Goats Behavior ?

Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres May 27, 2014 at 11:32pm

Hello, Shanna! Welcome to the group!

Head butting in goats is totally normal. IMO, my males are worse than the girls, but they all do it. It's how they establish and maintain dominance, and as babies (which yours still are) it is also practice for being big goats. During rut, my boys battle themselves bloody. It's nothing to be concerned about. Especially at the age your goats are.

I follow Pecking Order Protocol with my Rooster. (yes, Roosters have a pecking order too) There are certain "rights" that a top rooster in a flock has, and if you assume that rooster's position, your rooster must maintain his place at a lower status.

1. Don't allow your rooster to eat for a few seconds after you feed, and only after all the hens are eating.

2. Don't allow your rooster to mate with hens in front of you. This might mean you have to run up and knock him off in the middle of it, but the top rooster doesn't allow his lesser roosters to mate. They have to sneak it in when he's not looking.

3. Don't allow ANY chasing of your rooster by your children. A rooster takes protection of his flock seriously. If you allow humans to chase them, he will start to view them as a threat.

Shanna Schultz May 27, 2014 at 3:56pm

Hi,

I'm new to the site and actually from Ontario, Canada! We just got two 2 month old Nigerian dwarf goats. One buckling and one wether. I have been searching the forum for lots of answers and info so far, and came upon your rooster comment!

We also have 8 hens and a rooster who free range our property. As much as I love our rooster for protecting and taking care of our girls....I always have to watch my back with him. Do you have any advice for handling him?? just making sure he doesn't attack me and my 8 month old daughter lol. Any ideas for keeping them free range but in a fenced area??

Also, my buckling seems to follow the lead of my wether... is this normal? I caught them head butting like the above picture today. Would they be just playing? They are brothers!

Thanks!!

Shanna

Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres said:

I don't have any information or advise either... If she were a rooster, I'd have plenty... lol

Lyn Adams April 26, 2012 at 6:37am

I like the idea of the spray bottle, next time he comes up I'll try that. Thanks for all the feed back, I appreciate it.

Margaret Langley April 23, 2012 at 6:34pm

I figured she was just chubby like mine. We spoil them a little to much cause we haven't had them long. We do talk about needing to cut back a little but just haven't got there yet. We have a problem! We really enjoy feeding them. They are just so darn cute that it makes you want to be constantly giving them something! 9 of mine are Jr does that are not bred but almost all of them look pregnant. They aren't obese, just chunky. I promise! At any rate I think she is adorable and I hope to get some that white one day.

Lyn Adams April 23, 2012 at 5:41pm

No, Lola isn't pregnant I think it was just the angle of the camera. LOL Both her and her brother Moose have round bellies.

Margaret Langley said:

I will be waiting with you for an answer to this and hate this happened to the little fellow and scared him. I am glad he is ok but I just had to tell you that all that aside, I love the picture. She looks so cottony sweet. I want to catch mine in that pose. It is awesome looking. I have only seen mine do it to each other and other animals not people. Hope he gets over it soon! I am also wondering if she is pregnant. I thought maybe that may have a connection to the behavior but I don't know. I know I have 9 that are not bred and have big bellys cause we stuff them. Trying to learn to control ourselves about that cause they are getting real fat.

Lyn Adams April 23, 2012 at 5:35pm

We got Lola when she was just a baby, about 8 weeks old. She does do that with the other goats, I've just never seen her do it with either of my grandsons. This was a first. Zachary and Aiden are very comfortable around the animals. I did tell them that she was only playing with him, but after she got him in (excuse my language) his man berries he didn't think it was much like playing. Aiden's love of animals I'm sure will get him over it. I appreciate all the comments. Thank you very much.

