Need some advice on goat prospects.

[Nanno]

Older goats are completely different from yearlings in the way they treat youngsters. After they reach maturity, most goats seem to accept youngsters willingly and will even adopt and protect them as Nancy saw in her herd. My old goat Cuzco, mean and ornery as he was, believed it was his sworn duty to protect babies even if he didn't like them. Yearlings, on the other hand, are a whole other ball of wax. In my experience, yearlings are the meanest, most brutal goats on the planet when it comes to how they treat their subordinates. Bringing in a single baby works better if you have an established pecking order with mature goats on top. The mature goats tend to keep the yearlings in line and allow the babies to reach food and shelter. In the absence of older goats, I would suggest getting two babies next spring and making sure they have access to their own space where the yearlings can't get to them. Sometimes you can put them in a separate pen and cut a hole in the fence that is small enough for your kids to pass through but too small for the yearlings. That way the babies can mingle with the older goats on their own terms and escape if the older goats get too bossy. The most brutal fights are usually over food and shelter, so as long as the kids can escape to their own place to eat and sleep, the older goats may not see them as such a threat.

I wouldn't give up on the idea of finding a weanling this year just yet. It would probably be easier than trying to introduce a bottle kid next spring. Keep your eyes open. You never know what you might find. Occasionally it's the unlikely goat that just needs a loving home who ends up being the best purchase you ever made.