Overly aggressive doe

[Nanno]

So, now that everyone is bred, I'm starting to worry a bit about how Lilly treats my other does, particularly Delilah. Yesterday Lilly literally ran Delilah down, chasing her out the gate, around the outside of the pen, then back into the pen. She was out for blood. I put a stop to it by whacking Lilly across the back with a riding crop as she ran past me, but I'm very concerned that if this goes on she may cause others to lose their pregnancies down the road. I'm fairly suspicious that Lilly is the reason Nubbin lost her babies last year (although I have no proof). It wouldn't be so bad if she were slower, but unfortunately she's the fastest, most athletic goat in my herd and can run down anyone she wants to. She's even picking fights with the boys lately, including Cuzco, and I'm worried she could lose her own pregnancy if she gets carried away. I don't really have a way to separate her from everyone unless I chain her to a tree, and I'd rather not do that.

After I saw her go after Delilah yesterday I remembered something I saw in the Premier1 catalogue that I thought was kind of funny at the time, but I'm wondering what ya'll think of it. It's a ram shield that blocks the front vision and discourages aggressive animals from butting. I think I'll call Premier1 tomorrow and ask if the smaller size might fit Lilly. What do ya'll think? Could something like this work?

http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.p...7&cat_id=4

[IdahoNancy]

That is amazing. Stories and pictures on google look like it would be the lesser evil of many options. One lady on the homestead magazine said she got a free ram who was mean and needed one in a hurry. She cut it out of a plastic milk jug and tied it up with bailing twine. She wrote it worked like a charm. It can't hurt Lilly to try it.
I've known some young men who wear a ball cap like that.

[Charlie Horse]

Victoria can sometimes be rather aggressive toward all of the other goats, and she's never been bred so it isn't anything to do with pregnancy. She's especially high strung and healthy and when I hit the trail, she tends to chase the other goats around and ram them a lot. One wonders where she gets the energy on the third day, but there she is beating up on the others. When confined in the truck she had been biting the ears of other goats, so now she gets tied into her own corner.

Frankly goats seem to hate other goats, generally. I'm not sure any of my goats are good friends with any other goat. I don't see how that makes for a 'herd' animal, but thats the way I see goats.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Well that kills my suggestion. We do one of two things with nasty mean hateful goats. First we will separate them from the entire herd so they are alone but within sight. Say 20 feet away. She will stay in there for a good 2-4 weeks. Then we put her back in with all the girls. Goats hate new arrives and they will see her (sometimes even after just a week) as a new arrival and she will have to fight them all and try to earn back her rank. Works most of the time. OR they get sold.

[Nanno]

I called Premier1 and they said the small ram shield would still be too big for Lilly. So now I'm seeing what I can find in miniature horse fly mask sizes. I should be able to sew a piece of fabric over the front and achieve the same result. I don't think I could make one from baling twine and plastic and have it stay put.

I'd only be able to separate Lilly after we get Finn wethered. He's staying intact until the girls he bred have missed two heat cycles, which won't be long now. A few weeks after he's wethered then I can put all my goats back in one herd again and at that point I could separate Lilly. But for now I don't have enough fence chargers.

If she follows last year's pattern, Lilly will mellow out as her pregnancy progresses, but then she'll turn really mean again during the last month. Thankfully all the other girls are due before Lilly so she should still be in her "mellow stage" while their bellies are big. I'm planning to have a separate pen for the late term mamas and their babies so Lilly and the boys can't bother them. I don't want her aborting other does' pregnancies or going after their kids. I may just put Lilly in with the boys next week if she misses her heat cycle. She picks fights with them, but she can't terrorize them like she does the girls since most of them are bigger than she is and not so easily cowed. The only reason she isn't with them now is that I don't want Finn breeding her if she's somehow still open. I think if she were forced to coexist with the boys, she'd stop picking fights with them. Lilly may be mean, but she's not dumb.

[Taffy]

Did Lilly have something happen in her past that makes her feel like she has to be aggressive? Sounds like a classic case of bullying. Is it food driven, space driven, or ?

[Nanno]

Lilly was really sweet and mellow until she had her first kid and then it's like someone flipped a switch. She developed an attitude with every other goat on the place and even with me for a while. I called her "Diva Mom" after Petunia was born. She's an amazing mama to her babies, but everyone else had better get out of her way! She traumatized poor Petunia last year when she got close to delivering Finn. Petunia was the favored child and always had a special place in the herd because of Lilly. Lilly nursed her for something like eight months. Then Lilly turned on her one night, threw her out on her ear and told her to go fend for herself. Petunia has never really found her place in the herd since then and is a bit of a loner. There are so many things I like about Lilly, it's a shame she has to be so mean to the others.

[Taffy]

I wonder if it's partly hormonal and partly learned behavior. Have you had Lilly since she was a kid? Poor Petunia.

[Nanno]

We got Lilly when she was six months old. She was the bottom of the pecking order among the kids at the place I got her from, but it didn't make her skittish with people. From everything I've heard, she adored people since she was born and that has never stopped.