# How to tame goats?



## Jason Etherington (May 1, 2020)

I just got goats for the first time. I bought three mini nubians, mama (3 years) and her two does (5 weeks). Our purpose in getting goats is for milking (and 'cause we like goats). The problem is that mom came from a large herd of goats and never got a lot of personal human attention. She is skittish for sure and that makes the idea of milking her daunting. What should I be doing to get her calm around me. Since getting them a week ago I started with the idea that I needed to catch them and handle them often. They never really seemed settled in and were not eating much. After a couple of days I decided to just take treats in and set them next to me and sit there for an hour or so. In the last couple of days they are eating more and seem more comfortable around me, but they don't like to get very close still. What have you found to be the best way for goats to allow you to handle them?


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## Iluvlilly! (Apr 6, 2019)

I would keep doing what you are doing! The more time you spend sitting there and giving them treats they will get more comfortable with you! And welcome to the forum!!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Having patience is really helpful! One of my two first does was really shy when I got her. She didn't like to be touched or even for me to get close to her. Taking time to just sit in her pen and being close by in a calm manner is the right way to go. Handing out treats is also a great way to make goat friends. Take treats out every time you go, and in no time she start approaching you when you come. Also don't be too quick to pet her when you think she is ready, a good cheek pet is a good place to start so she can see your hand. Also, never never *never* chase her. If you need to catch her get her in a small area you can quickly restrain her in. There is _nothing_ worse to make a goat distrust you than chasing.

You sound like you are doing a good job so far, but it does take time. (thumbup)


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## Makenna (Aug 16, 2019)

I would keep doing what you are doing! When I first got my goats, they were afraid of me and would all group together in a corner. After you start feeding them and giving them treats they gain your trust and start to like you. Just have patience and believe in yourself!


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

I agree to what has been said. Patience, treats and no chasing.
I don’t know if you can apply this to your situation, but for mine, when they went in the barn for the night, I would give them their grain on the stall floor one at a time, and brush them while they gobbled it down. For some reason the brush wasn’t as scary as my hands. Also, they let me pet them through a fence, and started enjoying that, it seemed safer to them.


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## Mrsadface (Apr 27, 2020)

I did the same to clear brush and they would always run into the brush when I came through the gate. I bought a wether that was bottle fed and a pet. They now let me hand feed them grain and I can get in a pet every now and then. This is without any other works except bringing in the pet goat.


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## Davi (Apr 9, 2019)

Absolutely agree with what every one is saying, one of our first goats was absolutely terrified of people and my dad spent hours just sitting outside with her and talking to her, touching her a bit when she came clone. A good thing to do when she starts letting you touch her, is try and rub her belly and eventually her bag to get her used to being touched for milking. It takes a lot of work when they're already grown, but you'll get there!


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## Jason Etherington (May 1, 2020)

This has all been really helpful thank you for the advise. Over the last 4 days I have spent at least an hour throughout the day in their pen. As of yesterday they came and ate grain from a bowl that was just a couple feet from me. Momma goat was even comfortable enough to walk away and lay down while her kids continued eating next to me. Progress! I haven’t tried brushing yet. I will give it a few more days before I try that and see if I can get the bowl right next to me. What kind of a brush should I get for a goat? A horse brush seems like the bristle are too soft and densely packed for a goat. Links or pictures of what you use would be helpful. Thanks for so much great advise!


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

I used a soft brush at first, to make it feel nice, and later a dog brush.


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## Richyboy (Apr 30, 2020)

Giving them the attention they want and dont want is effective, when I got weather goats to show at the fair the first year I did not even try to walk them with a show chain prior to the fair I just gave them attention and they walked great, attention is super effective!


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## Jason Etherington (May 1, 2020)

(FIRST TIME ON THE MILKING STANCHION) We have spent an hour or so each day with treats at our feet for the last two weeks. The goats now come quickly and easily to get the treats. If we try to touch them they run away for a moment before returning to eat. We decided today to try to get momma on the milking stanchion. Catching her meant cornering her a couple times before successfully grabbing her collar. Once caught I can to lead/drag/push her to the stanchion and then lift her torso and then her hind legs up on the stand. All the while her kids were screaming and she was screaming. Once in the stanchion I got her grain and pet her while talking to her calmly. She was kind of calm and her kids screamed a little less. After 15 minutes she had eaten almost no grain and was still pretty nervous. Once I let her out of the stanchion she ran to her kids and wouldn't come anywhere near me. 

Am I doing this right? Should I do it again tomorrow? Should I be doing something to catch her easier so it isn't a 2 or 3 min stress? Do the kids around make this worse? I kind of wonder if I should have gotten bottle fed goats so this wasn't so hard.


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## Larkmeadoes (May 6, 2020)

not sure if this will help, but a friend of ours had a really skittish goat that would freak out whenever she got close. she just sat with the doe a few hours each day and gave it lots of treats. it ended up working but as soon as she tried to get the doe on the milk stand, it would get nervous of her again. she fixed this by putting the milk stand in the pen, filling the dish with food, and just letting the doe get on it herself. After she got on, our friend would start petting her and giving her other treats and stuff. she left it in the pen so that the doe and her kids could jump on it and get used to it. It took a bit but eventually it worked and now the stand is in the normal location and the doe gets on just fine (her triplets missed their toy though ) 

(my doe was also a bit nervous at first but she got used to me after a bit of time)


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## NDinKY (Aug 3, 2019)

It sounds like you’re doing a really good job with her. If she’s food motivated, go ahead and feed her on the milking stand like mentioned above. You don’t have to lock her head in, just let her eat her food up there. 

