# How to find a friend for a bully?



## LonelyGoatherd (Mar 24, 2012)

Hello everyone, 

My roommate had two goats, Meatpie (a very large Alpine cross wether) and Spike (a smaller Boer wether). Spike died suddenly yesterday, the vet suspects enterotoxemia, and Meatpie is very upset. He has always had a buddy. The problem is that Meatpie is a big bully. He never hurt Spike but he did often chase him away from food and generally bossed him around. We would like to get him another friend but we don't want to make another goat miserable. 

In your experiences, is it easier to introduce a young kid to a bossy wether and have them "raise" the young one? Or should we try to find another bully that can stand his ground? 

Thanks for any feedback!


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Welcome to the forum. One goat will always be a bully. It is just a goat thing. A bigger goat will stand a much better chance with your big guy than a small one.


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## idahonancy (Dec 13, 2008)

It is really funny to watch a bossy goat try to push around a mellow bigger goat who really does not care about all the posturing. My 180 lb alpha was always the boss and the other 2 would play with him but gave him the right of way. One day one of the little goats grew up to be 3 years old and out weighted the alpha by 40 lbs. They both still give his alpha attitude the right of way most of the time but not always. They all play on a level field, one is a bully but the other 2 are bigger. Unfortunately despite being 25 lbs heavier than alpha the bottom goat is generally submissive and is the odd goat out. Such is the world of goats.


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

Rex's advice is probably the best. A little guy will probably just be miserable.
In my herd of 3 wethers there's Pinto, the big mellow guy, Apache the mid size guy who bullies Moose, the runt. Pinto doesn't pick on anybody, but if he wants something he just pushes the others out of the way and takes it. Apache is pretty mean to Moose. So Moose takes cheap shots at Pinto. It just goes around and around.


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## LonelyGoatherd (Mar 24, 2012)

Hi everyone, 

Thank you for your help. We finally found a friend for Meatpie. He is a Saanen wether, with horns, just over a year old, and he's already had some training for packing! He's still smaller than Pie, and he certainly does get pushed around a good deal but over all they are getting along really well. As he gets bigger it will be interesting to see if their relationship changes, but they're very happy with each other.


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