How do I nip this in the bud right now!

[Nanno]

Nanno, do you have an archive of the old posts? I believe it was Rex that did the post on "flipping." I would like to brush up on it in case the occasion presents itself again.

If it's in the back issues of Goat Tracks magazine then I have it. I'll try to make time to look for it in the next couple of days. In fact, I've been intending to put a lot of the good training and packing articles up on this website for a while, but the last few months have been way to busy. Phil is leaving next week for a conference and things usually get pretty quiet around here when he's gone, so I should hopefully have a nice chunk of time to work on that project.

BTW- The doe that he bashed kidded yesterday, had two doelings and a buckling, one of the doelings was stillborn, fully developed and had not been dead long. I cant help but think that shot she took from Luke had something to do with it, maybe broke the umbilical cord or something. I've separated does out before kidding before but they are even more brutal to each other than the wethers are to them, and I don't have the space to give everyone their own private suite..

Oh I'm so sorry! Poor baby. I hope Luke learned his lesson and you don't have any more problems like this. I worry that Cuzco might one day do something like that to Lilly. She's the only goat he ever hits hard. Thankfully she's very quick and is not dumb enough to hang around him much.

One thing I started doing recently during feeding time is to bring a riding crop with me. It's the kind with a wide leather popper on the end, and when the goats get to mobbing me or whacking each other too hard I'll smack them with it. It makes a loud slapping noise that startles them and makes them think they've been hit a lot harder than they actually were. It seems to be working really well. Feeding time is the only time they really hit each other hard. It took about two swats per goat to teach them not to mob me, and now all I have to do is wave it and say "No!" and everyone settles down immediately and falls into line without bickering. It's like a miracle stick!