Considering Replacing 1 goat....

[katlovesaandw]

Well, we bought the brothers at 8+ weeks old, Nig. Dwarf. They were 2 out of triplets.
One is very quiet, one is a turd. Loud, more obnoxious and water nor barking collar deters his noise.
I honestly think he likes being zapped. NUTS!

Thinking of replacing him and hoping for a quieter one like his brother. I know that can backfire though......
Posted about their yard destruction the other day.
Not they are confined to their pen and it seems in retaliation, Grover has decided to be noisier.

We use the same code word, quiet, whether or not he gets zapped.
Sometimes it works, sometimes..... NOT!

Has anyone replaced 1 goat in a pair and it was ok?
TIPS for doing so?

Are females quieter than males? Both boys are fixed so I don't have to worry about kids. I read someplace that females are noisier once a month when in heat.

Got to do something before neighbors complain and boys have to go completely. So far, they have been nice about it but with Grover being noisier.....

 

[Southern by choice]

Perhaps goats aren't for you.
I am curious but did you do any research or visit any farms etc before you got your animals?

I know things don't always come across well in written form so I certainly could be interpreting your posts wrong, but it really doesn't sound like there was much research before you got them. So far it sounds like the nature of goats are not adaptable to you.

All goats can be noisy, some more than others. Even quiet goats may end up noisy later. Yes, some females SCREAM for 3 days in heat every 3 weeks.

Please stop shocking your goat... you are going to mess up your little kids for the people you eventually will be re-homing them too.

It seems that everything about your goats, that are normal goat behaviors, annoy you.

Perhaps a cat would be a better choice.

 

[katlovesaandw]

We did our research, we did it for 3 yrs. before we got them.
I grew up on a ranch, I grew up around animals, I grew up around people who owned goats.
Owning goats in the country is no biggie.
Owning goats in the city is a different story.
They are allowed, many people have them.
BUT.....
We also have our neighbors to consider and if they complain, we get fined or ordered to rehome them.
We are taking all measures to ensure our neighbors are happy, our goats are happy and we are happy.
That will take some trial and error, just as it did when we got our chickens.

I have been a member of several groups to glean the best possible info for things that books for backyard herds do not provide.
Apparently some of that was wrong, since my bushes are gone and I have a bark collar on my goat.

Learning experience as I am sure all of the members on this board have experienced at some point!!

 

[Trigoat&pbrlover]

Goats yell, please stop shocking your goat.

 

[chicken pickin]

I don't know your life style or what your neighborhood looks like or how close your neighbors are etc. But I kind of agree with the others. If you have a beautiful landscape you don't want touched I don't understand why you would release goats into your yard. Some goats are noisey, I know mine are in the morning, even sometimes early in the AM, when they are yelling at me to bring them their food/hay. I would NEVER think of putting a shock collar on one of my goats to hush it up. I think that is awful. Goats make noise as do dogs for that matter, I have loud barking dogs that annoy me on occasion but I would never think of shocking them for being a dog. I don't think any of us are trying to be judgmental so please don't be upset. Can I ask what your reason to get the whethers were to begin with? I know when I got goats it was to get females so we could have milk for our family(my DD loves goat milk).

 

[Goatherd]

 

[Rocco]

@ Trigoat&pbrlover

LOL...gotta get me one of those signs!!! The guy that bought 80 acres next to ours subdivided it (we are in the middle of nowhere) into about 5 or 6 tracts and put in deed restrictions. He doesn't even live here. I bought one of the tracts as "protection" against someone ever building too close to us. One restriction was about noise. Oy.

 

[woodsie]

You should hear my Nubian goat that I am milking for hours in the morning and hours in the evening before she gets milked she is screaming at me and she is right outside my living room window. That's goats for you...so much personality but they will demand attention.

 

[AshleyFishy]

If your just wanting pets I would consider getting a different type of animal. Maybe a micro/mini potbelly pig or two.

Mine are very quiet. They also only potty in one spot and flop over for belly rubs. The ones I have are very low impact on the yard, but I have seen some that are rooters. I aim for very short faces vs the longer shouted ones, seems to make a difference.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Katloves,
You are sure taking a beating on this thread. Personally I find that disturbing. Proabably ran another forum member away. Probably why there are a lot more readers than posters.


I also don't think anyone should be questioning if you should own goats or suggesting you should sell both. None of their business really, but I guess you asked for their opinion didn't you?

95% of the posters on here didn't do any research, and still don't. They will not even read past threads, to see if their question has already been answered.

First of all, I don't think the shock collar will stop the one from being vocal. I'm not sure what forum you saw that on, but I question if it would be effective. I think that is what elicited the response you got to your post. Now is it cruel? I don't think so. If you use electric wire and they touch it they would get as much a shock. Will it work? I doubt it.

I read a thread on this forum where someone had a goat who was bossy. She butted the other goats away from the feed dish. Now I thought that was just a "dominant goat being a dominant goat" One reply from a very experienced goat person with 2500+ posts on this forum was "I would never tolerate that behavior from a goat, I would put that goat in the freezer". I've seen other posters say they had sent a goat to "freezer camp", (which I think is a stupid term) for various reasons. No one questioned them because they were experienced, or at least had a lot of posts on here.

I've seen many occasions where "experienced" posters get passes for responses.

On a Nigerian Forum I saw a post made by a very well known ND breeder in Ohio that he had a 3 year old who who had won a Jr. Championship but had not placed well as a Sr. He put her in the freezer. Why didn't he just sell her as a milker? Because she was registered under his farm name.

Would I do that? No. I also wouldn't put one in the freezer who was dominant and pushed the others away from the feed dish.. But, is that OK? Sure it is. The goats belong to them.

One of the replies asked the OP why she got 2 wethers to begin with? They got theirs for milk What difference does that make? Probably because she wanted pet goats. A person wanting pets is a legitimate reason to buy two wethers. Would it be a legitimate reason to buy two wethers for the sole purpose to fatten up for slaughter?

Some people disbud, some don't because they think it's cruel. Some band males, some castrate. Different opinion. Saw one poster on here who said that they agreed that banding was cruel. Let's face it folks, their testicles rot off of their bodies. But this poster would continue to do so because they didn't want to pay a vet to castrate them and woudn't or couldn't do it themselves. No one told them they should get sell their goats.

But, to the OP can you seperate them now? Yes you can. If you keep goats you will need to get another. I would give it some more time. Don't let them in the yard anymore, they will eat your bushes. Make sure they have hay "free choice" which means all the time. He may be reacting to the change and pouting because you don't let him in the yard anymore. Give it some time.

But, goats get sold all of the time. Think about it. I sold some people some goats. One was a 3 month old quad who got seperated from her mother and siblings. Another was a 3 month old who was a single. She got seperated from her mom. The other was 15 months old and had spent her entire life here.. Guess what, they have a new herd now. We show our goats. We sell animals that don't do well in the show ring, or at least we don't think they will do well. People sell goats for all kinds of reasons.