# help with aggressive goat



## ita2464 (Mar 21, 2013)

Hi, I am new here and hoping someone can help. I have a female goat who is extremely aggressive to my other goat. Originally, I had her and a wether and then my horse moved home so it was the 3 of them. The wether died 5 years ago and last fall I had to have the horse put down because she was ancient and suffering. I got another wether to keep her company and she seemed happy at first, but then started to go through the normal dominance ritual which I thought would eventually level out. Her aggression did subside for a while, but started to increase again this spring. I thought it might be jealousy because I was taking him out of the pasture daily to do some training and when I brought him back she would just pummel him. I set up a feeding area so he could safely eat hay without getting killed. He has been here since Sept. I thought her jealously would subside if there was another goat in the pasture while I work with him. I recently bought another wether who is about the same age as mine (10 months.) He has only been here for 4 days, but she is trying to kill him and the other goat too. I keep getting told this is normal goat behavior and once a pecking order is established she will settle down, but I would certainly think from Sept to now should have been enough time. She is six years old, a mixed breed with extra teats and has always been a pet. It's not like I can sell her and I don't want to send her to an auction. She is not aggressive towards people. I have done everything I can to try to make a safe place for the other goats to get away from her, but she just charges them constantly and slams them into walls. All of the goats have horns, too. Is there anything that can be done or is it the end of the line for her?


----------



## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Some goats are meant to be alone. While it is rare I have owned two of them. They would try to kill any new comers. One of them I still have. I have built a new pen for just her to keep the other goats safe. When I say kill I mean she takes her horns and upper cuts them in the stomach, slams their heads so hard she broke one of my other goats horns from the scull, and hooks legs and twists when they are between her horns. She once grabbed one of the other does kids by the tail and threw him. I would put her in her own pen to see how she fairs. If she dosent like it is there any other animal that can keep her company?


----------



## ita2464 (Mar 21, 2013)

I don't have a barn, they have a run in shed with an enclosure where they sleep. I thought about fencing another section of the pasture and putting a dog house in there to see how she does. My husband was already not happy about building the fancy (and by fancy I mean an old pallet with openings for the small goats where she cannot get through) feeding system I have set up. I could do the fencing myself because she respects electric. There isn't another animal that can go in there with her. Ironically, I got the second goat because she had lost her horse friend and I didn't want her to be lonely. I think the two wethers would bond and have a great time if they didn't have to fear for their life every minute.


----------



## Crystal (Jan 20, 2013)

I'm with xymenah on this one. Some goats do not like other goats. Can you divide the pen so she could just be next to them or build her another pen? She most likely will hurt them or kill them.


----------



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Wow I am so sorry your going through this  

Some goats are just plain mean to each other  I'd say definitely put her in her own pen alone, doesn't sound like she needs a buddy with the way she is acting. At least if they can see each other through the fence then that should be good enough...


----------



## BlissMeadows (Jan 9, 2013)

maybe its her horomones? i mean we have some goats that will go around butting eachother i mean our queen of the herd will let our 50% Alpine/Boer doe bully her around and she just sits there and takes it  its so odd. but Maybe she just needs some time alone to realize that she needs a herd. We killed three of our Nigerian Dwarfs (i didnt find this out until i was 15 and i was glad i saved my ND mix Goat Bambi from it) and my goat Bambi Was fine with being alone at first but a few years down the road he started realizing that he was alone and i tried spending as much time as i could with him but he got even more depressed so then we finally got a boy goat and he put pecking order in place and he was happy from then on he was the queen of the herd until he died  so maybe she just needs a little more time a year at most


----------



## ita2464 (Mar 21, 2013)

Well, I just typed a big reply and then it told me I wasn't registered so I couldn't post and it disappeared. But I did want to say thanks for the support because everywhere else I have been told that this is normal pecking order establishment and it would subside. So I was beginning to think I was over-reacting. I have a friend who may be able to stash her in an empty horse stall until I can figure something out or sell her, so I am going to call him today.


----------



## ita2464 (Mar 21, 2013)

I wanted to post a quick update and see what people think. On March 21st, I enlarged my small "Nigerian safety area" and put the big queen in there and the two Nigerians could still get in the rest of the shed and the sleeping house. The "safety area" was essentially made of a very large pallet with areas cut where the small goats could slip in to get away from the big goat, so now the big goat was in there and the small goats were safe. I set up a hay feeder (using EZ Hutch calf feeders- which are working great! Indestructible plastic, slats the perfect size for goats) so that the big queen was essentially eating nose to nose with the new goat. At first, she continued to be aggressive, bashing her head against the pallet when he was near and trying to reach through the slats to bite him. She decided the other goat was okay and he roamed freely in and out, sometimes eating with her and sometimes with the new goat. In the meantime, the two Nigerians have bonded and are having a great time playing and running around. Most of the time, the first Nigerian (Kratos) slept with the queen and the new guy (Fionn) slept leaning on the outside of the pen. But he learned that she couldn't get him and did not shy away through all her head bashing and continued to try to make friends with her. So heartbreaking to watch, though I guess it is all part of their world that they accept. Finally, her aggression seemed to be waning and on Sunday the weather was nice enough to use the outdoor feeders during the day and I let them all out together. She chased him from the feeder at first, but eventually let him eat with her. At night, near the shed, she was a bit too rough for me to feel comfortable, so I penned her back up again. Today I let them all out together again and she was actually playing with him on their picnic table, nuzzling him and barely chased him from the feeder at all. It did my heart good to see them all out there together. I will likely still pen her up tonight and when I can't be around to monitor them (at least for a while,) but it seems that she may accept him after all. Of course she will always be the queen, but what I'm seeing now seems a lot more normal to me and not the extreme aggression that had me panicked. I still plan to keep a Nigerian Safety area where the smaller goats can get out of her way when they are indoors, even if I can stop penning her up. Do you think that if I keep working like this she will accept him and they will all be able to live together?


----------



## AdamsAcres (Dec 3, 2012)

It IS possible and at the very least you can now pen her when your not able to supervise her with the others. It sounds like you've had enough improvement and are now set up to be able to handle her.

I hope things continue to improve!


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Sounds like you should be able to keep them together. As long as you can pen her up when she gets too aggressive, everything should be fine. That is great that you were able to find a solution.


----------



## ita2464 (Mar 21, 2013)

I really hope things will work out. I don't know what would happen to Ruby otherwise. She was purchased from a place the locals affectionately termed "Larry's Edible Pets," and indeed her twin brother was sold for a Ramadan feast. Apparently, it is not customary to eat females during Ramadan, so she was left and while I have nothing philosophically against eating goat meat (and have eaten and enjoyed it many times myself,) she has been a pet all her life and is 6 years old and fat. She also has split or extra teats and has never been bred, so not much use for breeding or milking. She has rather beautiful horns, but most people don't want those on their pets. Even at her most aggressive toward Fionn, I could step in front of her and she would stop She has no aggression towards people or the dog and my old horse was her best friend. So I really feel that it's my responsibility to keep her and care for her here, and the pen she is in is not a long term solution. It's only about 5 x 6 and she can't get outside. If she was another Nigerian, it would be less of an issue, but she is so much bigger that she could really do some harm. ksalvagno- it looks like you have 1 large goat with your 5 Nigerians- do you have any issues with the size difference?


----------

