Goat Butting People

[BarnyardBlast]

We have a gorgeous 4 year old Nigerian Dwarf buck. He's slightly larger than breed standard and was sold to us since he couldn't be shown. He was bottle-raised and a huge favorite with anyone near him (including the ladies in the pens). He's our herd sire and gives us beautiful kids. (In other words, I can't shoot him ).

We had moved him and his companion wether into a pen with two ladies we want to kid in the fall. My husband moved them in a few days ago. Since then, he's been grunting almost non-stop, pawing and mounting the wether (but we haven't seen him with the girls yet). He has been butting all the goats (ladies and wether). When I showed up this morning, they came running as usual to the gate and I went into the enclosure, filled the water, poured out the feed and filled the hay rack. They were all eating, but the buck was nudging and butting the goats on either side of him at the trough. I took the long way around them to the gate to avoid the scuffling. As I was nearing it, I remember thinking that I shouldn't have my back to them and turned right as he butted me. I literally went flying and on the way down also hit a dead tree stump which sent me rolling. He has a small scur on his head and I'm not sure if that cut me, the stump or just hitting the ground. I hurt all over. As I was standing up, he was already butting another goat.

This is new behavior for him and I'm wondering if we are doing something wrong. Is it okay to move the wether with the buck? Should we only have one female in the enclosure at a time? Move the ladies to his pen, rather than theirs? (Honestly, he's easier to handle than any other goat which is why we moved him over to their pen). Or is this typical breeding behavior and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time? It just seemed unusual considering how gentle he is, that he would leave his food to come butt me as I was leaving. After I finished all the animals, he was at the fence wanting his petting and rubs before I left as usual.

My husband thinks that he was just wanting to play. I think maybe I'm overlooking something. Any thoughts? (And yes, I have had a tetanus shot about seven years ago but plan to go by in case they want to give another booster since the skin is broken). Thank you!

 

[TAH]

Yes BarnyardBlast this is totally normal. We let our buck run with the does year round. Since we do that when a doe comes into heat our buck will first chase and buck everyone away. I would move the wether and the does and put him by himself for a day and then try again with just the does in there.

 

[BarnyardBlast]

Thanks! We'll do that and see how it goes. (Actually, my husband will be moving them!) After a good laugh about boys and their behavior around girls, the doctor shot me up with tetanus, steroids and some first aid stuff to prevent infections. I am hobbling to bed and hubby will have animal duty for a few days.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

He shouldn't be doing this. We have 15+ bucks and only one is aggressive. That is because we got him as a 2 year old who had not been taught manners. The other 14 that we have are totally behaved- even when I have the estrus scent from the does in season on me. We hand breed so the bucks are brought in to breed the doe then they are taken right back out. Not one of then will headbutt, grunt, blubber, or paw at us. This should not be tolerated. I would have snagged him, throw him down and keep him pinned down until he gives up. I have raised up several other bucklings that haven't had any of these issues. This is not normal in bucks that have been taught to behave.

I would keep a cattle prod handy…

 

[TAH]

Goat Whisperer How many goats do you have?

 

[TAH]

I agree. Our buck is very well behaved. What also helps is he knows tricks so if he starts to get naughty he is easily distracted

 

[BarnyardBlast]

TAH - Thanks for the suggestion. That seemed to work out fine for our buck. My husband moved him back to his pen and left the wether behind in the ladies' pen (which is fine, since one of the ladies is his dam). He moved one of the other does into the pen with him. They are happily running and chasing and urinating for each other.

Goat Whisperer - I agree that it's not normal behavior, especially for this particular buck. He was a bottle baby from a reputable breeder and unusually gentle to handle although an excellent breeder. I think the situation was due to the (poor) choices we made when putting him into the ladies' pen. He spent most of his time butting all the other goats (whether and ladies). Additionally, there is a run attached to that pen that leads next to another pen that we keep a couple of other ladies in. One of them just gave birth a few weeks ago to quads (3 bucks, 1 doe) and the other one is either kidding soon, or just kidding with us about being pregnant. Another doe pretty much lives in the run and field area but he would have been very close to her.

My husband told me that the buck has rushed him twice before but he's never turned his back on him. He said that he puts his hand out and pushes down on his head until he stops. I'm not sure if that's the right way to handle things or not, but he's never been butted and no longer has problems. He went in the pen with a bucket of feed and walked him (no lead) right back to his original pen. He said that he'll handle the guys for a while until I'm not so sore. After that, he said I need to go back in but he'll go with me, or he'll just handle the guys from now on. I can do everything from outside the fence other than collecting empty baskets, buckets and such once a week and he can do that for me.