Ok, so I was wondering if anyone elses goats act like they are starving all the time? I have a small herd of 5 does, 1 wether and 1 buck. Every night that I feed, they are bawling and going crazy! Its like they have never been fed before! They have free choice hay (that never runs out I might add) and free choice mineral. I give them grain in the evenings (I don't want them to get too fat). I'll be separating my bred does this week to be able to supplement them more since they are mommas. But the others just act like they never get fed! They are spoiled rotten and probably get more than they are supposed too. Is this just something that they do? I guess I never noticed it before, just curious if anyone elses goats are loud? I'm sure my neighbors think I'm neglecting them. Oh and I should mention that they only get this loud at feeding time, during the day, they are pretty quiet. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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Total agreement with Julia - drama-drama. I have a young buck with a couple of wethers and they are the absolute worst. Leaping, screaming -jumping into my basket of hay I am bring them. Even when they still have some in their feeder. I wear dirty hoof prints on my chest most days. My husband said they don't quite act like that with him.
Bring treats to my girls and they are running in circles, jumping up - totally out of control. I guess they are too healthy. It would be sad if they didn't have all that energy. They make me laugh.
That would be my advice too. If you can, mix up your feeding times, and at the very least, go out and DON'T feed them once in a while. My goats all get vocal when it's close to time for me to feed them, but they don't go nuts ALL the time, because I don't *always* feed them when I go out. Once in a while, I just do a walk through and leave, and that seems to help them lose their feeding expectations EVERY time I come out.
I agree with Julia. :) Drama Queens, totally!
Up to the point when I stopped feeding my girls grain because they were all being dried off, they were absolutely maniacs when I came in to feed grain. They would jump up on me while I was mixing the rations and be generally obnoxious and made me think they were starving too! I doubted myself just like you... am I feeding them enough? So funny... once they got used to the idea that no grain was happening, nobody went crazy when I came in the barn in the morning or evening again. It was calm in there and everyone would happily munch hay or hay pellets. Now that I have one very close to delivery doe who is getting some grain in the evening, it's starting to get a bit chaotic again at feeding time. They are such drama queens! I think it's just the way of the goat! LOL