More goat questions!!!

[Jingleballs]

Well I knew it was too good to be true - Elmo behaved himself for at total of 2 days before turning into a wild beast again.

The head butting has subsided but he now keeps jumping up on people and grunting - I'm not sure if he's being playful, agressive or trying to mount but it's bloody annoying and he is soooo persistant.

We were told he had been castrated and there are no signs of his boy bits so could it be that perhaps he was castrated recently (he's 1 year old and we've had him about 2 months but this has only really started happening)

Anyone have any ideas what is causing this behaviour as it is bordering on dangerous - he is so big now that when he goes on his hind legs he is taller than me and I'm 5'7!!

Any help is really appreciated - we really adore this little fellow but don't know what to do if this persists as there are often children on the yard (although he's showed no signs of doing it to them yet!)

Thanks

Kx

 

[rabatsa]

He will keep growing and filling out until he is 2 years old

I would try a water pistol aimed at his tummy each time he jumped up, goats hate getting wet, we move reluctant goats along a race with permanently sited water jets, and have a hand held one too for aiming at their feet. It used to be a pumped up garden sprayer until we got posh and had one plumbed into the mains as it got used so much.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Babybear - the RSPCA have an "Owning A Goat" handbook (available to read on-line in PDF format www.rspca.org) and there is a section on behaviour in goats. It only briefly mentions aggression towards humans but it does suggest contacting their Farm Animals dept for advice on how to humanely deal with this. Might be worth a try!

 

[Jingleballs]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the advice - we'd considered the water pistol idea as he does hate getting wet. I had also tried cracking a schooling stick off the ground when he tried to jump up and he was a bit unnerved by the noise at first but it didn't work for long (even when I accidently caught him in the face with it!)

Will definately have a look at the site also!

K x