Do all goats do this ?

[username taken]

I breed my does between 5 and 8 mths old, without any health or growth problems to either the dam or babies.

But not many people here will believe me.

You will have more problems if you wait until they are 18 - 24 months old to breed them; most does particularly backyard pen fed does will be enormously fat by this age if they are not in production, this leads to dystocia (difficult births) because the fat laid down within the pelvis greatly reduces pelvic capacity and also pelvic movement during birthing; milking ability is also affected because fat is often deposited in the udder and reduces milk yield.

I would be more concerned about the 2 mth old girl, as he may breed her at 2 - 4 mths and that is a bit too young.

Best thing to do would be to see if the breeder you go to has got any wethers, so you could put the buck and the wether together, and the two does together, and a fence in between of course.

For what its worth, its always best to listen to the breeder of your foundation animals; he knows his bloodlines and individual animals and knows what they are capable of. He knows more about those particular animals than a bunch of people on the internet who cant even see the animals.

 

[mcmch91]

We've had goats for 15+ years. We do not breed the young does until they are at least a year old. Our goal is primarily show animals. I do know several breeders who advocate the early breeding (7-8 months) for the commercial/meat stock. If your goal is simply more goats on the ground, early can be fine. If your goal is sleek show stock, you may want to wait a few months.

I am sure there are as many opinions as fireflies in summer, but you and your breeder know your goats best. (I would keep that billy goat away from the little one for a bit!)

 

[username taken]

for what its worth, mcmch91, almost all my animals are show quality, and show winners.

I recently recieved champion senior doe with a boer who kidded down at 13 mths.

 

[dixygirl]

I am looking at this where I am right now! The adult male is playing with the little one but the female looks like she wants to hurt it and is trying to hit the little one in the belly with her head. I have seen the female knock the little one over viciously and had to rush in to protect the little on from the female.

The female is acting very antisocial and the male is playful and protective. I thought it was just this female that is acting grumpy but you are seeing the same thing ???

 

[aaronzclark]

Yes the man I go to is about 65 he has been raising pygmy goats/boer for years and years and years he seemed very sure of what he said it's been about 2 days since I got her the female still tries to butt her but is walking around her and is tolerating her i think she may warm up to her soon it's just when the little one gets in her way he said it may take a couple of days. The man has about 20 acres he has about 75-85 pygmy goats and he keeps the males with the females and the babies just run around and the bucks don't bother um

 

[username taken]

Quote:
It is just a pecking order thing; as long as baby learns to stay away from the older girl, and the older one isnt being overly violent, they will be fine

 

[cafarmgirl]

Just really watch that older doe for a while if you leave them together. Yes, headbutting is normal goat behavior BUT goats can be very nasty when you are introducing a new goat to an established herd and it's not playful headbutting. When I was new to goats and bought a new baby I was also told to just put her in the pen. Well I had to rush out and rescue her from an older doe who had her penned in a corner and was basically beating the crap out of her while she screamed. A much better way is to keep a fence between them untill things settle down. In my case this took a couple weeks and then things were fine and nobody got hurt.

 

[username taken]

an older doe who had her penned in a corner and was basically beating the crap out of her while she screamed

yeah thats the sort of situation I mean, to separate them in that case. I had a baby and one of my girls bit her on the ear, picked her up and threw her! baby was alright luckily​

 

[kinnip]

It's definitely an individual thing. I'm integrating a couple of younguns right now. It's really at its worst when I'm out in the pen, so I've tried to leave them alone to sort things out. I have allowed the babies out to range on their own a few times when it looked like morale was suffering.