# Do Goats Bite?



## Lil Chickie Mama

I know that kicking goat legs can pack a whollop, but do goats bite?  I know they only have bottom teeth in front, but I'm sure if they wanted to it would pinch pretty hard!  Anyone know if goats bite?  (Obviously I don't have any goats yet, but they are coming soon so I'm curious.)


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## currycomb

yes, goats can bite. usually was only jacket and shirts. i did get bit once when i had some bottle babies i was sitting with. one was nosing around my fingers, next thing i knew, my finger was way back in his mouth and he chompped down and drew blood. it doesn't seem to be in their nature to really be a pain about biting.


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## lupinfarm

My girls don't usually but if you have a tastey treat they really want they'll nibble on your fingers. 

LOL whats the worst for me is when I'm trying to trim Mione's feet and Cissy keeps headbutting me in the side. Sigggghhhhh.


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## Mini-M Ranch

I don't think they bite in a malicious way, the way a dog sometimes does.  HOWEVER - twice or three times a day when I actually go IN the buck pen instead of talking to him over the fence, he nibbles my sleeves, unties my shoe laces (if I have any), tries to take my gloves of my hand, it's mostly just lip tasting.  As long as you stay in the front of the mouth, you should be fine, but they do have REALLY sharp tooth plates in the back that can really cut you.


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## cmjust0

Mini-M Ranch said:
			
		

> *As long as you stay in the front of the mouth*, you should be fine, but they do have REALLY sharp tooth plates in the back that can really cut you.


Amen.  Those back teeth are a killer.  


Imagine taking a kernel of shell corn, putting it between your top and bottom molars, and biting down as hard as you can...chances are, you're barely going to make a dent.

A goat can crack it with no problem.  You do not want to get your fingers in there.  

Seems simple enough, but it still happens..  As near as I can tell, this is why....when a goat encounters something it can't handle with the front teeth and upper grinding plate, it works it around to the side of its mouth with each successive bite..  Several times, I've been in a situation where I'm not paying attention, and there's a goat nibbling at my glove..  Since the goat isn't able to bite through the glove with the front teeth, she works it around to the side to where she can get her back teeth on it and...*yow*!  We're talking just a few seconds, too....like nib.nib.nib.CRUNCH.

What's worse is that, sometimes, she'll just get your fingernail.  It's one thing to wind up with a black fingernail because you whack it with a hammer, but this is a squeeeeeeeze injury..  



Trust me on this...it hurts bad.

Happens pretty rarely, though.  That's the good news.


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## Lil Chickie Mama

Ooh, I guess I better watch out, but at least my fears are abated that they won't just say, "Hey why are you trying to milk me, I don't wanna!" and whamo you are bitten.  I know they'd most likely kick, but still...



			
				lupinfarm said:
			
		

> My girls don't usually but if you have a tastey treat they really want they'll nibble on your fingers.


Okay, so are you supposed to offer treats like you do to horses with a flat palm?  I don't have horses and haven't been brave enough to do it with my FIL's horse, but do you do it the same with a goat?

Eek, I hope no one gets mad at me, I will be asking a bunch of questions for a while....


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## lupinfarm

Well it seems these days you're not supposed to offer treats at all to horses and especially not by hand but the first thing I was taught was how to properly offer a treat to a horse without getting your hand eaten off LOL so I hand feed my horses treats sometimes. I almost always hand feed the goats treats, I don't like to stick them into the feed pan cause Cissy always eats them and she's already fat enough hahaha. 

I flat-palm it, but goats are curious and the flat-palm means nothing to them lol.


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## RockyToggRanch

I hand feed mine all the time. I also let them nibble my gloves and fingers. I'm careful not to let them think I'm food, but none have ever tried to do more than nibble with their front teeth. They won't eat treats off the ground. I put treats to their mouth with thumb and finger.

No they don't bite as a defense....they head bop. Mine don't, luckily, but in general that's their defense. Some kick hard while milking..

