# Introducing new Goats to the Herd?



## Sonrise Farm

How do you introduce your new goats to the herd? Any safety precautions to take? And what do you generally do if they don't quite get along?


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## liz

New goats are separate until I feel they are healthy. I basically just let them go, if it is a new kid, I sit with her on my lap and let the others check her out, only when she's comfortable do I let her go, there is always the initial spookiness and of course, they all want to let her know who's the boss, it takes a week or more til they are all comfortable with the new one. Right now, my "new" goatie Bailey, is still adjusting to the herd queen....Bailey has been here for 3 months and has started to "boss" Heidi, who is a month older, but Bailey knows to get out the way of the bigger girls though she stands her ground with Heidi....so you pretty much have to let "nature" take it's course....the more you shield the new ones from the established goats, and don't let them work it out, the longer it will take for them to "Accept" the new one. I only intervene when someone is being extremely nasty, other than that, I let them be.


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## toth boer goats

Liz said it all......I do the same ....  ...except the part about putting the doe in my lap...LOL  
Just like Liz...... I watch and if someone is getting to mean........ I make them back off.... but they do go back at it again...it drives me crazy... :hair: they are terrible bullies......
Also watch out for team players ...they will team up ......and 2 goats will slam the one...or try to lock up there legs.....If this happens ...and is getting to heated....you can remove one and wait til things calm down with the other and the newbie.......then put the other one back in the field and see how it goes


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## MissMM

I just had a long, hard experience with Timber's Hope integrating with the rest of the herd. First of all, she wasn't supposed to be the only 6 month old getting added to the herd of 2+ year olds, but that's how it ended up. 

I had Hope isolated for 3 weeks where she could see, but not reach the other goats. I took her into the other pen so the older goats could smell her & she could smell them, etc. She freaked out & jumped out of my arms & took off.... the other goats started butting her really hard..... I'm talking ganging up on her & very mean.... so I extracted her out again, left her in the isolation pen for a few days to recooperate, then took one of the "middle of the herd" goats from the other pen (Sarah) and left her in with Hope for a few days. It didn't take long for them to become fast buddies. About a week later, I introduced both back into the herd. Sarah defended Hope fiercely & within a few hours, Hope was accepted into the herd & hasn't been ganged up on at all since (that I have seen).

The only thing she needs to learn now is how to insert herself into the "grain chain" when I put grain in the feeders. 

That's my story about introducing a new kid.


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## Sonrise Farm

my goats are okay now---but at first, my nubian was REALLY MEAN. I had to smack her with a stick to keep her off the Nigies. :roll:. My Lamancha actually stood up for them----she head butted my Nubian everytime the Nubian made a dive for a Nigie! I think she thinks their babies. . . :slapfloor: . But I seperated the Nubian from my herd to get her to cool down, and then after a day or so I let her in with them again for a few hours. She slowly learned to accept them. . .but I'm like after two--three weeks there has to be an easier way!


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## kelebek

I am so glad that the majority of us do it the same 

I too, bring them home - give vaccines, trim hooves, make sure everyone is good to go (I already have blood work results from blood I drew and have seen where they are coming from so i know that they are healthy). Then I release them with the heard and stay in the herd for a few hours. I, also, do not intervine unless someone is getting the poo kicked out of them. Typically they work it out nicely on their own and form "new" cliques. My 4 new goats that I got a couple weeks ago are fitting in nicely and have actually split up and made new bonds!


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## keren

New goats at my place get quarrantined for two weeks - that means no nose to nose contact. On arrival into the quarrantine area they are drenched for worms, given a multi-vitamin/mineral drench and treated for lice. If they are carrying anything nasty I can generally pick it up in two weeks. It also has the added benefit of giving them time to adjust to my grain mixture, or learn to eat if they have just had pasture. If they are poor I will leave them in q a little longer, but generally at two weeks I kick them out into the group they will be in. That's it. Just put them out, yes they will fight thats what they do but if you prevent it it will only get worse. They have to sort out the pecking order for themselves. I do try to make sure it is a reasonably large paddock they are in, so the new goat has plenty of space to get away from the others. I check every couple of hours and look for broken legs etc. Not that it happens very often. 

