+- Pack Goat Central (https://www.packgoatcentral.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Goat Care, Health, and Training (https://www.packgoatcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=15)
+--- Forum: Goats at Home (https://www.packgoatcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=16)
+--- Thread: agressive dominant alpine (/showthread.php?tid=3977)
agressive dominant alpine - martinacasados@yahoo.ie - 11-06-2019
Hello, we are first year goat owners and have currently pack of 4 goats . Two mini manchas , boer doe and we added Alpine last .
The Alpine has become more and more agressive towards the goats . She will not just head butt them but she will ram them against fence or corner or walls , she keeps them from the house during day because at night i close them in considering we are in Alaska and can get even -60F at night in winter and she tries to keep them from drinking and eating but i make sure they get to eat . She is super sweet and cuddly towards us but very bad with the rest of the herd . Its breeding season and considering the other goats are smaller then her i am afraid she will make them abort . We have no means to make seperate run and goat house for her . Is the only option here selling her ? Thank you for helping
RE: agressive dominant alpine - Nanno - 11-06-2019
Hmm... unfortunately there's not much you can do about a goat that's overly aggressive to its herdmates. I culled a doe for that reason several years ago. She might do better in a herd with other goats her size or bigger who can actually stand up to her.
There was one thing I was going to try on our doe but I never got the chance because she tested positive for CL and I ended up putting her down. It was a "ram shield" that prevents hard butting and targeting by blocking forward vision: https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/ram-shields?cat_id=4
These were too big for a doe so I planned to fabricate my own. I bought a dog fly mask that fit my goat very well and I planned to sew some felt across the face, making sure the felt went far enough across the eyes to block her forward vision. I wish I'd had a chance to try it because I think something like that could work very well for an aggressive goat. I hope you figure something out! An overly aggressive goat is nothing to mess around with. She could indeed cause your other goats to abort. I'm pretty sure my aggressive doe caused the late term abortion of one of my other does that year. It was very sad. Incidentally, my aggressive girl was also extremely friendly with people.
RE: agressive dominant alpine - Sanhestar - 11-06-2019
First, check your goat pen and housing. Has it enough room for all goats or is it rather on the smaller side? If you can, add more room/space.
Do you have partitions? These can be feeders that can be accessed from several sides, wooden boards that are high enough that goats can't see over.
Do you have things to climb/jump on? Higher resting places?
Where are your feeders located, how far apart are they? Same with water? BTW why would she chase other goats from water? Do they have water 24/7? Hay 24/7?
If you feed concentrates, tie all goats prior to preparing the food and then give the feed in individual buckets/pans. Keep all tied until each goat is finished. Tie her first and untie her last.
Do you have a goat savvy vet? Ask him to check her (might need blood draw) for overy cysts and/or other hormone imbalances - they can cause overly aggressive behaviour.
Do you have a buck or at least a castrated male? Sometimes adding a "male presence" settles the females down.
RE: agressive dominant alpine - martinacasados@yahoo.ie - 11-07-2019
(11-06-2019, 09:15 PM)Sanhestar Wrote: First, check your goat pen and housing. Has it enough room for all goats or is it rather on the smaller side? If you can, add more room/space.
Do you have partitions? These can be feeders that can be accessed from several sides, wooden boards that are high enough that goats can't see over.
Do you have things to climb/jump on? Higher resting places?
Where are your feeders located, how far apart are they? Same with water? BTW why would she chase other goats from water? Do they have water 24/7? Hay 24/7?
If you feed concentrates, tie all goats prior to preparing the food and then give the feed in individual buckets/pans. Keep all tied until each goat is finished. Tie her first and untie her last.
Do you have a goat savvy vet? Ask him to check her (might need blood draw) for overy cysts and/or other hormone imbalances - they can cause overly aggressive behaviour.
Do you have a buck or at least a castrated male? Sometimes adding a "male presence" settles the females down.
.......................................................................................
So we dont have any male at all , they have water and food 24/7 , there is two feeders that can be asy accesed for everyone . I feed grain only in milking stand when they are seperated . We just moved them into big goat house like 4 days ago . nothing high they couldnt see over . She seems to be most agressive when its about food or when we are in there and other goats try to get close to us . She doesnt want them to get pet and wants all attention to herself . We have her almost 2 months now and fights most of course the mini lamancha that was herd queen before she came in . We have currently 4 goats all together but they are off and on now because of breeding season ladies leave for 4 weeks to get bred and the swap and the other come back . We decided to give her couple more months and see if she settles once the whole herd is back together and they can all settle back in their new house .
RE: agressive dominant alpine - Nanno - 11-07-2019
I wouldn't worry about getting a male. He might actually make things worse this time of year. It's an encouraging sign that your doe is mostly aggressive about food and about human attention. My goat was aggressive for no good reason and would actively hunt down and target other goats even though they had a huge pen and plenty of separate shelters with 24/7 access to pasture (in other words, no resources to fight over). Mine just enjoyed bullying others, including my livestock guardian dog, and would go out of her way to hit them. I frequently watched her chase after animals that were 30 feet away and minding their own business! She thought terrorizing the dog and the other goats was a funny game.
Adding sheets of plywood that your goats can't see over is a good idea for keeping peace at the hay feeders, but you have to be careful not to accidentally create corners where a goat could get trapped by the bully. As for bullying others away from human attention--this you can control! Bring a water bottle with you and start petting the other goats. When your bully comes up nicely for attention, pet her with the others. But when she starts hitting other goats or pushing them away from you, spray her with water and give a verbal reprimand. Make her stay away while you pet the others. She needs to know she can't monopolize your attention, nor can she abuse the other goats in your presence. Keep your bully away until she adjusts her attitude. If you don't want to use a spray bottle because of extreme cold, I recommend a riding crop. It's a flexible whip about 2 feet long with a wide leather popper on the end. The popper makes a nice smacking noise. I've had a lot of success keeping order around the feed racks using a riding crop and a verbal command to get back. I also use it on goats that are inclined to bully others in front of me.
Hopefully your doe will settle down, but keep a close eye on her attitude through the winter. If she continues to be aggressive she will be a danger to your other goats as they get into the second half of their pregnancies. If your aggressive doe is pregnant she may settle down as her pregnancy progresses, or she may get worse. Pregnancy hormones sometimes have a dramatic effect on attitude and this could be a good or bad thing.
RE: agressive dominant alpine - martinacasados@yahoo.ie - 11-07-2019
thank you so much , i will definitely try the water bottle ... fingers crossed she gets better , she is great milker and sweet goat towards humans ...
Thank you all