# Alpine Behavior



## bandana (Nov 20, 2016)

New to the forum but thought I'd post up my "current" problem raising Alpines to see if you all had any thoughts? We have three Alpines that are coming up on three years old. One's birthday is in March and the other two (sisters) are in May. We got them all when they were 4-6 months old. Since day one the older doe has been dominant but about three months ago that all changed overnight. The two sisters suddenly decided that they were having none of it and really started getting aggressive with the older girl, keeping her from the feeder and even keeping her out of the barn. As quickly as the sisters decided they didn't like the established hierarchy anymore the older doe became quite timid. She conceded dominance almost immediately but the other two have continued to bully her for three months now with no sign of let up. She can take care of herself one on one but the sisters will gang up on her. We've been hoping they would get it worked out by now but after three months with winter coming in we are getting worried. I had planned to get them bred this fall but with their constant battles going on have held out for fear of them hurting each other while pregnant. Any thoughts on helping them to resolve their issues? Nothing we've tried so far has worked...:sigh:


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

You may have to separate them, or even sell somebody.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Separate one of the sisters.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Just a thought here--the sisters may have noticed a change in her that gave them reason to think they could succeed in toppling her. Could she be sick or even just a little anemic? The role switch may not have come completely out of the blue. I mention this because when my boss doe returned from "maternity leave" still pretty tired after having twins, her extremely timid little underling, who hadn't kidded in quite a while & was sleek & plump, very uncharacteristically initiated a round of head butting that was clearly serious business for both of them. She didn't win, but I was surprised she even tried--she's afraid of everything. (Also very interesting was that the boss doe didn't punish her for trying--they just settled right back into their familiar roles.)


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

Check too see if she's sick there shouldn't have been a sudden change in dominance


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Every fall, when the does start to cycle, I have a pen full of cage fighters. Suddenly they all start fighting each other, even those that usually get along wonderfully. They stop and settle down once everyone is bred.

In your case, let mentioned before, one of the twins can be separated from her sister to even the odds a bit. Once things seem to settle down, put her back in and see how they act.

If that doesn't work, you may have to sell a doe or buy a 4th so the lone one will have back up.


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