# How to introduce new goats to old?



## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi Guys,

It's been a long while since I've been on and my scrummy goat boys are now three years old and still as gorgeous as ever!

I am moving house soon and Teddy and Tumnus will, of course, be coming with me. We plan to have at least an acre for them so will also have plenty of room for more goaty friends but I am unsure of how to introduce newbies to our existing boys.

There's a good chance that any newbies would be younger and therefore smaller than Teddy and Tumnus so how do I ensure there's no bullying?

Do you have them penned side by side but seperated for a while so they can get to know each other through a fence? Or do you just put them in and keep a close eye out? Would it be more successful if the newbies were girls or, all boys being wethers, would it not make a difference?

Also, I am looking into getting alpacas....would they make good field mates to the goats? I have heard of people using alpacas to protect sheep flocks from predators (not that we get anything bigger than a fox in the UK) but sheep don't tend to head-butt the way goats do and I don't want my wee pygmies damaging the paca's legs!

Any comments would be much appreciated x


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## LaMee (Jul 21, 2012)

They will get along in a couple of days. Just like my goats it took them at lest 24 hours to get along. :coffee2: :kidblue:


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## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

so did you just put them in together and leave them to sort it out? Were they of mixed age/size?


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## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

just bumping this up for some more responses xx


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

LOL, I just dumped my new ND in with my two nubian/nd mixes. She seems to be doing okay. I take my "queen" out for a few minutes a few times a day to make sure that the new comer gets enough to eat but that's it. No one has been hurt.


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## GoatsLive (Jul 1, 2012)

My first two goats were a brother and sister, and as bottle babies got along very well with each other and humans. After my buck died (congenital defect) I introduced to my remaining doe, her half sister of the same age.

It took about 2 months before the girls got along. In that 2 months there were a couple of very bloody fights between them as the new girl found her place in the pen. It was distressing to watch, but my vet and breeder assured us that they would make peace with each other.

Now days, they are best friends. They often groom each other, and of course vie for the attention of their humans. It was a rough couple of months to get to that point though. 

I think the biggest problem in our case was that the new girl didn't have as much human contact before we got her and was pretty wild. It took hours and hours of work to "tame" her. She's quite sweet now, and the work was well worth it.


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## HaleyD (Sep 12, 2012)

I'm not sure what would be the best way to go about doing this, but if you get very young goats be careful. My 2 Pygmy wethers are pets and are just over a year now, and when I brought home a new bottle baby they HATED him. The baby lived inside while on the bottle, but sometimes I would bring him out to the goat pen with me and I always had to be careful because they would do anything to be able to get their horns on the poor little guy. One hit could have easily killed him.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

If you do get more goats...get them in pairs so they have a bonded buddy and yes, fence off an area within the main pen for them to get to know each other before turning them out together and after a few weeks, allow supervised visits but leave the newbies pen open so they can run back to safety should either of your boys get too rough.


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## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

Thanks for all your comments guys. Any new goats would be young but not actual babies. Also, my current boys are disbudded, as would any newbies be, so no fear of horn damage but I think I'll pen them off but in full view of each other so as to not tempt fate.

Did anyone have any experience or comments reference mixing pygmies with alpacas? x


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## HaleyD (Sep 12, 2012)

I don't have any experience on mixing Pygmies and Alpacas, or know very much about Alpacas, but I have a horse in the same field as my goats and they don't bother each other. I haven't had any problems with the horse kicking at them or the goats head butting the horses legs. They aren't scared of each other, but they don't care much about each other. Everyone just minds their own business and every now and then they cross paths while grazing but nothing happens. Usually the goats will leave if the horse wants to graze near where they were. But of course the goats have an area they can go to that the horse can't get in. Which it's always good to have something like that for animals when you have different types living together.


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## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

I could work that....the goats are much shorter than the alpacas will be so I could just put a barrier across at alpaca chest height to stop them getting through while the goats could just go under it.


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## HaleyD (Sep 12, 2012)

That's similar to what I have. I have a 2 stall shelter type thing made of pipe that is covered in the back and open in the front. One stall is the goat/mini pig stall and the other stall is the horses. I leave the horses stall open so he can come as go as he pleases, but shut the other because the goats and mini pig can fit under the bottom pipe and the horse stays out. So far it's worked perfectly for me!


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## CKLAHN (Mar 13, 2015)

I have 2 female full siz goats that are pets can anyone tell if they would get along with pymgy goats if they were in the same pen?


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