Chat
08-23-2017, 10:44 AM
Hello and welcome! I'm so sorry about your daughter's goat. That's heartbreaking.
I've not heard many success stories of people moving a dam-raised kid that age to a bottle. It has been done, but expect to put a lot of time and effort into it. At ten weeks, he's practically old enough to wean, so it shouldn't hurt him if he refuses to take a bottle at this point. I think you could still bond with him over other food such as grain. He may never be as "lap doggy" as a bottle kid, but there's no reason he can't still learn to trust you and bond with you, especially if your daughter took him on as her special project. I've found that training goats to do tricks can be a great way to bond with them and teach them to trust you. However, you'll want to spend some time with the goat and find out just how skittish he really is and whether that's something you want to work with.
It's too bad about the Oberhasli. He's been traumatized by having his horns grabbed by the kid so naturally he's defensive. I'm pretty sure his reactive behavior could be trained out with gentle and respectful handling, but he might always be a goat for grown-ups, not children.
Where are you located? Maybe someone on here could point you in the right direction. You're right that most breeders have already weaned and sold off their kids by now, but there may be a few oddballs out there like me who breed late in the season and wean their dam-raised kids in late summer/early fall. Not all dam-raised kids are skittish. If the breeder takes the time to handle them, the kids should be friendly and people-oriented just like bottle kids. I dam-raise my kids because I think it's healthier for both them and their mothers, but all that time I don't spend preparing and feeding bottles is instead spent playing with the kids and socializing them so they aren't skittish around people.
Best of luck!
I've not heard many success stories of people moving a dam-raised kid that age to a bottle. It has been done, but expect to put a lot of time and effort into it. At ten weeks, he's practically old enough to wean, so it shouldn't hurt him if he refuses to take a bottle at this point. I think you could still bond with him over other food such as grain. He may never be as "lap doggy" as a bottle kid, but there's no reason he can't still learn to trust you and bond with you, especially if your daughter took him on as her special project. I've found that training goats to do tricks can be a great way to bond with them and teach them to trust you. However, you'll want to spend some time with the goat and find out just how skittish he really is and whether that's something you want to work with.
It's too bad about the Oberhasli. He's been traumatized by having his horns grabbed by the kid so naturally he's defensive. I'm pretty sure his reactive behavior could be trained out with gentle and respectful handling, but he might always be a goat for grown-ups, not children.
Where are you located? Maybe someone on here could point you in the right direction. You're right that most breeders have already weaned and sold off their kids by now, but there may be a few oddballs out there like me who breed late in the season and wean their dam-raised kids in late summer/early fall. Not all dam-raised kids are skittish. If the breeder takes the time to handle them, the kids should be friendly and people-oriented just like bottle kids. I dam-raise my kids because I think it's healthier for both them and their mothers, but all that time I don't spend preparing and feeding bottles is instead spent playing with the kids and socializing them so they aren't skittish around people.
Best of luck!