Need goat advice

[TJAnonymous]

Looking for some advice...

In my herd, I have 1 ND buck who has a pen all to himself which is right next to the girl pen...

In the girl pen, I have:

1 ND Matriarch (likely the sister of my buck). No idea on her age but I'm guessing 5-6 yrs old. She is the alpha in the pen.

One 2-yr old ND mama... She is currently nursing 2 doelings who were born on 4/26.

A 1 yr old ND doe and wether - these are babies from the nursing mama mentioned above from last year.

Today I picked up a 2 1/2 month old ND buckling. My hope is to use the current girls pen as a boys-only pen with my buck, wether, and this new buckling. I want to move all the girls to a new pen I'm going to build around my barn which is a little ways away from the current pen.

So here's my problem. The Matriarch is not being very accepting of the new buckling. She won't quit charging him and trying to smash him. So I moved my buck into a horse stall in the barn temporarily and put the buckling in his pen. This allows everyone to get to know each other with a fence in between for safety.

However, the buckling is quite distressed and has not quit calling for his mama since we picked him up. He is quite LOUD. As it starts to get dark, I'm concerned about his distress calls luring a coyote. The fence is only 4 ft tall... An easy leap for a coyote. Now... I haven't seen any coyotes around here in a while but that doesn't mean they aren't around. I live on the outskirts of town in a well populated area with a lot of construction going on in the area. They could have moved into more rural area because of the construction... Or not.

So... Not sure what to do. Should I move him into the barn in another stall for the night by himself? I'm not sure what my buck would do to him... Although I AM hoping they will be companions soon enough. My buck has been very gentle and tolerant of the 2 little doelings when they squeezed through a gap in the fence and got into his pen. Would or could he be the same with this little guy?

Or should I just leave him be and see if he quiets down after dark?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

He's going to cry himself hoarse no matter what you do with him. It is the most painful part about adding new young goats. I personally wouldn't push putting him directly in with any of them, but I would pen him where everyone can see him through a fence. Goats are weird in that they like company, but also will bump and bash each other about. He's gonna have to take some abuse before he's accepted.

 

[TJAnonymous]

He's only the 2nd goat I've ever introduced. My first goat - Annie...is the nursing doe. When I bought her, I only had the buck and his sister (who is sterile). They both accepted her pretty easily... And they accepted her babies very easily both times she has given birth.

I feel pretty good that they will accept the new guy eventually. I'm more concerned about his constant crying attracting coyotes. He's in a pen by himself and a determined coyote could probably jump the fence. He doesn't have the protection of the herd yet...

But so far he seems to have quieted down now that it's dark outside. I'm really tempted to put my LGD outside as a deterrent but it's really hot outside (she's half Husky - half Great Pyrenees... So a heavy coat) and we are expecting thunderstorms overnight.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The other goats would not protect him from a coyote. When scared goats scatter and do not come to the aid of others unless it's kids. Even than the mother may not. I personally never had a coyote kill any of my goats, but I know it happens. A more secure pen is probably in order instead. Hopefully he will be fine for tonight and you can reassess his situation tomorrow.

 

[TJAnonymous]

He quieted down after dark and we had no issues. It's storming now so I'll have to wait...

I'm going to let them get acquainted through the fence over the next few days. Then I'm thinking about bringing them all into the bigger pasture and seeing how they do together. He'll have a lot more room to get away. We'll play it by ear...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

He quieted down after dark and we had no issues. It's storming now so I'll have to wait...

I'm going to let them get acquainted through the fence over the next few days. Then I'm thinking about bringing them all into the bigger pasture and seeing how they do together. He'll have a lot more room to get away. We'll play it by ear...

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[lomine]

Gad he is calming down. I will say that I have introduced young bucklings and wethers to my grown bucks, and they didn't do anything to the kids. They sniffed a bit and that was it. My does on the other hand, are much harder on newcomers.