my baby goat is a bully!!

[barnyardrescue]

hi all new to this. but i was tring to see if i could get some help with a baby goat i got when she was5 hours old. i have a animal rescue with 12 dogs 2 horses, a donkey a momma goat baby goat 13 cats and chickens plus doves. dotty my goat which is 5 months old has gotton along with all the animals until here recently she head butts the dogs and even the cats, i tried to get her with the other goats but she only cries the whole time and stops eating. i bring her back home to her house and yard but had to keep her there because of her not eatting when shes away from me. well now she is taking out her anger on every one by rearing up and head butting everyone. im the only one she does not head butt. if i leave her by her self she wont stop cring. the last head butt she did to my big dog injured him. please does anyone know what i can do to get her to stop bounce the dog dhe hurt was a papa to her and he looks heart broken over her meaness to him.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Sorry you're having problems with your young goat. IMHO, she needs to be with other goats. They are herd animals and she sees you as the lead goat and she wants everyone else to see her as #2. She's trying to establish her place in the herd. Goats butt heads... And they rely on the lead goat to... lead, so when you aren't there, she gets scared and feels deserted. I will now defer to some of the experts:

@Goat Whisperer @Southern by choice @babsbag @OneFineAcre and so many others... too many to list them all.

 

[babsbag]

I am not sure I can help much, my goats are always with other goats and only with other goats. They always establish a pecking order and do a lot of head butting in the process. Can you bring another goat home with her? How long does she stop eating for...a day...a week? Is she bullied when she is with the other goats and maybe that is why she doesn't eat? Somehow she needs to become part of the herd and not be just with you and it may take some tough love on your part.

 

[NH homesteader]

I agree that somehow she needs to be with the other goats. I brought home two goats who had never seen a dog before and my (super overly friendly) dogs ran up to say hi. Both of the goats tried to headbutt the dogs. They had no idea what a dog was and goats and dogs have such different body language they didn't have a clue what the dogs were doing. But they weren't being aggressive or mean, just scared. I agree with Latestarter, you're the only one she doesn't headbutt so she must know you're "in charge"

Also am curious how long she stops eating for.

 

[Bunnylady]

I had a goat that knew perfectly well what a dog was - a predator, and she was going to defend herself and her family to her dying breath, if need be. I called Esme "the Matriarch," and as long as she was strong and healthy, she ruled the barnyard and kept everyone, even her wether son (who probably weighed twice what she did), in line. I once saw her chase a fox around the barn 3 times before it managed to get enough of a lead on her to get to the hole it had dug under the fence and escape. One time she charged out of the open gate to butt a cat that was just walking by.

Esme didn't butt people - she knew better (even children, which was a real blessing), but she would butt the other goats to get them out of her way. She didn't go out of her way to do it, just when it was necessary to assert her authority. Unfortunately, as she got older, eventually she wasn't strong enough to continue in that position and Spike, the wether, took over . . . . and he was a bully.