Pushy goats

[Kaitie09]

I've got 3 goats, a pygmy and 2 Boer/Nubians. They are normally well behaved, although the little pygmy is the alpha and headbutts the other two when anyone comes around. Treats are a big problems with us. One of the Boers is more people friendly and will practically jump on you to get what is in your hand (I'm only 5' tall, and she is almost as tall as I am when she is on all fours). If I have a bucket of anything, she automatically sticks her entire head in it. She gets very pushy around treats and you have to pretty much put your entire weight on her for her to move. I can control her pretty well by myself, but I have a lot of cousins and second cousins that are very close. The littlest one is 2 and adores the goats. Everything she comes over she goes on a chore tour, and gets to feed everyone. We then go out and give the goats treats. They do the same pushiness, and I get pretty worried about my cousin.

What is a good way to correct them? Also, is there any way that we can correct Belle(pygmy) from butting the other two when we are around. When we are not there, they are perfect with each other. Belle just needs to show her dominance over the other two when people come around.

 

[cafarmgirl]

What you are describing is all very normal goat behavior. Or what my husband would call their "goatness".

I wouldn't worry about trying to stop the head butting either, very normal goat behavior. They will do it to show dominance but also just to play.

What I would do is just not let little kids in with them to give treats but rather let them feed treats through the fence.

When I have a goat who is being pushy and wanting to jump on me I use my knee to push her back along with a verbal reprimand. She doesn't get any treats until she has all four feet on the ground. This is also the biggest reason I don't generally hand feed treats, I put them in the feeder.

 

[Kaitie09]

I knew the head butting probably would not be corrected, but she only ever does it in front of us and she does not even eat the treats we give her. She just smells them and goes back to hitting the other two. We can't feed inside because Belle will corner the other two and ram them until they are pushed away from the food, and then she pigs out and eats everything. When I feed them, I have to stand in between them to keep Belle from ramming them for their food. I found that taking 2 fingers and tapping the Boer on the nose and telling her no gets her to move away from me, and then she tends to stay behind me and wait. We also can't give them treats outside the fence because we have a 6ft tall 2x4 welded wire because the two Boers were escape artists and were hopping the fence. Belle is the main problem and is just a bully when it comes to anything to do with people. She wants all the attention, but at the same time, she won't accept anything or let you touch her.