My whether has started bullying me-have to get rid of him

[HB Sheep & Goat Farm]

For those of you who thought I meant bottle raising made them mean, I just mean it as in when they are little, they are gentle and sweet, when they get big they get rough. As far as the best bottle raised kid I would choose a doe. Now with the cattle prod being "cruel and not meant for goats" I DISAGREE. Ok maybe it might hurt, but so will a slap on the nose or a kick. And they are used on livestock which includes goats. Don't use them in excess, just a zap when he acts up. I'd much rather try to correct him with this method rather than just say heck and off to the slaughter house he goes. This isn't meant to contradict anyone, it's just my opinion.

 

[redtailgal]

One of my wethers was bullying me for awhile. I was contemplating freezer camp for him, until he just pushed me too far one day. I got mad......um, VERY mad.

He ended up on the ground with me on top of him, and I pretty much beat the snot out of him. I held him down and just smacked him all over and I yelled at him.

Yup, it sounds awful. It looked worse. BUT, he is a sweetheart now. He hasnt made an ill move towards me since. He goes where I tell him to go, and is respectful with his horns and feet.

I did feel bad for going off on him like that, but it did save his life, lol.

This goat was dam raised, but I have raised plenty of calves on the bottle. They do get pushier than dam raised critters, but if you will be consistant with the rules and teach them that certain behavior is unacceptable from the beginning MOST of the time there is not a problem. The very few calves that cannot adapt and accept my rules make excellent meat.

 

[peachick]

my background in dog training had me constantly studying animal behavior and reading every book.
In my humble opinion, What redtailgal did was the absolute right thing to do. And here is why....

If you watch how animals interact with each other when someone is out of line, guess what... it aint nice or kind... We as humans, need to react the way another animal would in their language..... so that they understand humans are the alpha.

If an animal in a heard or a pack gets too far out of line, the alpha herd/pack member will chase it down, and pin it to the ground, and pound it, until the animal submits.

Think of how a mama dog corrects her puppy... she imediatly chases the puppy, pins it to the ground, mouth around its neck, and holds it there. Then just as quickly as she reacted, she will walk away and go on with her day... no nagging.. she made her point firmly the first time. IF the puppy continues the behavior she will react with more intensity, roaring at it and shaking it, until the baby is so scared it pees. LOL Pretty much the puppy will avoid mama after that

So my advice with an obnoxious goat (or any animal) would be to act like an alpha dominant pack leader / herd master... growl, knock them to the ground, and scare the living pee and pooh out of it....

If you do it firm enough the first time, you wont need to do it again.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I would be tempted, if they aren't too huge to do it, to try the sitting on them thing. When he goes to charge you, grab his horns and take him to the GROUND. Whole body down and straddle him and sit in him until he no longer struggles to get up. Wear yucky clothes as you will get covered in goat while doing this. It is the one benefit to having horns as I once had to do this to a buck by only his ears.

That is what I was thinking, not because I have ever had to do it but our friend has a whethered Togg he had trouble with when he first got him and that is what he did. After he pinned the big boy to the ground a few times, he took on a whole different demeanor.

 

[redtailgal]

my background in dog training had me constantly studying animal behavior and reading every book.
In my humble opinion, What redtailgal did was the absolute right thing to do. And here is why....

If you watch how animals interact with each other when someone is out of line, guess what... it aint nice or kind... We as humans, need to react the way another animal would in their language..... so that they understand humans are the alpha.

If an animal in a heard or a pack gets too far out of line, the alpha herd/pack member will chase it down, and pin it to the ground, and pound it, until the animal submits.

Think of how a mama dog corrects her puppy... she imediatly chases the puppy, pins it to the ground, mouth around its neck, and holds it there. Then just as quickly as she reacted, she will walk away and go on with her day... no nagging.. she made her point firmly the first time. IF the puppy continues the behavior she will react with more intensity, roaring at it and shaking it, until the baby is so scared it pees. LOL Pretty much the puppy will avoid mama after that

So my advice with an obnoxious goat (or any animal) would be to act like an alpha dominant pack leader / herd master... growl, knock them to the ground, and scare the living pee and pooh out of it....

