Some Goat Behavior Insight...

[tiffanyh]

My nigerian whether and does are really picking on my little old white pygmy. She has been with them for years but she is getting older and slower and weaker. I understand the pecking order and that butting is normal for goats, but tonight they knocked her over so hard she couldnt even get up for a minute or two with out my help.

I could separate her out with another nice doe I have that is also getting picked on, but she stresses out and wants to be with the herd. I am also worried she will get cold over the winter without the heat from them.

Do you think it would be a good idea to separate her for the days and let her back in at night? Will the back and forth be harder on the acceptance? Permanent separation? Let it be?

Obviously it is worse when and for a bit after feedings.....

 

[ksalvagno]

Obviously the other goats are sensing that she is weaker. So she will get picked on. If you want to do something, it has to be all or none. I wouldn't separate for part of the time. It just makes it harder. You could do things like separate her at feeding time but in the rest of the time. Or just make the decision to pull her permanently from the herd. If you do that, you may want to consider making a smaller herd of 3 or 4. That way, when she passes, the goats that were moved from the larger herd will have allies to go back into the larger herd.

Unfortunately, no good answers for this problem. You will just have to go with what you think is right. Good luck with your situation.

 

[tiffanyh]

Thanks so much. I did pull her and put her in half the paddock area with the one baby I kept who also seems to get picked on also. I got her on AB's for a URI and I am giving her warm water with molasses and hoping that she will get strong and bounce back a bit.

I will consider getting them a third maybe as time goes as I totally get what you mean about putting a remaining one back in with the herd later, especially one who already gets picked on anyway. I just want to get one with a mellow personality also as I would hate to invest in one and have it pick on her too.

 

[ksalvagno]

That is good. It certainly will help that she can get to hay and grain without a problem. Too bad you don't have another one of your own herd to put in with them that wouldn't bully either. Have you checked her eyelids? Are they white or pale? Maybe some Redcell would help her a bit too.

 

[tiffanyh]

I have not checked her eyelids. She has been wormed and its about time again, but with the antibiotics and the URI, I was trying to avoid pumping anything else into her.

I'm not familiar with Redcell.

Other down side it they have a donkey with them (who is not at all a bully to any of them, very sweet) who is so upset they are separated off that he keeps trying to pull at the fence to get to them. He likes his herd together.

 

[ksalvagno]

Sounds like a tough situation all the way around. Hopefully things will work out fairly quickly for you.

 

[ThornyRidge]

I would watch this situation carefully and if possible pull her out with another low one on the pecking order.. goats truly can sense when an animal is not right and will go after it to try to rid the herd of the sickly one. Ihave lost a goat to severe pecking order (beat aaround and died of internal injury). if she is older and that slow she is probably not getting necessary food /water/mineral intake which is only going to make her feel worse. get her out now and see if you can't get her back up to par by extra care/love/food/etc. I would rather have a crying goat separate than be seriously injured or killed by the rest of the herd.. she may be happy to leave them also!

 

[tiffanyh]

I hear ya.....

She has been separated today...the details are in post #2. She is okay for a while, but gets upset at night and the donkey gets upset without her, I did let her back in with them while I worked in there for a bit, then I separate her again when I left. Like you said, Im hoping to get her a bit stronger then let her back in.....

Her pen is right up against theirs so she can still talk to them through the fence. The donkey is standing by the fence sticking his nose through for her all afternoon. Sad.

Of course, she is my favorite, my first goat.

ETA: They just seem to do it around feedings and the period after...otherwise, no one really bothers her.

 

[treeclimber233]

I have a doe (Apple) that is a terrible bully to one other goat (Emma). Eveyone else she is ok with. What I did at feeding time is to have more feeders than I do goats. I put grain is all the feed pans so when Apple goes to chase Emma away from food the she can just run to the next pan. I also spread the hay around so Apple cant guard it all. It was so funny at first to see Apples expression when she could not drive Emma away from the food. It did not matter how hard Apple tried to keep her from eating, everywhere Emma ran there was more food. Eventually Apple just gave up. Apple hit Emma so hard one time last winter when she was pregnant I was surprised babies didn't just shoot out at the time. Life is tough in a herd. Gotta do all we can to even the tables some.