# Skittish Market Goat



## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

So basically I graduated early back in November and I'm now going to college about four hours away from my family and my goats. I'm going to school through the summer as well, but I am planning on attending a few dairy goat shows and I'm definitely planning on showing my market wether at our state fair. Last year, my goat was an absolute sweetheart. he was a quad and so he was raised as a bottle baby and pretty much thought he was a person. He didn't end up making weight because he was so little. This year, my goat is built a lot better and he's growing like a weed. It's comforting to know that I won't have to be stressing over how to keep weight on my goat this year, but I have a few other problems.

My goat was dam-raised this year and is living at my leader's house with a few hundred dairy goats. My friend was going to help train my goat, but he's too busy with work. So now I have to figure out how to get this goat ready for state fair while I'm living in a completely different state. I go home for the weekend every once in a while and i have about a week off in between semesters. Based on past experiences, I think this is totally doable. Unfortunately, being dam-raised, he is very skittish. I could barely catch him the first time I went home, and he was about 10x worse when I went up tow weeks ago. Since my friend is no longer able to work with him, I am really worried about getting him ready in time for the show. 

With that being said, does anyone have any tips for skittish goats? My last goat totally spoiled me.  He was a perfect angel.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Unfortunately, you need to spend a lot of time with him.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I agree, time , patience, treats and scratches.
He needs to trust you in order to calm down, talk softly to him and sit in a chair in the barn or smaller area and have some favorite treats or a little grain in a bucket. Let him approach you, or to speed things a bit, you can tie him up,always supervised, pet him, talk to him and give treats. Of course he may not take any treats at first, but that is OK. Work with him for 15 minutes and that is it. Try to end on a good note, give him a little grain ect and step back. 
If he will lead, walk him around to nibble on grasses, tree's ect, they love that.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Yes ideally you would be working a lot with him.
On the other hand I have loaded up goats for a show having never worked with them at all & they lead & behave great. Some of the tamest ones who have been in the ring previously can be the biggest pills.;-)


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## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

I'm going to try tying him up for short periods of time while petting him and giving treats. If I weren't going to school so far away, I would be spending a lot of time with him and taking things slow, but I can't really do that living so far away. He threw a huge fit last time I tried to walk him. He also crouches down a but in his back end when posed. I don't know if that will improve with age or if it's something we'll have to work on.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Arent you suppose to be in possession and be taking care of an animal for a certain amount of time you plan to show in 4h? I thought that was one of the rules.

As for taming em. I find that if you can get a tame buddy with him and let them come to you. They are pretty easy to gain their trust.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

It takes some time, the more time, the better that you spend with him, he needs to learn to lead as well.


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## 4hgirl (Mar 23, 2015)

I'm not really that concerned about training him to lead and pose. I've done that plenty of times before. I just want to get him more tame before starting all of that and since I only go home about every six weeks, I don't have a lot of time to spend with him. Yes, you are supposed to spend a certain amount of time with them for 4-H. I wasn't going to show this year for all of these reasons, but my friends and leaders insisted. My leader has no other use for this wether and my friend promised that he would do a lot of the training. Unfortunately, he's been working a ton and won't be able to work with my goat very much. I'm not going to be around to work with him a lot, but I was going to do most of the training still and just have my friend keep him in shape.


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