Margaret Langley said:

O. K. maybe I do know a little something, that depends. I was assuming you raised this goat, therefore knew her well and that this was unusual behavior for her. But , if I am wrong and maybe you have not always had her, then there is another possibility. That would have to do with how she was played with when young by other people. Some people do butt around with them and play in goatie ways and that can cause them to do this. Do we know if she may have had a person,(maybe a little boy like him) as a playmate when she was younger. Tell us a little more about her past. Have you always had her or at what age did you get her etc.? And about Aiden, some won't agree with me but to help prevent permanent fear factors from coming into play I personally would try to explain to him that this is the way goats play fight together and that she may have only wanted to play and not realized that she was playing to rough for a little boy. Just like little boys his age playing would be to rough for a toddler. It may at least keep him from feeling so traumatized and keep the pathway open for future goat friendships. I have seen how drastic the results of some childhood scares can be especially involving animals and it is really sad what it causes the kids to miss out on later when they could better cope but are to scared. Whatever her crazy notions may have been, no reason for him to feel she was out to get him. It could have been innocent. We don't know.

Lyn Adams April 23, 2012 at 5:28pm

Thanks for that Deb, very helpful, I was thinking that my grandsons size might have something to do with that too. I don't think he'll be getting in there any time soon, LOL. But I'm pretty sure he's over it already.

Debbie Lynn said:

Hello Lynn, how are you kido?

We used to have a wether that would do this to me sometimes. I think goats think we are goats too...lol! It can be a form of aggression or play. But if they are wanting to head butt eagerly, continually and with force, that's aggression. I have one buck I have to watch during rut, he will head butt you when you are not looking. But after rut he is his sweet self again. With your grandsons being closer to your goats size so to speak, Lola may view them as a new members of the herd and wanting to put them in there place as a lower ranking member. They do this to their own herd members as you have witnessed. When this wether would come at me standing up I would tell him NO loudly and walk towards him. If this didn't work I would arm myself with a spray bottle of water and spray his face, at the same time in a loud voice tell him NO. As you know goats hate getting wet, they do not like this, it doesn't hurt them and he soon learned to stop doing it, especially if they see you coming with the spray bottle in hand or on your hip....lol. This works very well on bucks that get more aggressive while in rut too. Also throwing something at them like one of those black rubber feeding pans at TSC or a rubber ball armed in hand and when they come up on those front feet showing aggression, you can throw that rubber pan or ball at them too, while yelling NO. It doesn't hurt them either, after all look how hard they butt each other and especially when they butt heads....lol! It's pretty important to remember that when you have those cute and small little doelings or bucklings that whatever you allow them to do at a young age, nibbling on your hair, jumping up, pushing you with their heads, if you don't discourage it they will continue to do it when they are bigger. But of course a lot of it is just being a baby goat, but I try to curb any behavior I do not like while they are young too. Just some ideas and some others here may have better ones than I on the behavior of goats.

Margaret Langley April 23, 2012 at 4:24pm

Well put Debbie, I was thinking that too about his size being closer to hers having something to do with this. And the spray bottle works good on lots of animals, especially cats when jumping on tables or counter tops etc. You talking about the ball makes me think that something like a little ball attached bungee style to your wrist or even hip would be cool to carry around the farm. I'd like someone to try that out on one of those big bad roosters and see how they react.LOL As a matter of fact Rachel I bet you'd agree with this too. It would be a great time for Aiden to spend some time playing with a very young kid if that is possible.

Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres April 23, 2012 at 4:08pm

I totally and completely agree with Margaret's thoughts about your grandson and not letting this be the last goatie encounter he has.

Margaret Langley April 23, 2012 at 3:53pm

O. K. maybe I do know a little something, that depends. I was assuming you raised this goat, therefore knew her well and that this was unusual behavior for her. But , if I am wrong and maybe you have not always had her, then there is another possibility. That would have to do with how she was played with when young by other people. Some people do butt around with them and play in goatie ways and that can cause them to do this. Do we know if she may have had a person,(maybe a little boy like him) as a playmate when she was younger. Tell us a little more about her past. Have you always had her or at what age did you get her etc.? And about Aiden, some won't agree with me but to help prevent permanent fear factors from coming into play I personally would try to explain to him that this is the way goats play fight together and that she may have only wanted to play and not realized that she was playing to rough for a little boy. Just like little boys his age playing would be to rough for a toddler. It may at least keep him from feeling so traumatized and keep the pathway open for future goat friendships. I have seen how drastic the results of some childhood scares can be especially involving animals and it is really sad what it causes the kids to miss out on later when they could better cope but are to scared. Whatever her crazy notions may have been, no reason for him to feel she was out to get him. It could have been innocent. We don't know.

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Goats Behavior ?

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