I might actually prefer to be bitten than head bopped or kicked. My girls are bigger than me. Thank goodness they're angels


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## Hykue

An old topic, but pertinent to me.  As I was putting my yearling in her stall, my big doe bit me on the head.  She was standing up in the stall with her hooves on the front, so when I was holding Dash's collar I was just at mouth height for Dot.  It didn't really hurt, but it was disconcerting.  I automatically reacted as I would to any undesirable behavior in a dog - I said "No" sharply and locked eyes until she looked away.  I immediately went to chuck her under the chin as well - again, automatically trying to "nip it in the bud", but I realized I had hoof shears in my hand and stopped myself before I made contact.  Then I bent over again to put Dash in her stall, and Dot bit me on the head AGAIN.  So I smacked her just behind the ear and yelled "No, you don't bite me!" or something equally intelligent and intimidating.  She jumped down from the stall wall and watched me warily for a minute, then tried to get her nose into Dash's stall through the slats while I tried to trim Dash's hoof.  When I would let her sniff my hand through the slats she would lick but not bite.

I'm just wondering what was going on there.  I'm not that good at reading goats yet.  Did my head smell salty because I was sweating profusely today, so she wanted a taste?  Was she trying to protect Dash (who she headbutts and ear-bites all day long) from big mean Julie who had been holding Dash's leg?  Was it just in the same friendly vein as the face-sniffing and finger-nibbling (it was harder than a nibble, I think, but heads are pretty sensitive, so I might be wrong)?  Was she, in fact, just testing me to see which of us is the "herd matriarch" (she hasn't ever shown any inclination to butt me)?  Just wondering if anyone can shed a bit of light.  I've owned dogs for all my life, and cats too, and chickens are pretty straightforward, but goats are another kettle of fish.  I've been watching them for at least an hour, usually two, each day, trying to learn to read them.  I think it's sensible, as I can then tell when they're in heat, or if they're feeling unwell.  Also, it's a ton of fun.  Their interactions together are straightforward - Dot is the bully and Dash is the wuss.  Dot regularly chases Dash off of random bits of the pasture, and Dash runs straight to me (if I'm there).  If I had seen Dot do this to Dash, I would have been sure she was trying to exert dominance, but she also butts Dash constantly.  


Hmm.  I'm not exactly the queen of the concise post, am I?


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## ohiofarmgirl

> , but at least my fears are abated that they won't just say, "Hey why are you trying to milk me, I don't wanna!" and whamo you are bitten.


hee hee hee nope you wont get that.. but you WILL get one of them standing by the fence at milking time screaming:

"hey you with the remote! get out here and milk me! would you just LOOK at these jugs!?!?!"

and then they will mutter something about the service being "very bad" and "how did i get sold into the circus."

my goats like to be milked - they get snacks and the pressure in their udders from being full is relieved. ok its mostly about getting bagged food which i only feed on the milk stand (a must have.)

a long time ago (ok not too long ago) Roll Farms told me to quit letting them goats jerk me around and 'be the boss goat.'  invaluable advice which i use every day.


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## warthog

When I first got my goats, 12 months ago (phew seems like a lifetime ago).    They were quite small, one only 8 weeks, I was in their pen cuddling and getting them used to me when the 8 week old (bottle baby)  tried to suckle my finger.  Ah cute I thought he really thinks I'm his mum,   within seconds my finger was in the back of his mouth and it hurt, drew blood, not much, but if you don't get it out quick, well I wouldn't like to think too much about that. 

He wasn't biting me intentionally, just doing what goats do.

I made sure it didn't happen again.


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## RockyToggRanch

I have one girl who grabs hold of my sleeve any chance she gets. Still haven't figured it out. None of them have ever tried to bite me.


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## Henrietta23

I got bit by one as a child. I was at the fair and a goat was nibbling on my shirt. Trying to get the shirt out of the goat's mouth it somehow pulled my finger into the back of its mouth. When it bit down it got my finger between back teeth and broke the skin. I don't remember thinking the goat had intended to bite me at the time.


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## greenfamilyfarms

Wait... your goats kick?


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## FlipFlopFarmer

I tell my BF, " the goat didnt bite you, u stuck ur finger in her mouth"!


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## Calliopia

As to goats biting on purpose as a method of defense or intentional annoyance.  Yep, they do. 

I have one very cantankerous old doe who has had a rough life and REALLY doesn't like people. However she'll adopt anything 4 legged within about a 10ft radius so she stays.  

When I got her the previous owner had let her kid in the field with about 15 other does and 3 bucks and the baby was trampled.  I had to milk her out a couple times before she dried up and that was an adventure.  If you got with in range of her mouth it was chomping time.


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