A bit random but anyone know anything about goats?

J

Jingleballs

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And in particular how you discipline them?

We have a 1 year old anglo nubian at our yard who is supposed to act as the lawn mower.

He's been there for a couple of months and is lovely BUT in the last few weeks he's been getting a bit big for his boots. If you try and lead him away from food for example he will run at you head down or come at you on his hind legs.

He done this to me several times this morning - it's the first time he's done it to me and I was unsure how to handle him. I tried chasing him away/waving arms/shouting/giving him a bit of a smack but that made him worse so we have now resorted to putting him back in his stable for a short period of time if he misbehaves to give him time to calm down.

Anyone have any experience on how to deal with this? I've suggested removing horns/getting a companion but that's not an option and Y/O is now going to ask people not to leave any feed lying where he can find it which will be difficult to enforce
so any help is welcome

K x

ps - here's a pic of the little beast!
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You could try chaining him up on the grass he's supposed to eat. My friend has 2, but they're hairy, not like that one. They're very naughty, they used to be free range but they were into everything, scoffed haylage all day when they weren't trying to get into the feed room and trash it. Life is so much easier now they're on chains and given areas of grass to mow down.

A bamboo stick was the only thing that seemed to hurt when we had to "beat" them out of the feed room.

Little beggars, I'm very fond of them actually.
 
He looks to be at the teenage stage of growth when most male goats try it on. The best way to deal with it is a technique that has to be learned - you tip them up and sit on them, you need to get someone who manages sheep to show you how to up end them and it does take timing to get a goat as it comes for you. I have managed seriously bad adult males this way. I kept stud males for 20 years and now work with 3000 goats which included over 50 males at the last count.
A lot of the trouble is caused by over handling young goats so that they lose respect. He is too big to remove his horns, the best that can be done is cut the tips off to blunt them but most will rub the horns against the wall and make them razor sharp. The only goat I know that had its horns removed as an adult had holes that you could look down from the top and see out the bottom of the goats nose. The cavities smelt and were a fly attraction, not nice.
 
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He looks to be at the teenage stage of growth when most male goats try it on. The best way to deal with it is a technique that has to be learned - you tip them up and sit on them, you need to get someone who manages sheep to show you how to up end them and it does take timing to get a goat as it comes for you. I have managed seriously bad adult males this way. I kept stud males for 20 years and now work with 3000 goats which included over 50 males at the last count.
A lot of the trouble is caused by over handling young goats so that they lose respect. He is too big to remove his horns, the best that can be done is cut the tips off to blunt them but most will rub the horns against the wall and make them razor sharp. The only goat I know that had its horns removed as an adult had holes that you could look down from the top and see out the bottom of the goats nose. The cavities smelt and were a fly attraction, not nice.

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Wow thanks for that - we have a sheep farmer right across the road who will be able to show us this technique - how long do you sit on them for (OMG that just sounds wrong!!!
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Sounds like his hormones have kicked in. If they're not planning to breed from him, then having him castrated will calm him down and make him easier and safer to manage.
 
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Sounds like his hormones have kicked in. If they're not planning to breed from him, then having him castrated will calm him down and make him easier and safer to manage.

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That's the thing - he's already been castrated!!!
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The other thing to remember about goats is that they aren't the perfect lawnmowers people think they are! The are born browsers, not grazers. A zillion years of evolution has made them want to nibble hedges, rosebushes, the tops of trees, clothing, camera straps, horses tails and pretty much everything EXCEPT grass! I'd strongly recommend trying Cesar Milan's "attitude/energy" approach to him or, failing that, 2 old saucepan lids banged together right in his face next time he tries anything. And don't stop banging just coz he hesitates. Follow him banging them so he has to give way to YOU not the other way round! If the worst comes to the worst, there's a good recipe for goat curry on the internet!!!
 
Sit on until he stops trying to get up. You could try the saucepan lids but if he is too used to things happening they may not have the effect you expect. Brute force never works - I know someone who hit a male goat full force with a hammer on his forehead the goat just shook his head and WHAM the bloke was on the floor and if his wife had not turned the hosepipe onto him (the goat) it might have been curtains.
 
I used to work at a farm park and we had a few bolshy goats who used to try their strength. We used to get an empty light-ish plastic bucket and when they went up on their hind legs 'bop' them on the head!! It sounds a bit cruel in text but didn't hurt them as light but made a lovely loud noise that they hated. We then used to use the moment of surprise to grab the horns like handlebars and walk them where ever we wanted them to go. If you can grab them horns are a lovely controlling devise!!!!
 
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Please tell me that isnt a piece of baler twine round his neck
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That picture was taken the day he arrived at the yard - he now has a leather dog collar (although he is not teathered) that we use if we need to control him. He has also pretty much doubled in size since then as he was a starved, lice infested thing when he arrived with absolutely horrendous feet.

He seems to be much better behaved today which is odd - perhaps he is just hitting the kevin years!!
 
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