertaining (similar to a cockfight), the above is why it’s not a good idea to put two strange bucks or rams together in the same field for an uninterrupted no holds barred battle for dominance, especially when I have paid good money for an expensive stud. Although their wild ancestors have evolved to conduct full on battles with minimum damage, domestication and breeding for interesting horn shapes has left them more vulnerable to injuries as described above. Here, the only time I will have more than one buck or ram in the same field is when they had been together since infancy and had plenty of time to work out their dominance hierarchy so that battles for dominance are minimal.
Whenever I bring a strange buck or ram onto the farm, I will pasture them with 1 or 2 large, skittish wethers for company. Wethers; so that they will just act to defend themselves against aggression by the newcomer, but won’t escalate matters. Large; ideally larger than the newcomer, so that the wethers will be intimidating to the new arrival and can handle any aggression directed their way. Skittish; so the newcomer remains wary of you since their new herd mates obviously are. A buck, ram, or bull (especially when bottle raised) is potentially the most dangerous animal on the farm and one you don’t want to get overly friendly or familiar with you to the point to where they lose their fear of you and start considering you as a potential rival (or breeding partner).
Also don’t put two strange buck or rams in adjacent fields sharing a common fence line. When dueling, they will coordinate their charges so they meet simultaneously at the fence, which can quickly tear up field fencing, although horse fencing can tolerate a little more abuse. If they have to be in adjacent fields, I’ll keep them in fields separated by a corridor or else by a second parallel fence line spaced 4 feet back from the original fence. This second fence line will have cattle panel gates at either end opening into one of the two fields so that livestock can graze the area between the two fence lines whenever bucks or rams aren’t being kept in them. The corridor is also a convenient place to crowd the herd in that field into whenever I need to do eye checks (famacha) or other visual checks.