Chat
02-05-2017, 09:25 AM
This sounds like an unfortunate accident. I hope the little guy is ok. The muscle layer on the underbelly is very thin, so goring can be deadly if a horned goat really means business, but it sounds like he only took off some skin. I know you feel bad, but accidents do happen.
It's impossible to hand down a "bad goat" judgement based on what sounds like a single isolated incident. The goring and the collar thing are unrelated, and when it comes to mingling two separate herds it's important to keep in mind that this can create a volatile situation between even the nicest goats. From your description, your big fella was quite content not to involve himself in any physical confrontations throughout your hike, which sounds to me like a mellow, laid-back personality. From the sounds of it, he wasn't going out of his way to look for trouble or pick fights, but when a fight came his way he really laid down the law. This is not unusual and isn't by itself an indication of trouble. We must judge our goats on patterns of behavior, not isolated incidents. A high-ranking goat is often very protective of his own space, especially around unfamiliar goats, and he is also protective of the other members of his own herd. If the goat that got gored challenged your big goat by cutting him off while walking, or if he was picking fights with lower members of your herd, this would be cause for your big boy to go after him. If your big fella is normally very mellow and doesn't have a goat his own size to spar with, he may not know his own strength.
When we combine different herds on a hike, we try to be very aware of the interpersonal dynamics because things can escalate quickly. We try to keep our big goats from getting near the youngsters from the other herd for exactly this reason. Our goat Finn is quite dominant and will pick on smaller goats relentlessly, so we keep him behind us and let the goats from the other herd walk ahead. With people standing physically between them, the goats leave each other alone. Sometimes Finn has to be kept on a leash to keep him from chasing and butting. It's annoying, but it's more important to keep everyone safe. He doesn't do this when we walk with only members of our own herd, but Finn behaves very differently when there are unfamiliar goats nearby, and he seems to think he has to prove himself to them.
Horns are beautiful and I love them for many reasons, but they also take a bit more management. Luckily, as a goat ages his horns curl back to the point where it becomes more difficult for him to gore with the tips. If the horn tips are very sharp, you can blunt them with a hoof rasp. You don't have to take off much. Another thing you can do when you are going out with a group of other goats is pad your goat's horns. We do this when we take our goats around a lot of kids, not because our goats are mean, but because neither kids nor animals are 100% predictable. I got some of those mini tennis balls from the pet section, cut a slit in them, and I plop one over each horn. Then I vetwrap them in place. They look silly, but it prevents accidents. Someone once described horned goats as little boys running around with sharp sticks. They can cause injury without meaning to. I like that analogy because it makes me more aware of what I need to do to prevent problems before they occur.
The collar hooking thing is not a sign of meanness. My boys do it to each other all the time. A lot of folks remove collars when goats are in the pasture for that exact reason. I prefer to leave collars on, so all my goats wear leather collars or nylon ones with a flimsy plastic snap. Either of these should hopefully break under too much strain (and in fact we've gone through several of each collar type over years and so far no strangled goats or broken necks). Our boys will deliberately hook into each other's collars and drag each other around by them. They eventually unhook themselves without intervention. If your boys were just walking around with the horn through the collar, don't be alarmed. But do make sure your collars have a weak point. This is important not just for horns, but for getting caught on fences, trees, gates, etc.
Good luck with your boys. I know you feel bad about your friend's goat, but it sounds like it was just an accident and one that you can prevent in future now that you know what can happen when goats from different herds meet each other, especially when those goats are different sizes.
It's impossible to hand down a "bad goat" judgement based on what sounds like a single isolated incident. The goring and the collar thing are unrelated, and when it comes to mingling two separate herds it's important to keep in mind that this can create a volatile situation between even the nicest goats. From your description, your big fella was quite content not to involve himself in any physical confrontations throughout your hike, which sounds to me like a mellow, laid-back personality. From the sounds of it, he wasn't going out of his way to look for trouble or pick fights, but when a fight came his way he really laid down the law. This is not unusual and isn't by itself an indication of trouble. We must judge our goats on patterns of behavior, not isolated incidents. A high-ranking goat is often very protective of his own space, especially around unfamiliar goats, and he is also protective of the other members of his own herd. If the goat that got gored challenged your big goat by cutting him off while walking, or if he was picking fights with lower members of your herd, this would be cause for your big boy to go after him. If your big fella is normally very mellow and doesn't have a goat his own size to spar with, he may not know his own strength.
When we combine different herds on a hike, we try to be very aware of the interpersonal dynamics because things can escalate quickly. We try to keep our big goats from getting near the youngsters from the other herd for exactly this reason. Our goat Finn is quite dominant and will pick on smaller goats relentlessly, so we keep him behind us and let the goats from the other herd walk ahead. With people standing physically between them, the goats leave each other alone. Sometimes Finn has to be kept on a leash to keep him from chasing and butting. It's annoying, but it's more important to keep everyone safe. He doesn't do this when we walk with only members of our own herd, but Finn behaves very differently when there are unfamiliar goats nearby, and he seems to think he has to prove himself to them.
Horns are beautiful and I love them for many reasons, but they also take a bit more management. Luckily, as a goat ages his horns curl back to the point where it becomes more difficult for him to gore with the tips. If the horn tips are very sharp, you can blunt them with a hoof rasp. You don't have to take off much. Another thing you can do when you are going out with a group of other goats is pad your goat's horns. We do this when we take our goats around a lot of kids, not because our goats are mean, but because neither kids nor animals are 100% predictable. I got some of those mini tennis balls from the pet section, cut a slit in them, and I plop one over each horn. Then I vetwrap them in place. They look silly, but it prevents accidents. Someone once described horned goats as little boys running around with sharp sticks. They can cause injury without meaning to. I like that analogy because it makes me more aware of what I need to do to prevent problems before they occur.
The collar hooking thing is not a sign of meanness. My boys do it to each other all the time. A lot of folks remove collars when goats are in the pasture for that exact reason. I prefer to leave collars on, so all my goats wear leather collars or nylon ones with a flimsy plastic snap. Either of these should hopefully break under too much strain (and in fact we've gone through several of each collar type over years and so far no strangled goats or broken necks). Our boys will deliberately hook into each other's collars and drag each other around by them. They eventually unhook themselves without intervention. If your boys were just walking around with the horn through the collar, don't be alarmed. But do make sure your collars have a weak point. This is important not just for horns, but for getting caught on fences, trees, gates, etc.
Good luck with your boys. I know you feel bad about your friend's goat, but it sounds like it was just an accident and one that you can prevent in future now that you know what can happen when goats from different herds meet each other, especially when those goats are different sizes.