Goat wont go near husband

[BlueMoonFarms]

And sadly its coming down to either fixing the issue or getting rid of Anne

My husband has done the same routine since we got the goats as yearlings. My husband milked her all last year, feeds her every day, and gives her treats. But for the last two months she has been bolting away from him like he is going to kill her.
She has been de-wormed, she is due in April, and shes a Llamancha, two years old, who was always well loved and babied.
Everyone else in the house can walk right up to anne and shes fine, except for my husband...

The routine in this:
Every morning he goes down, feeds the sheep, lets chickens out, feeds the buck, moves to the does pen, and then clips the goats in one by one to there buckets, and then feed them.
Except Anne wont let him catch her. She bolts, runs, fusses, and looks wildly around like shes about to die.
He has never done anything to her, he has not changed anything, and he wears the exact same thing down to the pen.
What we were told to do last year when we had a difficult goat doing this was to catch her, pin her, clip her in and not feed her until she stops being a brat basically.

We started this three weeks ago and its been on and off with little to no results
Anne is going on day four tomorrow of not eating, *she does gets hay, just not grain* and this is pretty much getting very frustrating for my husband, and saddening for me

Does anyone have any other advice on what we can do or try?

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Where is Anne in the pecking order of the herd? If she is at the bottom, she might have issues being tied up. I see that the girl at the end of my herd is always a bit more nervous, but when she moves up in the herd, handling her is always easier, but then the bottom girl (now a different goat) ends up being a bit more nervous.....

Also, has she been bred or scared by the buck? If your husband is coming near her after feeding the boys he may smell like the odorific rut that the boys get to smelling like. If she was injured or scared that could be setting her off. I know that petting the boys before petting the girls is a different game than petting the boys after, as the smells are very noticeable to them. Petting the boys first, they are calmer, after and they just about snort my hand up their noses trying to inhale the fragrance and sometimes get a bit excited and a little less pettable......Maybe your girl is smelling the boys and for some reason is frightened?

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Where is Anne in the pecking order of the herd? If she is at the bottom, she might have issues being tied up. I see that the girl at the end of my herd is always a bit more nervous, but when she moves up in the herd, handling her is always easier, but then the bottom girl (now a different goat) ends up being a bit more nervous.....

Also, has she been bred or scared by the buck? If your husband is coming near her after feeding the boys he may smell like the odorific rut that the boys get to smelling like. If she was injured or scared that could be setting her off. I know that petting the boys before petting the girls is a different game than petting the boys after, as the smells are very noticeable to them. Petting the boys first, they are calmer, after and they just about snort my hand up their noses trying to inhale the fragrance and sometimes get a bit excited and a little less pettable......Maybe your girl is smelling the boys and for some reason is frightened?

Anne is in between. She is pretty much second in command sorta speak, the lowest is thankfully the friendliest so I don't think its pecking order. She did used to be the bottom of the pecking order, but once Nutmeg passed away she claimed the spot.
The only thing I can think of is that my husband was the one who did put her in with the buck to get her bred, and then he listened to our neighbor and left her in the bucks pen until she rejected Chooch.
It pretty much started a week after that? Is she associating the breeding with my husband who put her in? STILL???

 

[elevan]

Animals (including goats) have a long memory for "bad" things that happened to them. It certainly does sound like she's associating your husband putting her in the buck's pen and doesn't want to go back there again so she's running from him.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Animals (including goats) have a long memory for "bad" things that happened to them. It certainly does sound like she's associating your husband putting her in the buck's pen and doesn't want to go back there again so she's running from him.

Any idea on how he can get Anne to trust him again if it is a trust issue?

 

[elevan]

I would start by having your husband feed the does before the buck so he doesn't go into their pen smelling like the buck. I would also put food into her dish and "turn my back" and when she comes to the dish then grab her and clip her. Looking at a goat when you're trying to catch them makes them extra nervous, makes them feel like prey...so always look at something to the side of them (or appear to do so). He'll probably have to spend extra time in the doe's pen with some kind of treat and earn her trust again.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

I would start by having your husband feed the does before the buck so he doesn't go into their pen smelling like the buck. I would also put food into her dish and "turn my back" and when she comes to the dish then grab her and clip her. Looking at a goat when you're trying to catch them makes them extra nervous, makes them feel like prey...so always look at something to the side of them (or appear to do so). He'll probably have to spend extra time in the doe's pen with some kind of treat and earn her trust again.

Ok, I will tell him and have him try it. Hopefully it will work because I really like Anne

 

[taylorm17]

This is all great information! I would also try to feed the does before the bucks. I might also have you catch her and separate her from the herd. Have her spend time with your husband for a while and have him feed her her grain out of his hand. Have him brush her and pet her and hold her in his lap. You may obviously have to help him. I don't know when you go there, but there may have been a man who did something to her in the past and maybe your husband accidently made a move that reminded her of that and is now relating him to another man. Don't take this in the wrong way or anything, but your husband may have a mood or may be tired or angry that may frighten her for whatever reason. Animals are great at detecting moods and such.

 

[moffitthill]

The buck smell was the first think I thought of...Whatever the cause... it needs to be fixed. We have a only had one that was as goofy as yours is acting ... Dwarf girl that when coming here as a kid in June was great with the other goats but you wouldn't get a hand on her if she had anything to do about it -- small they are still fast little buggers and she is one of the best in conformation we have (needed some new line in our little herd) or probably wouldn't have spent so much time to get her really solid with us and for show. We managed to trick her a lot but it took all summer to build reasonable trust. We did a lot time of separate from the others so she bonded with my niece -- it is her goat for show etc. She was herd bound so she was so happy to see us but didn't know what to do about it. Niece hand fed her... we put her in the smaller area that had been cleaned out by the other goats so she was dependent on additional diet that we mix of timothy and alfalfa pellets so can hand feed. She also fed by hand the Noble and BOSS mix. She got goat licorice treats when on collar training and leash too. Collar and leash work was most effective toward trust. So perhaps something special in her grain for a bit only if she comes and get its with him standing there might help. She could have no hay left until she finished her hand feeding. An animal will not let themselves starve unless they are ill... so she will have to hand feed. Start with no eye contact or physical contact and build up from there. Ours showed ok at Fair... not bolting like someone was going to beat her and is now good with family for the most part... but still squirrelly with people she doesn't know on occasions. That is why we won't ever breed her personally... a friend will always be the "bad guy". Hope she decides to be lovey again. Good luck

 

[taylorm17]

I also thought of this a while ago, but you could have your husband wear and old short or just some old rag and have him do stuff with it on and then have her wear it for a day and she can't get away from his smell and has to learn to deal with it.