If it is a very small/young/timid animal, and I buy it by itself, I tend to buddy it up with another goat while it is still in the quarrantine area. I bring its new 'friend' in and put it in a pen close by but without nose-to-nose contact for the two weeks, then I put them together for another few days before letting them out.


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## sparks879

i quaenteen my new goats for a month. when they are ready to go into the herd i bring one of my more melloow goats to the new goat and let them get to the point they are getting along. usually two or three days. when i feel they are good with eachother i bring another one of my older does to the pen that the new goat is in. two or three days later i bring one more doe from the herd into the pen with the new doe. I wait about a week or week and a half, and then i bring the four does back to the main herd. This way im not putting one new doe into a herd where they already have an established order. So they are not all ganging up on the one new doe. the other three have to re establish themselves. so there are more smaller fights going on rather then ten does ganging up on one doe. I do the same with kids older then sx months. Anytime before that i find that they go into the kid pen quite nicely.
beth


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## Amos

Thats a great idea Sparks.. I'll have to try that sometime.


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## toth boer goats

I also quarantine......but I started where the post was asking....LOL
I think it meant after the quarantine?  
Introducing new Goats to the Herd?


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## Sonrise Farm

yeah. . . toth . . .I had them seperated from mygirls for about 2 weeks . . .because Daisy was so sick . . . she is much better now.  I soooo need to post pix of them . . . haha, Saca looks like an oreo . . .she's got a white belt . . .we call Daisy Miss Piggy because she is so fat. . .


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## nancy d

MissMM, "The Grain Chain" :ROFL: Never heard that one..now I will go back & read the rest.

This is great stuff you guys, I would have never thought of it but it all makes sense...to bring a mid status to the new one!
I had to let them fight the Nubian who came from the same farm as 3 Boer sisters. They took turns beating her up.
When Sister 3's turn came up I locked her in the barn for about 10 minutes and she was having a cow like "Let me out I need to get her!"
Several months later Nubian was the first to kid and she has been herd queen ever since.


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## theanimalloverdenise

I'm not a goat expert at all, in fact I know very little about them. Our son bought 3 goats from one of our friends in Oregon, 1 male and 2 females. One was the mother with her baby. We have had them for 4 years, just the three of them. We moved here to Weston, Idaho and have been here for 2 1/2 years. Their diet really changed a lot, there's no Black Berry briers here and we stopped feeding them pellets as well because they are pretty fat. about 2 weeks ago we had to put our male down because of a genetic defect, I cried for days! Our animals are like family to me but he couldn't even walk anymore. Both of our females cried for about 3 days and nights. They were looking for him everywhere and it was heartbreaking to watch. Our friends had a new born male and said we could have him if we wanted him. I thought they would nurture him and it would help them get through their mourning of their loss. The baby is only 5 weeks old and he is really little and so dang cute! He was taken off of his mother 2 weeks ago and I think it's way too soon for that but it's been done. We let our goats roam freely and we do have a large area and a covered area for them to sleep in if they choose. We got little Harry today and put them all together in the large pen and both females were really mean to him, butting him hard and not letting him come close or eat ect... We made several different eating locations for all of them and 2 separate water sources for them as well. He just wanted to be a part of the herd and they just kept butting him. I separated them and the little one really wanted to be on the other side so we opened the pen and they continued to bully him. He isn't trying to nurse, he's eating grass, weeds and Alfalfa fine. I bought a bottle and warmed up some milk and he drank a little bit but not very much. I started reading several posts on here and I got worried so we just went out and separated them again. They can smell each other and see one another still but I didn't want to wake up and find the little guy dead! We grew up with chickens, sheep and cows. This site has helped me a little but I'm not sure what's the right thing to do here. We don't breed, show or milk our goats they are just our pets but I want to do the right thing. Any suggestions?


