I really need some help figuring out what might be going on with our little Emmie. :?
I am going to apologize now for the length of this, and hope that some one
kind and knowledgeable takes the time to read through this, and give me some advice...
Here is some back ground info on our situation.
I have never owned a goat before, thought about it though.
Aug. of '09 a friend of ours gave Emmie to us as a surprise "Barn Warming" gift.
The friend was guesstimating her age at about 3 months old.
She was kind of a rescue, she had been living with a woman who got her just to keep her horse company. Apparently this woman was NOT a nice person, Emmie ran away to a distant neighbors house, and when the woman found out, she said she was coming over with her shotgun to kill her. Seriously.
The neighbors called up my friend to see if she could take her in, and "walla" I now have a sweet little goat!
So, since she was very young, she has not known she was a goat. She went from living with that horse briefly, to living with my two Llamas.
They absolutely adore each other!
Getting to the point here...
Rarely, if ever, do you hear a peep out of her. She is extremely quiet for a goat.
We live up in the mountains on acreage and have some neighbors, at a distance, that have milk goats that you can hear bleating fairly often at times of the day, but especially later in the evening because they only milk once per day, at night. Emmie has never shown that she even acknowledges their presence.
Last night Emmie started just "wailing" away and acting all skittish. I was fairly concerned because like I said, you never hear a peep out'a her!
I checked her out physically and found nothing wrong, I checked the barn, paddock and stall, nothing out of the ordinary either.
I stayed around and watched her for awhile, she seemed to be looking off into the dark woods when she would bleat.
My miniature horses, and the Llamas were all as calm as could be, but I did a walk around to see if I could find any predator tracks in the snow, and saw nothing.
She was fine when I went out and checked on her at 3am, and then at both feedings today as well. But I did notice after I fed tonight she started to bleat occasionally, and she was looking off in that same direction.
It hit me that she seems to be always looking towards the neighbors with the goats!
Is it possible that after almost two years, she is maybe realizing they are "her kind"?
My other thought is maybe they have a Billy. If they do, would she maybe be in a heat and calling out to him?
Am I just an absolute idiot, or does this happen?
I would so appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or advise on this.
I did not sleep at all last night, (still thinking it was maybe a predator I guess...)
I don't think it will keep me up tonight, but would sure like to have a better idea on what might be bothering our little Emmie! And what I can do to help her with it.
Thanks in advance!
I am going to apologize now for the length of this, and hope that some one
kind and knowledgeable takes the time to read through this, and give me some advice...
Here is some back ground info on our situation.
I have never owned a goat before, thought about it though.
Aug. of '09 a friend of ours gave Emmie to us as a surprise "Barn Warming" gift.
The friend was guesstimating her age at about 3 months old.
She was kind of a rescue, she had been living with a woman who got her just to keep her horse company. Apparently this woman was NOT a nice person, Emmie ran away to a distant neighbors house, and when the woman found out, she said she was coming over with her shotgun to kill her. Seriously.
The neighbors called up my friend to see if she could take her in, and "walla" I now have a sweet little goat!
So, since she was very young, she has not known she was a goat. She went from living with that horse briefly, to living with my two Llamas.
They absolutely adore each other!
Getting to the point here...
Rarely, if ever, do you hear a peep out of her. She is extremely quiet for a goat.
We live up in the mountains on acreage and have some neighbors, at a distance, that have milk goats that you can hear bleating fairly often at times of the day, but especially later in the evening because they only milk once per day, at night. Emmie has never shown that she even acknowledges their presence.
Last night Emmie started just "wailing" away and acting all skittish. I was fairly concerned because like I said, you never hear a peep out'a her!
I checked her out physically and found nothing wrong, I checked the barn, paddock and stall, nothing out of the ordinary either.
I stayed around and watched her for awhile, she seemed to be looking off into the dark woods when she would bleat.
My miniature horses, and the Llamas were all as calm as could be, but I did a walk around to see if I could find any predator tracks in the snow, and saw nothing.
She was fine when I went out and checked on her at 3am, and then at both feedings today as well. But I did notice after I fed tonight she started to bleat occasionally, and she was looking off in that same direction.
It hit me that she seems to be always looking towards the neighbors with the goats!
Is it possible that after almost two years, she is maybe realizing they are "her kind"?
My other thought is maybe they have a Billy. If they do, would she maybe be in a heat and calling out to him?
Am I just an absolute idiot, or does this happen?
I would so appreciate any thoughts, ideas, or advise on this.
I did not sleep at all last night, (still thinking it was maybe a predator I guess...)
I don't think it will keep me up tonight, but would sure like to have a better idea on what might be bothering our little Emmie! And what I can do to help her with it.
Thanks in advance!
