taming the wild beast

[deschutes dawn]

I am working on taming a semi wild 6-7 month old buckling I got to breed my saanen does. His work is just about done so now I want to see if after removing his "attitude" if there is any chance of packing him in the future. He is a dairy(saanen/ober) meat(boer/touch of Kiko) cross and will hopefully blend nicely with my big does. What I have accomplished so far in about 5 weeks is to be able to scratch his nose through the fence and with alfalfa pellets as a treat can pet him all over as long as his mouth is busy. He will stand for a bit before he gets a treat but won't stay. If I hold his collar he has just about stopped pulling and will tolerate being scratched and petted without treats. I wait until he relaxes before I walk away quietly so there is no escape response. I think I'm on the right track with him after working with wild horses MANY, MANY moons ago. If anyone has successfully tried this do you have any suggestions of things that worked for you? Anything I can add to the training would be appreciated.

[RCJones]

I have a three year old that I got at 10 weeks. He was a twin and I got his brother too. He never really socialized with me. I think he was so well bonded to his twin that I never had a chance. I have one that is absolutely buddied with me.

I still pack him even with the bad attitude. I can always lure him with peanuts. And once he is packed, he does great just because he is part of the herd. So you may not be able to depend on him as a primary packer, because you need at least one that will stay with you, but he may be an acceptable part of the herd.

Perhaps with a whole lot of time you could over come it, but I think starting with a bottle baby is a whole lot easier.

I think the big error was that he was forcibly weaned when I got him, and I should have put him on a bottle instead. I may have had a better chance.

[Huckleberry]

We bought June last summer and she was pretty friendly, but would run away from us when we first got her unless treats were involved. I think that is the most important thing, find a treat they love, which sounds like you've done. The next was just letting her get settled into the routine and becoming comfortable so she was able to start to trust us. The most helpful thing is that she bonded with our in your face sweet ober and since then she's starting copying him and competing for our attention. When he comes up for loves and scratches, she now comes up for loves and scratches. I think they learn and watch from the other goats and learn to accept what the goats around them accept. It took several months, but now she comes up for scratches and rolls her eyes back in her head while we scratch her face

[Nanno]

I'll bet your fella calms down and will be much easier to tame once you remove his manhood. For one thing, it's a lot nicer to rub and cuddle a non-sticky, non-stinky goat, so you'll probably handle him a lot more often and a lot more thoroughly. We just got a buck a few days ago, and I'd love to hold him in my lap and pet him all over, but it's just not gonna happen! Among other things, when I handle him too much with my bare hands, I end up tasting buck stink in the back of my throat for the rest of the day.

Make sure your other goats aren't mauling him whenever they see you coming. Pac-Man is scared to come near people because he's always gotten beat up by older, bigger goats whenever humans visited him at his old home. Since we got him home, I realized this problem would continue because Cuzco pummels him every time Phil or I approached the fence. So yesterday I broke out the shock collar and have given Cuzco a sharp zap and a stern voice reprimand whenever he mauls Pac-Man while Phil or I are around. In just two days there's a tremendous difference. In fact, while I was working to install an electric wire around the inside of their pen today, Pac-Man made a point of hanging out next to me because he knew he'd be safe, and now he's not shying away when we come to pet him.

[deschutes dawn]

I have him in with my saanen does right now and they are very calm girls. The times he has been with the herd he hangs and plays with my other two youngsters, a sweet, sweet ober wether, about 6 mos. old and an alpine/saanen wether, 9mos. old. Both those boys are in your pocket friendly and Tam gets along with both of them. Today I was cleaning pens and Tam and Danny (ober) were playing. I shut out everyone else and worked to catch him. I did find out he has pretty good stamina by just following him around and around until he finally stopped. I then just rubbed and scratched all the good spots. He got treats after I turned him loose and made him come back to me to get them. His focus now is on two lovely ladies in waiting. I certainly want him to get his stuff done so I'm not worried about having a barren doe for the year. Can hardly wait to get him wethered though. I do usually wear gloves when I handle him and mornings when I milk, then handle him, I have on coveralls. He doesn't seem to smell as bad as some bucks I've been around-luckily.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

How long as he been there? Id give it a solid month or a bit more for him to get comfy with his new home. After that he should come around a bit more. Then of course the wethering will help a ton. But if he is just a new there, that alone can make em spooky.

[deschutes dawn]

He's been here about 6 weeks. He was pretty calm this morning and was good to go with some alfalfa pellets and scratches on the neck. I am probably expecting too much too soon-gee, do humans do that? hehe. At the moment I need to get these does bred before I run out of time and then get him wethered. That will make me take it slower. I tried to post some pictures of him but my phone took the pictures too big and even resizing didn't help. Once again, just the operator behind the device! I guess he is actually doing OK but I will keep posting on progress and pics as soon as I figure it out.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

You can re size them either with an editor or a site like photobucket or open it up with ms paint, crop it and then paste it to a new file.

[deschutes dawn]

I tried ms paint but didn't know I needed to put it in a new file. I'll see what I can do. Nothing guaranteed!

[deschutes dawn]

OK trying to post photos. The ober is Danny, approx. 6 mos old and an absolute doll! Thanks, ryorkies, for such a great little guy! Tamarack is the multi-color.
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Well look at that. I did it!