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## janeen128

What kind of milk are you feeding him? I have used the advantage kid goat replacer, as well as does match too with sucess. You need to make sure probiotics and a crushed lactaid pill goes into the first bottle of the day, at least I did, and never had a problem.... Others just use homogenized whole milk from the grocery store. He is WAY to young to be weaned, 8 weeks is the earliest. If he isn't used to a bottle just keep trying to get his sucking reflexes going..., he'll take it once he gets used to you, his new surroundings... I'd keep him separated for about a week, and then trying to put them together again. I have a rescue 2 week old that just came today, and everyone is being mean to him;( I'm glad it's the weekend so I get to spend some time with the little guy;-)


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## sweetleaf79

I see this thread is old, but hoping someone sees this  We are new to having goats, we got 2 Oberhaslis a month ago, they are now 9 weeks. On Saturday we brought home an 8 week old Nigerian doe. The boys are being so terrible to her. Head butting her and just really pushing her around. Should I have brought in 2 instead of her by herself? I feel so bad for her, even though they are nearly the same age, the boys are much bigger than her. Should I let it run its course or do you think I should bring her a friend? I would hate for that to backfire and end up with 3 against 1 though.


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## janeen128

When you say boys, are they bucklings or wethers? If they are not wethers you will need to keep them separated from her because they can breed at 3-4 months, some reports say sooner. You wouldn't want an oberhasli breeding your Nigerian either. If they are wethers, you can let them work it out. I have 2 oberhasli wethers (just wethered yesterday) and then I acquired a black rescue lamb. Boy they were mean to him, but within a few days they were fine with each other, then I got a Lamancha/Nubian rescue doeling. Again fighting occurred but they are fine now, several days later...


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## sweetleaf79

Sorry yes they are wethers  Thank you so much for the response. I wasnt sure if I needed to have "even" numbers hahaha. Good to know that this is normal, I will let them do their thing and wait for them to sort it all out. Thanks again!!


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## cameronb

we have some nigies and are bringing in some Nubian mixes should I be worried about the Nubian hurting our young doeling she is only nine weeks old


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## LoriH

What if its the new goat that is being REALLY bossy. I have a sanaan mix and her 7 month old baby. We brought in an adult of similar size but she is the one being mean. Do I still just let them work it out??


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## ksalvagno

Not if someone might get hurt.


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## peggyyehl

*New Doe added*

We had one of our 2 boer wethers pass away over the weekend. We didn't want our last guy (8yr old) to be lonely so I searched and found someone in need of rehoming a 12yr old mini fainting doe. She is adorable, had horns (our guy does not) and an attitude. The prev owner said she had kidded 2 months ago and were all born dead, so he needed a new home with no bucks. Said she was timid and not aggressive - in fact she was kind of pushed away from the rest of the herd and spent most of her time alone. Well our guy is like 200-250lbs, she is 65lbs and is beating the crap out of him... ramming him in the side and the butt, and he is just running from her - not even trying to defend himself. Which is odd because back when we had 3 boer wethers he was the one who normally knocked the others out of the way at the hay feeder. I feel bad for him as he just lost his brother now getting beat up by a little girl... we have never had does before but is this normal? We picked her up Sunday night - so it hasn't even been 2 days yet but hoping she calms down with the fighting. I did put hay and grain feeder over by the corner she was laying in in hopes that if the fighting was over feeders that would help. I wish I had a barn cam to see what happens when I'm not out there... this cold spell I can only stay out in the temps a short time before my fingers are numb.


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## janeen128

Has she calmed down a bit? I hope so...


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## peggyyehl

not really - she doesn't seem to be hitting as hard but he is petrified of her still. we tried to put them out to pasture today for 1st time - he tried jumping fence to get away from her. Old owner said he would take her back if it didn't work out. So back to square one on trying to find our guy a buddy. =(


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## Martha Stewart

I brought the sweetest Savannah Doe home to 2 young Boers. 1 buck & 1 doe. They are relentless, the buck wants to "ride"her! while the bigger doe steadily ramming her sides!! My plan this weekend is to tie Winston(the buck) to a big tire, and possibly put the shock collar on Shelia .... set on low of coarse! This is how desperate I've become. Is this cruel ?!!?


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## goatblessings

If you don't want her bred, I wouldn't have the buck in with her. I would strongly recommend areas where you can pen them separately..goats , especially a buck in rut, can easily strangle in a situation where he is tied out. Shock collars only work when you are there to correct. Try having your new girl in a large enough area with Sheila where she can get away. They should work things out without the buck.


