[PiccoloGoat]

My two boys are such pests. I get that they cry for their bottles when it's time, but I've cut out their mid day bottle recently and started feeding them grain instead but they still SCREAM
And I have to sit with them for /ages/ just so they eat and be quiet, and as soon as I leave again, they're being loud I can't just sit out there with them all afternoon.

When will they get the point that crying gets them nothing?

My brother keeps freaking YELLING at me about them crying when there is NOTHING I can do, and it's starting to wear me down.
Help I never knew babies would be so so so noisy.

 

[Little-Bits-N-Pieces]

Are they in the house or outside. When they are screaming and you come back you are rewarding that behavior. Just ignore them. They will stop after a minute or two.
When my bottle babies cry in the beginning, I walk away, and they stop after a minute, because they realize crying gets them nowhere. Eventually they don't cry much at all.

 

[PiccoloGoat]

They're outside.
I usually don't walk out if I can help it, but a lot of the time they know I'm coming out to feed them anyway, like for their morning feed, they start crying as soon as they get up, sometimes around 7, and I get out there ASAP because it's early and I don't want cranky neighbours haha

 

[Axykatt]

Welcome to the wonderful world of babies!

My first 4 bottle babies did that when I started weaning them and my hubby would freak out because we lived in an urban neighborhood and he was afraid the neighbors would turn us in to animal control. After a few weeks they stopped, but it was torture til they did!

Peggy Sue's babies fuss like that when I separate them from her and they are almost 5 months old. Poor Peg is stuck outside all day because the babies have poor house manners and I can't deal with her babies screaming while I'm taking care of my newborn.

 

[nchen7]

just ignore them. they cry b/c they're being bratty and they know if they cry, you'll come and comfort them. it's hard to ignore, I know. I have a yearling who used to do it...sits out there and "baaa, baa, BAAAA.......BBBBAAAAAAAAA" for no good reason (she's not stuck, hungry, thirsty). it's terrible and annoying. I used to go out there and fuss over her, but since I've started ignoring her, she quiets down much faster, nor does she do it as much anymore unless something is ACTUALLY wrong.

just keep strong, and tell your brother to leave it house or listen to music if he's that annoyed. it'll go away eventually.

 

[PiccoloGoat]

I try ignore them most the time but it sometimes takes its toll. My brother goes to bed early for work and today I found myself sitting out there almost crying because I COULD NOT get them to be quiet.
At least now I'm on school holidays so I can spend more time with them

Sorry to vent, it's incredibly frustrating

 

[keren]

Yep they have you well trained!

My friend had a similar problem with her saanen milker -check out her blog to see how she fixed it, its a great story

http://thepaintedfish.com.au/sleepless-nights-when-the-kids-leave-home/

 

[Jodi_berg]

Once they are weaned the crying will slowly stop, you should hear my 4 month old pygmy screaming. They knw I finish work @ 4:00 most days so if its after 4 and they haven't seen me, the screaming is ridiculous. And the pygmy is the worst. He still gets 2 bottles a day and acts like a total baby. At first my customes(campers) thought it was a child crying. He really does scream " mom,mom,mom,moooooooom!"

 

[PiccoloGoat]

I decided to start feeding them earlier in the evening now that their afternoon bottle has been cut. I hope that means they won't start screaming at 6am LOL

 

[ThreeHavens]

It's hard! I had a screamer too. Two, actually. (Both boys, hmmmmm) One of them was insecure and quieted once he had a second buddy to be with (he already had one, but with more of a herd, he's quieter). The second just needed to take a chill pill, and after a few (long!) weeks, he has settled. Everyone's right in that you can't let them train you. Is there a way to shut them in at night? I started shutting my loud ones in at night just so that they wouldn't come to the window and scream at 6am to wake us up. I made them wait until *I* was good and ready to come out. They learned.

 

[lottsagoats]

I totally ignore the goats when they start screaming. On my days off, all the goats see me around and scream. I ginore them until they are quiet, then I will feed them, but only if/when they are quiet.

 

[NyGoatMom]

Oh Piccologoat! I'm sorry you are stressed,it'll get better :hug:

I told my kids that schools should make kids watch goat kids for sex ed....then there would be less teen parents

 

[PiccoloGoat]

LOL that is hilarious, I agree! I am definitely reconsidering children

I can't shut them in as of yet, they don't have a proper shelter, just a lean-to and a kennel but hopefully this weekend we're starting their proper permanent shed, and I could probably prop up a panel across the front to stop them getting out. Not sure if that would help though.

I've made a point of getting up 15 minutes earlier and having their bottles ready before they cry, I sit with them while they eat their afternoon grain and hay and feed them earlier in the evening now.
Crossing fingers that it works!!

 

[ThreeHavens]

Maybe they can sleep in a big doggie crate at night? Just until they quiet down?

 

[OakHollowRanch]

Our Nubian triplets were the same way, and so was their 2 year old mom. It doesn't bother me, but my dad cannot stand it. The babies are still loud in the mornings, but are better otherwise. Rachel eventually figured out that we do not milk on demand, and we do have a schedule. It just took her about 2 months to figure that out. The trick is free-choice hay, room to roam, and browse to eat. As long as they are busy, they are relatively quiet. It also helps if their pen is farther away from the house. And maybe try turning the TV on to cover up the crying noise. No promises though! I know how you feel, and trust me, I have had days where I just didn't know what to do too. But in the end, the goats are worth it. Hang in there! :hug:

 

[goatylisa]

Some goats are naturally loud. I hike with most of mine so I tend to cull my loud ones as I don't need them screaming at me around every corner. I feel your pain though, give it a couple more months and you should see a change. Make sure they have toys and sometimes swapping out toys helps. Even changing a tree stump can provide hours of entertainment.

 

[PiccoloGoat]

I've actually been moving around all of their toys and things weekly but they still don't seem to play on them much. :/
They get as much hay as they want, and they've already eaten pretty much everything they can reach LOL
So we've been pulling off branches for them to nibble on throughout the day. When winter is over, there's some trees in their yard that will have heaps of great stuff for them to eat and the grass should grow back *crosses fibgers*
They're just big wingey babies.

ETA: I'm very good at ignoring them, I will happily watch something to tune them out, it's everyone else complaining haha

 

[goatylisa]

I sometimes wish I could just throw a few bones (works on our dogs ) in just to get that extra half hour of sleep in the morning. All my goats are on such a tight schedule, forget sleeping in on a Saturday. It's probably because they are so close to the house that I can't sleep through it.

 

[PiccoloGoat]

HAHA! Yeah our equivalent at the moment is throwing out a tree branch for them.

Funny story related to the yelling:
I looked outside the window today an I saw Tom just walking around quietly and happily and heard josh crying about something but I decided to ignore.
Later on I was thinking "they cry so much for no reason, how will I ever know if they're in trouble?"
Turns out, josh has worked his way in to the shed and gotten STUCK LOL that's why he was crying. I feel so bad!!
But that's his fault for crying wolf.

 

[PiccoloGoat]

I thought I'd come back to update, and say that through some persistence and trouble-shooting, they are now lovely quiet boys (most of the time)

One thing I did which may have helped, is if I had to go out there to do something (like bottles) and they were yelling, I would go out and stand near their pen, but with my back to them, showing them that I was ignoring them. I wouldn't turn around until they were almost silent. I think it helped get the message through.

I think the weather being nice is playing a factor too, they sleep and play in the sun all day instead of crying to me.

So I'm very pleased with them at the moment, very relieved to not have the screaming. Even at bottle time, they don't yell their heads of constantly, so so so proud of them

On that note, I'm not looking forward to the time where I start cutting out another bottle.