# Introducing a sheep to an exsiting goat pair.



## PennylessFarms (Oct 19, 2009)

I have a pair of pygmy goats. The buck has been "courting" the doe for several weeks now. Last night I tried to introduce a miniature sheep to their pen. The doe couldn't get far enough away from her and the buck seemed to have some aggresstion towards her, is this behavior normal? Can they be penned together? I would love any advice.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 19, 2009)

I don't know about goats and sheep specifically but I do know it takes a while for an animal to be accepted into the herd. If you could keep her separate but in a way that they can see and smell each other and then introduce gradually, that may be the way to start.

Good luck with your sheep and goats.


----------



## zatsenoughcritters4me (Oct 19, 2009)

she's probably scared of the sheep. our goats were at first too, and you have to make sure the sheep don't eat the goat feed! the copper is deadly to them. we have to feed ours separatly cause the sheep will eat it! they are like goats, they love to eat!!!
probably will just take time for them to get used to each other. ours took a few days. our head doe, she is the queen, head butted the ram for a while. she has since mellowed.


----------



## cmjust0 (Oct 19, 2009)

For me, the copper thing would be reason enough never to keep sheep and goats penned together.

But, that's just me.


----------



## PennylessFarms (Oct 24, 2009)

Still having problems with the introduction I don't think I will ever be able to keep them together. They both want to hurt her, still not sure why or how to change things.


----------



## kimmyh (Oct 24, 2009)

I would get her a buddy and pen her in another pen. Is there any reason you have to keep your buck in the pen with your Pygmy doe? I have a few does that have to live with the buck for a few weeks each year, but it sure is nicer when I can give them an over night date, and be sure of when the doe is due to kid. If you can pull the buck from the pen, the Pygmy doe and the sheep might be able to become friends, and then (after a couple of weeks) you might be able to bring the buck back into the same pen. Just a thought.


----------



## ThornyRidge (Oct 28, 2009)

cmjust0 said:
			
		

> For me, the copper thing would be reason enough never to keep sheep and goats penned together.
> 
> But, that's just me.


Ditto this.. I would not recommend keeping the goats and sheep together. Goats absolutely need copper and copper is absolutely toxic to sheep.  And I also agree not keeping a buck (is it a buck or a frisky wether) togehter.. pygmy does cycle year round and that means the buck will breed her whenever he can.. as well as the offspring as soon as they are born and fertile at a very young age.. get you doe a friend (wether or companion doe) get your buck a friend (wether or another buck) and get your sheep a friend (another sheep) and keep them all in separate pens!!


----------



## Beekissed (Oct 28, 2009)

I say ditch the goats and keep the sheep!     

Keep the sheep!  Keep the sheep! :bun   Where's the sheep smiley when ya need one?


----------



## Marta (Oct 28, 2009)

just a thought and if its any help....there is a farmer down the road from us, he has 6 goats and 1 sheep, they are all kept together whether in the field or in a pen, they are the lucky 1s that have total freedom.(just like mine will be when there are some more goats in our herd)

thing that gets me is the goats follow the sheep not vise verso. they will even follow my little herd of 3 (lol) when we go out and who is the first to follow and the rest with her yep the sheep.......


----------



## Roll farms (Oct 28, 2009)

Our first "farm" animal is a huge Suffolk x Hampshire ewe we've had 10 years now.  
Nobody ever told me "don't let her have copper" so she's been fed the same mineral / feed as the goats over the years.  
When I read much later that sheep shouldn't have copper, I tried seperating her but she nearly starved herself to death from stress, she missed her 'herd'.
I have no idea why it hasn't effected her yet, but we've been lucky.


----------



## cmjust0 (Oct 29, 2009)

Sheep and goats build up copper stores in their liver and dump it in times of stress..  Sheep, for whatever reason, are apparently more prone to build up lethal levels..  If I had to speculate, I'd say there are two main reasons why your Ewe has thus-far defied what's come to be accepted as "common wisdom."

First, shepherds have been experimenting with copper bolusing sheep on a regular basis for a while now to control barberpoles, and it works..  Copper oxide isn't very bioavailable, but the practice still goes against everything we've been told about sheep and copper..  Kinda leads me to believe that maybe sheep aren't quite as sensitive to copper as previously believed..

Second, I don't believe there's sufficient bioavailable copper in most mineral mixes to support a goat.  

So if you combine a higher-than-thought level of tolerance with a lower-than-needed level of copper in most mineral mixes...kinda makes sense.

But, again...pure speculation.


----------



## oxdrover14 (Apr 16, 2010)

just let them get used to eachother  and what i do is they make a feed for goats and sheep and  we just fed that when we had sheep.


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Apr 16, 2010)

I'd really recommend getting another sheep to keep her company.


----------