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## Martha Stewart

Ok, I'll leave Winston in the round pen & I'll stay while shock collar is on... Do people use shock collars on goats?? & Did it work? I had a really hard time breaking them up...It's just me, & I'll admit I can"t CONTROL them. So instead of the collar, should I tie Shelia to the tire?{:- P OH! and Thank You For The Help!!!


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## goatblessings

I would leave Shelia and the new goat to figure it out while you are watching. I don't recommend tying any goat, and I don't think the shock collar is really a great solution. Let Shelia and the new girl together while you are watching, they may figure it out just fine on their own. Keep a spray bottle with water and vinegar with you to correct Shelia in case she becomes too aggressive. There is a chance that this will not work.


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## Martha Stewart

goatblessings said:


> If you don't want her bred, I wouldn't have the buck in with her. I would strongly recommend areas where you can pen them separately..goats , especially a buck in rut, can easily strangle in a situation where he is tied out. Shock collars only work when you are there to correct. Try having your new girl in a large enough area with Sheila where she can get away. They should work things out without the buck.


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## Martha Stewart

OK, so I'll put Winston in the round pen & put the tire on Shelia?...I have to admit they are too much for just me to control when together. Are shock collars ever used on goats??? And does it even work? I really need a possible option; just in case. And I really want to thank you for your help.


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## Martha Stewart

goatblessings said:


> I would leave Shelia and the new goat to figure it out while you are watching. I don't recommend tying any goat, and I don't think the shock collar is really a great solution. Let Shelia and the new girl together while you are watching, they may figure it out just fine on their own. Keep a spray bottle with water and vinegar with you to correct Shelia in case she becomes too aggressive. There is a chance that this will not work.


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## Martha Stewart

The Full-on water hose might work...No spray is going to phase Shelia. But your right I'll have a hose ready. Thank You so much.


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## HoosierShadow

We don't buy new does very often at all. But when we do I usually try to separate them with a doe they can buddy up with for about a week or so, and then turn them out with the herd, then separate them at night from the herd into a different area of the barn or stall so they bond their friendship. Once they become buddies then they stay out with the herd. 
We bought a 3-4mo doe earlier this year for my daughter, and put her with a 2yo pregnant doe, and they instantly became buddies. So much so the older doe mothered her.


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## toth boer goats

HoosierShadow said:


> We don't buy new does very often at all. But when we do I usually try to separate them with a doe they can buddy up with for about a week or so, and then turn them out with the herd, then separate them at night from the herd into a different area of the barn or stall so they bond their friendship. Once they become buddies then they stay out with the herd.
> We bought a 3-4mo doe earlier this year for my daughter, and put her with a 2yo pregnant doe, and they instantly became buddies. So much so the older doe mothered her.


 That's how I do it.


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## Laurahj

toth boer goats said:


> Liz said it all......I do the same ....  ...except the part about putting the doe in my lap...LOL
> Just like Liz...... I watch and if someone is getting to mean........ I make them back off.... but they do go back at it again...it drives me crazy... :hair: they are terrible bullies......
> Also watch out for team players ...they will team up ......and 2 goats will slam the one...or try to lock up there legs.....If this happens ...and is getting to heated....you can remove one and wait til things calm down with the other and the newbie.......then put the other one back in the field and see how it goes


Question, I have 2 new kids that are 2 weeks old. They are seperated from my 3 year old nigerians. What age is safe to start letting them be together supervised? Right now they just see each other through the fence.


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## toth boer goats

You can try now and see how it goes, but have a place they can get away, like a creep feeder, if things aren't that bad. 

An occasional light shove is OK. 
But no big hard hits or flinging kids.

At first the kids may go to a goats teat, that will make them mad. Some, may be kinda motherly, while others are just plain mean. 
If you have to remove them, then do so right away, if you feel they are going to get hurt. But do know, every time they are removed from the herd, it starts all over again with introduction. So if things seem OK, a creep feeder escape helps.
Feeding time is when bossing around kids can happen, so a creep feeder is where they can go eat and get away. 

If they get slammed and are constantly chased, removed them. 

Have a squirt gun or spray bottle handy to nail the adults who are doing bad things. Sometimes that will detour them. Constant supervision for a while. Use your best judgment.


