shedevil
Exploring the pasture
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- Jul 24, 2010
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Hi - some of you may know me from some of the other boards, from 2 years ago when we first brought home our girls - rescued mother and day-old kid part-Saanen girls. Or, from a few months ago, when I posted for advice because the daughter kid (now 2 years old) tested CAE positive and showing some occasional signs of arthritis.
The girls (mother and daughter) have lived with us for two years - most of the doe's life, and all of the kid's life.
Heart-breakingly, the daughter passed away, *completely* unexpectedly and out of the blue, last week. It wasn't the CAE - she had sudden liver failure. :-(
As soon as we got over the shock, we knew of course that the doe needed a companion - one goat, alone, is ..well, unacceptable.
Today we brought home a Dwarf Nubian buckling as a companion for her... he's about 10 weeks old, very social, and cute as a button. The introduction went really well.. they sniffed each other, and pranced around, and eventually played very gently at pushing each other forehead-to-forehead, in between which the doe would nibble on his ear (what does that mean when a goat nibbles on another goat's ear??)
We pen them at night, but she has also often hung out in her pen (gate wide open) during the day - it's very much *her place* (well, it was her and her daughter's place...they would often rest in there even during the day when they have free roam of the yard - they were *always* together, and slept together - crammed into one goat house (a big insulated dog house) even though they each had their own and we never figured out how they both fit in one!.. so having her daughter suddenly gone *has* to be affecting her somehow (doesn't it?)).
Anyways, I was hoping that the new buckling would wander into the pen during the day today, while she was in there, so we could see how she reacted to that, but it hadn't happened by bedtime, so we ended up just putting them both in there and then watching them closely.
The doe got pretty pushy with him then...he hid in one of the houses, but whenever he came out, she'd come at him, head down, and she actually was squashing him against the side of the goat house. She's *so* much bigger than him right now, and his cries were so pathetic, I was really worried she could injure him.
So, I put a big enclosed dog crate inside the pen, and put the baby in there, so he is still in the pen, but inside the crate, where he'll be safe during the night. They can see and sniff at each other, but she can't squash him.
I'm pretty sure they will be fine during the day tomorrow, as they were fine all afternoon today (day 1). And I know that probably we should just continue to crate him at night for a few nights at least, until we see that they have worked it out and she's accepted him enough to share the pen and sleeping arrangements with him.
My question is, is there anything else we can or should be doing? How can we best help to ensure her accepting him and bonding with him? Has anyone else had any experience with a goat who was part of an only 2-goat herd losing their life-long companion? We have assumed she really needed another companion asap, knowing that goats are social, herd animals, but really she has mostly wanted *us* - and I'm not all that sure that *she* 'thinks' she wants another goat around..even though I *know* in my heart she can't and shouldn't spend the rest of her life alone! (What a sad thought!)
Ok, I realize I'm overthinking and anthropomorphizing (little bit!), but, I just really want to do the right thing for her, and this is a sort of unusual situation! None of the books assume a 2-goat herd, such that the loss of one will leave the other one solitary!
Thank you for any thoughts, insights and advice!
P.S. Here is a short video of the two of them together earlier today:
http://www.twitvid.com/OKS11
..and here is a photo of them in the pen (this is before she got out of her house and started in on him):
http://twitpic.com/28f4v0
Thank you!
Annie
The girls (mother and daughter) have lived with us for two years - most of the doe's life, and all of the kid's life.
Heart-breakingly, the daughter passed away, *completely* unexpectedly and out of the blue, last week. It wasn't the CAE - she had sudden liver failure. :-(
As soon as we got over the shock, we knew of course that the doe needed a companion - one goat, alone, is ..well, unacceptable.
Today we brought home a Dwarf Nubian buckling as a companion for her... he's about 10 weeks old, very social, and cute as a button. The introduction went really well.. they sniffed each other, and pranced around, and eventually played very gently at pushing each other forehead-to-forehead, in between which the doe would nibble on his ear (what does that mean when a goat nibbles on another goat's ear??)
We pen them at night, but she has also often hung out in her pen (gate wide open) during the day - it's very much *her place* (well, it was her and her daughter's place...they would often rest in there even during the day when they have free roam of the yard - they were *always* together, and slept together - crammed into one goat house (a big insulated dog house) even though they each had their own and we never figured out how they both fit in one!.. so having her daughter suddenly gone *has* to be affecting her somehow (doesn't it?)).
Anyways, I was hoping that the new buckling would wander into the pen during the day today, while she was in there, so we could see how she reacted to that, but it hadn't happened by bedtime, so we ended up just putting them both in there and then watching them closely.
The doe got pretty pushy with him then...he hid in one of the houses, but whenever he came out, she'd come at him, head down, and she actually was squashing him against the side of the goat house. She's *so* much bigger than him right now, and his cries were so pathetic, I was really worried she could injure him.
So, I put a big enclosed dog crate inside the pen, and put the baby in there, so he is still in the pen, but inside the crate, where he'll be safe during the night. They can see and sniff at each other, but she can't squash him.
I'm pretty sure they will be fine during the day tomorrow, as they were fine all afternoon today (day 1). And I know that probably we should just continue to crate him at night for a few nights at least, until we see that they have worked it out and she's accepted him enough to share the pen and sleeping arrangements with him.
My question is, is there anything else we can or should be doing? How can we best help to ensure her accepting him and bonding with him? Has anyone else had any experience with a goat who was part of an only 2-goat herd losing their life-long companion? We have assumed she really needed another companion asap, knowing that goats are social, herd animals, but really she has mostly wanted *us* - and I'm not all that sure that *she* 'thinks' she wants another goat around..even though I *know* in my heart she can't and shouldn't spend the rest of her life alone! (What a sad thought!)
Ok, I realize I'm overthinking and anthropomorphizing (little bit!), but, I just really want to do the right thing for her, and this is a sort of unusual situation! None of the books assume a 2-goat herd, such that the loss of one will leave the other one solitary!
Thank you for any thoughts, insights and advice!
P.S. Here is a short video of the two of them together earlier today:
http://www.twitvid.com/OKS11
..and here is a photo of them in the pen (this is before she got out of her house and started in on him):
http://twitpic.com/28f4v0
Thank you!
Annie