With her doelings, I’d be picking them up and handling them as much as possible. Do they come up to you if you just sit there quietly? Most kids are very curious and will try to climb all over you. They do learn from their dams, so if mama is skittish they’ll likely pick that up unless you give them lots of attention. 

And bottle babies come with their own sets of issues. Mostly that they can be obnoxious and it can be challenging to enforce boundaries. I’ve got 3 kids I’m supplementing with bottles (dam has quints and they’re beating up her udder so I’m milking her out and bottle feeding the doelings to give her a break) and they are all over you as soon as you walk in. It’s cute but annoying. And when they get bigger it is not cute at all.


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## dldolan (Jan 19, 2017)

Larkmeadoes said:


> she fixed this by putting the milk stand in the pen, filling the dish with food, and just letting the doe get on it herself. After she got on, our friend would start petting her and giving her other treats and stuff. she left it in the pen so that the doe and her kids could jump on it and get used to it. It took a bit but eventually it worked and now the stand is in the normal location and the doe gets on just fine (her triplets missed their toy though )
> (my doe was also a bit nervous at first but she got used to me after a bit of time)


So, I had a new goat two years ago that was 7 months old and not tame. I basically did the above, in a 12x12 stall. I am worried that mama is teaching her babies to be afraid of you, so think getting them into a smaller pen might be best for you. Put the alfalfa on the stand, and only feed grain in a bucket in the stand. Take a lawn chair down twice a day for an hour, and in that smaller space, just sit and read a book, kindle, whatever. You are ignoring them. Eventually the most curious kid will probably start sniffing at you. after a few days of this, your hand might be dangling so they can sniff and rub on you. I do this with all new kids from day one now--it's so important for them to be used to people, used to being handled, etc. I agree with the patience part, especially since these are the goats you have!


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## Jason Etherington (May 1, 2020)

Ok great advice. I do have the stanchion in with them to get use to but it sounds like maybe I have given them too much space for now for them to get use to me. I will try to lock them in their barn area each day for a couple hours so that I can just go sit with them and I will try feeding her grain only in the stanchion. Though that might be hard because the kids try to get to it before she can.

should I also force and lock her in the Stanchion everyday for 10 - 15 min each day until she does it willingly? Or should I give her a week or so with this new approach to see if she likes me and the stanchion more?

I am planning on separating the kids at night soon. Is that something that could help? If I am not milking her quite yet is it ok to separate them at night? Is it ok to separate them at night if I only have 3 goats? That will leave mama by herself all night.


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## Ashlynn (Oct 1, 2017)

I would keep the milk stanchion in the goat pen so they jump and play on it and then getting up there will be a little easier as she will have done it on her own. Also practice feeding her everyday on there everyday still like you have been. I know this is not a good solution but I had a goat who was super skiddish but because she had babies we bonded in the kidding pen during her labor. Do what you’re doing.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Time, patience, love, treats, a chair and sit in a chair, allow them to approach you.  
Have treats, goat safe edible tree branches, hold it in your hand. And get their attention with it.
Soft voice. 

Curiosity will take over and they will approach you.


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## Tanya (Mar 31, 2020)

I allowed Destiny to jump on my lap when I sat in her pen. I softly spoke to her. I learnt how to mimic her language. So when she spoke I could reply to her. 
I watched her allot and learnt what she liked. I built a play pen for her, in your case your milking stand. I taught her that there is one place tjat it is cool to be checked out. After 3 weeks she is busy weening( bear in mind she is now almost 10 weeks old. I got her when she was a skittish 5 week old). I have spent at least 3 hours a day in her holding pen.
She bonded with my daughter for food. With me I became the dominant goat in the herd. . Patience. Goats are fascinating. Get to know each one of them. They are so different. Treats. I discovered Dedtiny loves twigs and banana. Those two are her kryptonite. . 
Good luck


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## Ashlynn (Oct 1, 2017)

Also like someone else said, they are curious so even doing things like reading a book in their pen will help them to get more comfortable and realize that you’re not always in there to catch them. They will wonder what you are doing and maybe decide to investigate, if they do investigate, give them treats.


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## Susie Bosch (Feb 24, 2020)

Patience and persistence


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

If it was me, I would not try to lock her head in the stand until she is 100% comfortable and relaxed jumping up there to eat her grain. When you do lock her in, make sure you are prepared to grab her if she starts throwing herself around. Having their heads stuck seems to really freak some goats out. You don't want her to injure herself. You don't want to teach her that struggling will get her out of the stand, though, so as long as she's not doing anything dangerous, or really frightened, I would maybe keep her head locked in there. Then as soon as she starts to settle down, release her, pet her, give her a treat. Those are just my thoughts. Obviously, you are the best judge of how your doe responds to certain situations, so you will have to adapt training that will work for her. I'm sure others will chime in with more milk stand training ideas.


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## Champion Fence Jumpers (Feb 10, 2020)

You are doing great! One of my does was shy too. I could never catch or pet her, but eventually she learned that I’m not going to hurt her. I have found that putting her on a leash and walking her around helps, at first Sophie would FREAK out on a leash, she would literally run all across the yard with it on, but after I consistently kept doing it she got WAY better. She doesn’t even bat an eye now. Just remember to always end the lesson on a good calm positive note.


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## Champion Fence Jumpers (Feb 10, 2020)

Also the best brush I have found is this one. It does a really good job when they are shedding and isn't harsh. It's nice that it's retractable too so you don't have to get your fingers in it to get the hair out. Overall really nice brush.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...MIq4y1yNmy6QIVFI_ICh2z1QxUEAQYASABEgI6dPD_BwE


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

@Jason Etherington - how is the taming & milk stand training going?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Hope things are going well.


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