The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: egglady on August 07, 2011, 06:48:13 pm
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we have 2 goats and one is def bullying the other, today the bullied one spent all day outside in the torrential rain cos her so-called 'friend' wouldnt let her in the goat house! we do have another shelter, very basic, just a roof and the poor lass was sheltered under it all day:(
it's not so terrible just now cos it generally isnt that cold, but i want to have it sorted by the winter
how do i solve the problem?
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how old are they?
how long have they been together?
There will always be a "queen" - the top goat who is always first, but they can be b*ggers for bullying....
we've had to stand in with them, trying to distract the boss while the others eat etc.. they settle down eventually with only occassional fallings out
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one possibility: bring in a third goat, odd numbers work better.
second possibility: take them out on walks on leads so that they get excercise but cannot fight, then have them penned separately. Also feed them separately and watch.
My two goatlings were really quite bad bullies (together I have to add - they worked as a team, not on their own) for a while, but now that the younger kids are out too and the whole herd is 7 in total they settle down quite quickly. Still the odd skirmish, but that is to be expected.
How old are they, and are they related/from the same herd previously?
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i dont know if they are related, but yes, they are from the same herd previously. one of them (the bully) arrived here a few days before the other one so thinking that might be why.
we havent seen them actually fighting, but hubby just been down to do the last thing at night checks (11.30pm) and the bullied one is still outside the goat house. admittedly she is under the shelter (no sides, only a back and a roof), but I'd still like her to be 'allowed' indoors.
it's nearly time for us to wean the sheep so I'm wondering if we put the bully goat in with a couple of lambs/sheep in a closed stable for a couple of days and leave the unbullied goat with another couple of lambs in the paddock, will that perhaps help sort it out so that when they are reunited in a few days things might be easier with having greater numbers?
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Like chickens there is a pecking order,its not bullying its servival ;) Unless you let them sort it out there will always be trouble.Everytime you seperate they will have to establish the order all over again!
Give her plenty of space,escape areas so she won't get cornered and le them get on with it
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I posted something similar on here about a year ago. I was losing sleep about how my little saanen was being beaten up by the togg's! I think jinglejoys has worded it far better than I can, 'its not bullying its survival' but us humans do find it quite upsetting to watch.
The other thing to bear in mind is that goats are colour prejudiced so in my case, my white goat was picked on by 2 brown ones and several breeders have now told me that this happens a lot.
I've only got 2 at the moment and Reggie still lords it over savannah but she does give him a bit of grief in return now ;)
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It always happens - all you can do is 'engineer out' the problem.
Two entrances, so they can't both be blocked, plenty of feeding stations (I have 7 for four goats, otherwise somehow 'the boss' commandeers the lot.
I pen Her Ladyship at night, partly because I'm milking her in the morning and partly to give everyone else a break - and what happens at night, no.2 takes over as the 'bully' ....... ::)
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never thought about re-establishing the pecking order...but of course it makes perfect sense when someone points it out to you....d'uh!!!
so i think maybe we just increase the opening size of the goat house.....
and i'm wondering if i can put the ram lambs in with them rather than the ewe lambs? will a ram lamb try and tup a goat?
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Ever heard of Geep or Shoats ;) ;D
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If you have got shetlands (as I think you have) I would have thought that the boys aren't big enough to tup an adult goat, but I think they may try... wouldn't have boys in with them. Females (preferably adults as freshly weaned lambs may just try and suckle the goat and it would just annoy her) should be ok. Just think about the worm status of your holding and be prepared to worm the goats if they become runny.
If you can separate their pens inside the goathouse (just with a hurdle) and walk them into the pens at night individually (and also feed separately) it will go a long way to sort out their problems.
But we have problems with the unruly teenagers...