I have not been on this discussion forum for some time. Thank you Deborah, for keeping it alive. I do follow you on FB. We just lost our 5 year old doe to uterine cancer. She was seen by Penn Vet/New Bolton Center. We are devastated. We had two pet does and now we have one very lonely and confused girl. She needs a friend and I am looking for a girl in the same age range. Might someone near central NJ have an option for us? Exceedingly friendly and very healthy are key criteria for us. We do not plan to breed so a retired, friendly girl or never bred girl would be great options for us. Thank you.
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Thanks once again for your wisdom! Things are going better - slowly. Our fingers are crossed that they will one day be a family. There has been much upheaval for all three goats. We humans had to return to school/work today so we'll see what we find in the afternoon. ;)
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
I never say never, but goat head butting almost never results in injury. The only two negative outcomes we've had in 13 years was a yearling doe going into premature labor from relentless bullying and a buck who wound up with a concussion. Bucks are driven by testosterone, so they can be a little more worrisome, but does usually calm down in a few hours. As long as the goats have room to run away, they should be fine.
Today we came home with a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 week old. They are both sweethearts and smaller than ours. Our goat is being domineering and aggressive. The other two have conceded to her but her terrible behavior continues. We put igloos into the barn and each time they peer out she storms their doors. We are peeking through the windows in the dark. We are worried for their safety. Should we remove our goat from the barn tonight? Do you think this behavior will pass soon? The one who died was the former boss. Is there goat prozac? :)
Introducing one goat to another usually causes a fair amount of head butting. We recently sold a 4-year-old to someone who needed a companion for a single goat that he bought, and he called us almost immediately to make sure they weren't going to hurt each other. It is kind of scary if you haven't seen it before, but does usually don't butt heads for too long because one usually concedes that the other is boss fairly quickly.
Thanks, Deborah. You have a good memory! The one we lost was our very sweet girl. Our bucky girl still has that behavior sometimes but not as much and we know to ignore or subdue it. I wish you were closer too. We are meeting some new goats today but they are 1-2 years old, so it's not ideal. Iris has been very attached to us and cries when we leave. The poor girl must be so confused and missing Georgia. The plan was to have these girls grow old together. Life throws you curve balls. Please let me know if you have thoughts on introducing a new goat. Our situation is one to one. I pray it goes well.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
So sorry to hear that! Was she the one who was having hormonal issues and acting so bucky? Too bad you're not closer. I have an 8-year-old that I retired because she had a c-section a year ago.