The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: katie on January 25, 2013, 07:59:21 pm
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My female goatling is being bullied by the whole herd. As soon as she tries to eat hay, they all push her away and she comes to find me so I can give her her own. I know that as soon as I'm away, the bullying will start again and she has become very timid and is not growing as she should. When I feed concentrate, they are all tied up so she at least eats that without a problem
Up to now, I'd thought that it was just natural pecking order but she seems so unhappy. Is it time to separate her from the herd , perhaps with her half-sister, to let her get some confidence back?
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If you are able to seperate the with a friend then I would if she is being bullied to the point of losing condition... but...
Someone does have to be the bottom of the pack, it may be that her friend will also be mean to her, or the rest of the herd will pick a new 'scapegoat'.
With my rabbits, if one gets chronically bullied, I get a vet check done. So far there has always been an underlying problem that I knew nothing about but the rabbits did. In the buns case it is generally teeth, so much so that I now equate bullied bunyip = dental surgery ::)
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You would need to make sure that she gets her fair share of feed/hay, but after that I think (if she is healthy) she would have to work out her own position. If she gets on with her sister I would pen separately at night and at feeding times, but if they use the goathouse as exercise as well I would make sure there is some time every day they are all together (or when they go outside.)
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OH katie, its horrible to watch. This is what happened with Savannah and at the time we only had one shed for the 4 and she used to get shoved out in the rain. i lost sleep and tears over it!
When I spoke to Fay she did say what Anke and CW have said about pecking order but suggested also have a second shelter (even a makeshift ark) and separate hay feeders so that they are not all round one. I've kept my 4 in 2 paddocks now to make feeding/shelter easier and let them play together on sunny days. HOpe it sorts itself out a bit x
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we had a nanny that started off bullying all of the other goats untill they got fed up with her and turned on her as a herd
we separated her and put her in with the mini horse . she now has one of the Boer goats and the horse for company and everyone is happy
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Thanks for the replies. It confirms really what I thought about pecking order. They have three hayracks between six of them but I'll add another small one in a corner where she can go if pushed off the others. I think I probably feel worse about it than she does but I'll keep a good eye on her anyway. Thanks again.