If you do it firm enough the first time, you wont need to do it again.

Works with teenagers too. (except I dont knock my humans kids to the ground. they are taller than me!)

 

[cutechick2010]

I agree with one of the PPs, you should not sell or give him away unless you tell the buyer exactly WHY you are selling him. And once that is disclosed, the only buyers you will get are meat buyers, which IMO is where he probably ought to go. I NEVER leave horns on my goats, even a sweet gentle goat can hurt you by accident with a big rack of horns. A couple down the road from me has had goats for something like 30 years and they never leave horns on their goats either. They actually did buy a huge (250 plus, easily) Boer buck with horns, and he is super gentle and still managed to knock the husband down just by turning his head a little too fast.

I have never had a problem with bottle feeding any goats, even the buck is still sweet. He wants to rub against you and "cuddle" especially when he is rutting, but it's all love LOL. The one wether I had that turned mean on me wasn't bottle fed.

I understand completely what an awful idea it is not only to sell this guy for meat, and how hard it is to disbud the kids, but I will never have a horned or aggressive goat especially with small children around. They only hurt for a few minutes with the disbudding, and it saves a lifetime of possible problems. I just won't take the chance of my children getting hurt, or the goat getting caught in the fence and found by coyotes, etc.

 

[chicks & ducks]

HI all! WOW you guys are great.

Just wanted to clarify-wasn't going to sell him as a pet, was going to sell him to be butchered. I'm not a big meat eater myself and even if I was I can't eat pets that I've raised from babies(even the chickens get buried at my house! Don't worry-I'd never sell a bad animal(or car or house or anything else for that matter) without full disclosure. Above all else I believe in karma!

Things have gotten better...as long as I have my squirt bottle with me! There were so many replies here I can't remember who suggested it but I do like to go with a pain free route whenever possible. (though with this stubborn fella I had my doubts ANYTHING would work. )

Anyway I went out to do chores(packin my spray bottle of water) and when he came runnin at me lookin to jump he got squirted. OMG you'd think I'd just shot him! He was so upset. At first he obviously got mad and went for me again, with a vengeance, but as he got closer he got squirted again. That was it! He ran away. Now he's getting better. He doesn't charge at me like that so often and I always have my squirt bottle just in case I need to remind him.

You guys have been VERY helpful! It seems, without realizing, I was making a couple of rookie mistakes. All with good intentions-as most mistakes are-but I WAS scratching their heads! Right between the horns. You see I thought that'd be the most difficult area for them to rub so thought I was doing a favor-kind of like rubbing behind a dog's ears, ya know? Anyway-lesson learned for sure!

Also I wanted to say that I appreciate everyone being able to give advice without really being criticized. Everybody's got different opinions but I think we all handled it well! I've been on other forums where if someone disagrees with someone else all hell seems to break lose. Totally ruins the whole forum for me so I'm glad that doesn't really happen here.

And Melody! Specifically-thank you! Deep down I couldn't help but think everyone was reading this and shaking their heads at me. I know it's rare-this behavior, so felt I obviously must have done it all wrong. I DID learn a couple things, but it's good to know that maybe it wasn't ALL me! That helped a lot too.


THANKS EVERYBODY!!!!

 

[Queen Mum]

I'm really glad it worked out for you. None of us is shaking our heads at you. BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL BEEN THERE! Really. We all have been kicking ourselves in the buns at one time or another. That is why this is such a good forum.

 

[Mamaboid]

I'm really glad it worked out for you. None of us is shaking our heads at you. BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL BEEN THERE! Really. We all have been kicking ourselves in the buns at one time or another. That is why this is such a good forum.

Yup, I bet there isn't a mistake that can be made raising goats that someone on this forum hasn't made at one time or another. Isn't it wonderful that we have all that knowledge at our fingertips.

 

[BrownSheep]

Are you certain that both testicles were removed when he was castrated. I bought a "wether" was actually a ram. The breeder,his first time castrating, only cut of the scrotum