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## Laurahj

Okay thank you. 2 of my males are fine with them but my one male with horns does not like them at all and that is what I am afraid of.


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## Lnegoatobsessed

I just got a 8 week old nigie for my 4-5 month old nigie doe and she is being MEAN so I seperated them In stalls, they call to each other but she's nasty, I thought she'd be happy to have a buddy after her other buddy died, guess not, I guess im going to let her supposed to be buddy get a little bigger before I try again. She meaner than I expected, she actually chases and persues and gives the little thing all she has. Geeze. She was the boss of her friend but this 8 week old won't back down from her.


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## toth boer goats

Laurahj said:


> Okay thank you. 2 of my males are fine with them but my one male with horns does not like them at all and that is what I am afraid of.


 That is a disadvantage for sure, is he just butting them lightly or is he really getting mean with them?


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## toth boer goats

Lnegoatobsessed said:


> I just got a 8 week old nigie for my 4-5 month old nigie doe and she is being MEAN so I seperated them In stalls, they call to each other but she's nasty, I thought she'd be happy to have a buddy after her other buddy died, guess not, I guess im going to let her supposed to be buddy get a little bigger before I try again. She meaner than I expected, she actually chases and persues and gives the little thing all she has. Geeze. She was the boss of her friend but this 8 week old won't back down from her.


 I had that happen the other day, was trying to put a wether out with the Does because he has been banned for 30 days. Just one Doe hated him, she was chasing him and actually shoved him into the fence hard, knocking him down, so I had to remove him. 
It is a shame, but I do not know what gets into their heads. Frustrating~!


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## Lnegoatobsessed

toth boer goats said:


> That is a disadvantage for sure, is he just butting them lightly or is he really getting mean with them?


She is really mean to him, tries to hook him with her horns, rares up to give him all she's got, she's NASTY, she does it to my bottle baby also, she will persue them and try to hook them I .The neck or from behind, she really seems to be giving them all she's got, im new to goats but it seemed rough even for hard headed baby goats. They are separated but can see and hear each other, maybe that will help?


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## toth boer goats

Remove the culprit for a couple of weeks.
Have all the others together.
She may or may not stop her ways, when you reintroduce them. 
But, if she continues and is making life miserable for the others, you may want to rehome her.


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## WhiteFeatherFarms

They are such bullies sometimes! I tried to put one of my does with 2 little doelings thinking she'd be happier there not getting picked on...WRONG! She turned into the bully!! I tried the hose, smacking her nose, nothing worked. So ended up putting her back, she seems fine getting bullied once in a while, I tried!! Goat shenanigans


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## toth boer goats

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.


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## Lnegoatobsessed

I know I'm worried she is going to keep her behavior up, she was the first goat here along with her brother who died so I got her a buddy 2 weeks later but has always been dominant even with her brother, i figured she would be happy but she isnt so now they are In different stalls next to eachother but take turns in the yard, anyways what I'm getting at is I don't have the heart to kill/eat her and I doubt I'd have much luck getting rid of her, she's black with blue eyes and unregistered so I hope they work it out when they get a bit bigger. This putting one up letting the others out is a pain plus I thought goats don't do well alone? But she seems she'd rather have it that way?


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## Laurahj

toth boer goats said:


> That is a disadvantage for sure, is he just butting them lightly or is he really getting mean with them?


So far we havnt put them back together. The day we allowed the meet and greet all his hair stood up and he bowed his head down at the babies. We seperated them right away.


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## toth boer goats

If you keep separating them and putting them back together again, the pecking order keeps renewing. It doesn't give things time to settle down. 

If the dominant one just has hair up and bowing his head down that is OK.
Regular head butting is normal and nothing to worry about. After a little while if things are OK, they will settle down. 

If however, hard head butting, hard body slamming, penning up legs, is bad.
You don't want slamming too hard and inflicting injury.

An example, if you watch two bucks head butt, you would think, wow, that is hard, they are hurting each other, but they can handle quite a bit. 
You may see a little blood around the horns and at times, an ear gets in the way and the ear has a slight tear and bleeding a little bit. After a while of them determining who is stronger, they establish top goat and things subside.


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