One of my does is terrified of having the head gate closed. She will happily get on the stand and eat but any attempt to close the head gate panics her and she won't even try to eat and she' ll only put her head trough the open gate at that point with great reluctance, This has never been a problem with any other goat. Has anyone run into this problem? Ant thoughts on getting her over this phobia?
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My youngest doe used to be afraid of the noise of the headgate. From the time she could jump up on the stand, I would feed her a little grain without touching the headgate, and then I'd give her the grain while I just touched the headgate without moving it. Then I'd give her grain while I moved it a teensy bit. And so on until she got used to it and I could close it. I suppose it's the goat version of desensitization like counselors use for people with phobias. Now she doesn't mind it at all. If you start now and work with her very gradually and patiently, without trapping her or scaring her, maybe she'll get used to it over time. One other thing I did this year was to wrap Vet Wrap around the metal bars of the stand, where the bars touch the goat's neck. I did that because I thought the metal would be cold in winter, and my one milking doe seems much more comfortable on the stand in cold weather now. Maybe it would help your doe feel more comfortable about the way the bars touch her neck?
My suggestion to you is to put her on the stand. Don't worry about closing the head gate for now. While she is there, brush and/or scratch her neck where the gate will close on with the idea being to put pressure on her neck, first one side then the other and eventually (after weeks) both at once. She will undoubtedly resist it at first so let her but keep doing it every day at least once a day, multiple times would be better. It may very well be that she does not like the pressure on her neck which would really not be an unusual thing after her having been in the gate with it open for so long.
Personally, I would not have someone restrain her while she is "trapped" as that will only worsen the problem. Our goats are very forgiving but that does not mean they don't remember so I wouldn't force her. It may be at some time she was caught in a fence or even have had her neck smashed against a fence or building by another goat. It sounds almost like when a horse has been cinch bound.
You might also try giving her treats without her being in the gate but putting pressure on the sides of her neck when you are giving her the treats, maybe holding her head next to your side with your arm around her neck, starting out very slowly at first with just loosely "holding" her and gradually increasing the pressure every few days. I truly suspect it has something to do with the pressure and something that happened to her at one time and she is reminded when the head gate is closed. It might be something so simple as she was given meds as a youngster by someone holding her too tightly like that and fighting with her to get them in her that has caused this (or someone holding her like that for hoof trimming or disbudding) and lots of pleasant experiences while being held will reverse it. Much patience and gentleness is needed but hopefully will eliminate her fear.
If all you try fails, you might be milking her with someone just holding her and forgetting the stand completely (or use the collar as Deborah suggested).
If she's standing still without the head gate, I'd leave the gate open!! Most of my does don't need to be restrained on the milking stand if there's grain in the bowl. See if she'd be better with it open?
Well, that does sound challenging. I can't think of anything else that might be triggering her odd behavior. I know one person who has a short leash that she snaps on her goat's collars to hold them in place, rather than a head gate, on her milk stand. If all else fails, I wonder if that would work? If you've got time, I'd certainly be working on this with her before she freshens.
From what you said, I think I am just going to have to be patient and maybe get a friend to help me make sure she does not thrash herself off the stand and hope that the food in the bowl finaly entices her to calm down
The head gate does not make noise. It is wood not metal. So I cant make it much quieter
Here are the specific details. She was a first freshener this spring. Months before she kidded I had her up on the stand, she was fine eating there, and was very tolerant of having her udder touched Thought she was pretty much trained to the stand, with one stupid omission on my part. I never closed the head gate, but she was fine putting her head through it to eat. I don't know why I missed this part and now I can see she was the wrong goat to forget this last step with.
LastMay she kidded, with triplets 10 days shy of her first birthday. I was in no rush to milk her as the triplets were more than I expected from her. She was not even full grown and didn't even look that big before kidding. I probably waited a month before getting her up on the stand to milk after separating the kids from her at night and then realized my past error when she really freaked about the head gate closing. Got some friends to help restrain her a couple of times, but she would not stop panicking when the gate closed. She puts her head trough the gate for a second to get food and backs u to chew it now. Without anyone to help wrestle her, I started milking her while she was doing the dance back and forth through the head gate with predictable results of not getting her milked out but she had the triplets. I got tired of that and her tiny little teats and stopped milking her. Two of the kids were sold at 2.5 months and she last kid was weaned Nov 1st when I send the last 6 mo old kid to a friend to board away from the buck while I had a buck at my barn to breed.
So I think she has settled, and now I have time to think about how to improve things for her next lactation in the spring.It feels more like a phobia not typical goat stubbornness but who knows. Though she should not have grain now. I think I could give her a tablespoon some number of times a week on the stand or some kelp which she loves and start training her but I am stumped She wont continue eating if the gate is closed one millimeter or even if I reach for the gate and like most goats she loves grain but not if it means a closed head gate.
I don't think I've had this problem, but you didn't give a ton of details, so maybe this isn't really a problem. A few young does may start to yank their head back after they realize I've closed the head gate, but within 30 seconds to a minute, they calm down and start eating again when they realized they're safe. Just make sure her legs don't slip off the milkstand. How long do you wait before letting her out? Is the head gate tight around her neck? Do you have a way to lock it in place without it touching her neck at all? Does the closing of the head gate make a noise that frightens her?