Okay so I have a Nubian doe (scurs little) and a Nigerian Dwarf (disbudded ) They are in goatie love, well there was an ad on Craigslist for goats and I went and looked ended up buying one solely for the fact she is emaciated and her feet look SO painful, came home called animal care and told them to go look at the property there were tons of miserable looking critters there..... Well anyhow she is a Lamancha doe with about 12 inch horns and I just don't know if it's safe for them all to be together, she is kind of a bully and guards food meaning she won't share and she chases the others awayf rom food even if she has her own in front of her (could that be like a starved dog guarding its food?) I just want to make sure everyone is happy and safe. The sweet girl is attached to me already but doesn't seem interested in making any goat friends. The guy said as I was leaving she's bred and you can milk her now if you want too, it kills me to sell her for so little :veryangry: Oh and that the deep concave on her side was just because she had eaten that morning and that meant all the food was digested......REALLY no that's her skeleton showing Sorry but I get so frustrated when people pass off neglect as though this animals likes being miserable....Anyhow any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks
i have all of my does together, (except one alpine who is a wuss) and they all do fine! it's nice you rescued her it sounds as if she needed it.
I have 2 horned (myotonics) in with all my disbudded / polled goats and they seem to do fine - course one of the horned is a BULLY - so all the others stay away from her
What you are saying is...you have an aggressive doe at feeding time...is she aggressive any other time? Have you tried to put little piles of feed ..all over the place.....she can't keep up with them all..... or pull her out at feeding time... so the others can eat..... There is a risk putting horned and no dehorned goats together...it depends on your goats personalities and aggressiveness...... put them together ... keep an eye on them for a little while... Good Luck...
I have an engine crate that I made a feeder out of that the goats have to put their head into - this stopped any aggressive behavior at feeding time - so now they snort at each other while eating - LOL!
I have one polled and one with scurs. Everyone else has horns. They learn who to trust and who's a butt. The ones with horns beat each other up. My herd queen is a pygmy and loves to butt my polled sheep, Baa Baa. He has plenty of padding and will hit her back. It's very funny to watch them. My other sheep (with horns) will play ref. He will stand in between them and rest his head on their heads til they cool off and walk away. All mine "growl" at each other at feeding time. They get feed twice a day at 3 different stations plus free choice hay all day. :doh: Yet they still swear they are starving. :laugh: Gina
Well since I just got her I'm not sure how aggressive she is but when I brought her up to the pen she'd try to bite my other goats and she'll stick her toungue out at them and when they get close she'll butt them. It's not like she's actually chasing and attacking just when their in range she'll have a go at them whether thats biting or butting. The other two just run away except on occasion my little ND feels brave and will rear up at her with his little back mohawk raised. I put out two seperate areas of free choice hay and she just won't let anyone share the area with her and than this morning when i took out grain in 3 seperate bowls i put each one down away from one another and without even finishing hers she tried to run the other two off thiers I stopped her but is that just normal goat behavior or is she being mean? I'm really new so I'm not used to goat introduction and behaviorisms yet I got dogs down to a science but goats is a whole new language. Thanks again for your help
That is just her asserting dominance in the new herd... things will settle down soon. I have 3 horned goats, 10 polled and 5 disbudded goats... One of my polled does is herd queen and one of the horned girls is 2nd in command.... its all in their personalities as to who will be top goat... not their horns. Although you do have to keep close watch on them when the herd queen is horned and the others are not as goats can be pretty evil to one another. Try having lots of feed stations or separating during feeding time if your original goats aren't getting enough feed anymore. Be sure to worm your new girl as well... you don't want to be feeding worms.
There is always a top goat in the herd ...it really isn't aggression....she is actually.. throwing her authority around cause she knows she can...and taking advantage... of the other does fears....... by doing this ...she may be over eating the grain..... I would suggest ...either tying her up when you feed grain... or taking her out and feed her separate...... then after everyone is finished.... put her back in with them....
