I am afraid I made a dreadful mistake with my doe and now I am tryin to fix it but I don't know what the best way to do it is.
Long story short, I got her when she was a year and a half old, she was mama raised and not socialized with people and had never left her birth farm. After a few months of good routine and letting her slowly warm up to me we seemed to have come to a good relationship. She's not a snugly cuddly goat but she would let me pat her and would eat out of my hand and come to greet me in the morning. I had her penned with two sheep and everyone got along well.
This was last summer, in the fall we brought her to be bred and then 2 weeks ago she gave birth to triplets and sadly none of them survived, this again was my error, I had her dates calculated as three weeks later than she kidded and had not yet separated her from the sheep and it think the babies were most likely trampled (hard to know if that was he cause or not, but they were all born with hair and should have been ok from what I have researched) well here's where bad goes to worse, my friend who keeps goats encouraged me to milk her anyway, this w her first kidding (mistake number one) my friend also offered to get her trained to the milk stand and milk her for me twice a day until her milk was in good (mistake number two, this included moving the doe to his house).
Well he was not quite a gentle as I would have been with her and she doesnt like him at all, she has finally given in to standing on the milk stand and getting milked but butts this guy every chance she gets, as well as anyone else in his family who dares go near her.
Her milk production was very low (which I read is normal for a first kidding) I ended up deciding to let her dry off and try again with breeding as this just seems too stressful for her. I have been to visit her a few times and she is just not herself and seems down.
Well yesterday my friend informed me that she has been very aggressive and angry acting and I just am not happy with this change in her behavior and in think she needs to come home. I had agreed to leave her with him for a month to keep one of their kids happy (the kid is being weaned and was housed by herself) but I am starting to think this is a bad idea and that I need to get my doe home. I'm afraid a month of this aggression and stress is just going to cause permanent harm and I am already concerned by the amount of stress she has been through. Upon serious reading I really think I was given bad advice and should have just kept her home from day one, skipped milking and helped her to adjust after the loss of her kids.
So now here I am in this mess and trying to make the best of it. I am going to call this friend of mine and try to get the doe back home today, but I am wondering how to help her adjust and hopefully get her to be trusting and friendly again.
Also I am afraid I have messed with her home setting, after what happened with the sheep we decided we need to keep either goats or sheep but no both and decided to go with the goats, so the sheep are leaving in two days, and since my original doe left the house we bought another expecting doe, to keep her company and to be a milker since we are not going to be getting the milk we had hoped for.
Soooo, if after reading all that you are able to make sense of it, could you give me some advice on bringing her home? I was thinking it invest to get her today so she can realize this is home, where the sheep are still here now, but is that a bad idea where they will be leaving in two days? My concern was if I bring her home after they are gone she may not remember this as home and feel safe and secure here......
Also how about the introduction of the new doe goat? Eep. I know they will battle it out for dominance, should I spring that on her the day I bring her home too?
I think I have gotten myself into a mess her and I don't know the best way to make it right.
Help
Tara
Long story short, I got her when she was a year and a half old, she was mama raised and not socialized with people and had never left her birth farm. After a few months of good routine and letting her slowly warm up to me we seemed to have come to a good relationship. She's not a snugly cuddly goat but she would let me pat her and would eat out of my hand and come to greet me in the morning. I had her penned with two sheep and everyone got along well.
This was last summer, in the fall we brought her to be bred and then 2 weeks ago she gave birth to triplets and sadly none of them survived, this again was my error, I had her dates calculated as three weeks later than she kidded and had not yet separated her from the sheep and it think the babies were most likely trampled (hard to know if that was he cause or not, but they were all born with hair and should have been ok from what I have researched) well here's where bad goes to worse, my friend who keeps goats encouraged me to milk her anyway, this w her first kidding (mistake number one) my friend also offered to get her trained to the milk stand and milk her for me twice a day until her milk was in good (mistake number two, this included moving the doe to his house).
Well he was not quite a gentle as I would have been with her and she doesnt like him at all, she has finally given in to standing on the milk stand and getting milked but butts this guy every chance she gets, as well as anyone else in his family who dares go near her.
Her milk production was very low (which I read is normal for a first kidding) I ended up deciding to let her dry off and try again with breeding as this just seems too stressful for her. I have been to visit her a few times and she is just not herself and seems down.
Well yesterday my friend informed me that she has been very aggressive and angry acting and I just am not happy with this change in her behavior and in think she needs to come home. I had agreed to leave her with him for a month to keep one of their kids happy (the kid is being weaned and was housed by herself) but I am starting to think this is a bad idea and that I need to get my doe home. I'm afraid a month of this aggression and stress is just going to cause permanent harm and I am already concerned by the amount of stress she has been through. Upon serious reading I really think I was given bad advice and should have just kept her home from day one, skipped milking and helped her to adjust after the loss of her kids.
So now here I am in this mess and trying to make the best of it. I am going to call this friend of mine and try to get the doe back home today, but I am wondering how to help her adjust and hopefully get her to be trusting and friendly again.
Also I am afraid I have messed with her home setting, after what happened with the sheep we decided we need to keep either goats or sheep but no both and decided to go with the goats, so the sheep are leaving in two days, and since my original doe left the house we bought another expecting doe, to keep her company and to be a milker since we are not going to be getting the milk we had hoped for.
Soooo, if after reading all that you are able to make sense of it, could you give me some advice on bringing her home? I was thinking it invest to get her today so she can realize this is home, where the sheep are still here now, but is that a bad idea where they will be leaving in two days? My concern was if I bring her home after they are gone she may not remember this as home and feel safe and secure here......
Also how about the introduction of the new doe goat? Eep. I know they will battle it out for dominance, should I spring that on her the day I bring her home too?
I think I have gotten myself into a mess her and I don't know the best way to make it right.
Help
Tara
