Young goat just started to head butt

[mollychick]

.Hi, I have 2 goats , one being a 4 yr old and another one who is approx 9mnths old which i have had both of them for about 6 mnths. My young one has just started to head butt me when i walk away from him and it is usually after i have been scratching him and tickling him (which he loves). He has never head butted us before and this is completely new to him. I push him away straight away when he does it to me but he continues to do it regardless. I personally don’t think it is an aggressive head butt from him but I am just curious as to why goats do this. The older one has never head butted us at all but they do play head butting to each other. Is the young one just playing with me or is it for me to continue scratching him or is there some other reason a goat does this other than in an aggressive way to humans

 

[cassie]

This behavior has got to stop and it's up to you to stop it. Pushing him away may be part of the problem. He thinks you are butting him back. Get a squirt bottle and take it in the pen with you. When he butts you spray him in the face.

 

[mollychick]

That’s what I intend to do next time he head butts me and i will leave the bottle out there so it’s on hand every time he does it but my question is why is he doing it all of a sudden. Is it a dominance thing or a game or an aggressive side to him or some other reason as its just a brand new thing he has started doing

 

[cassie]

It is a dominence thing. He is treating you like a member of the herd and he wants to see if he's bigger and tougher than you are. I am not sure now how I did it, but my goats always understood I was #1, and with one exception, they never ever challenged me. With the exception of that one not too bright buckling, it never occurred to any of them them to even try to butt me. I was so mad when he butted me I grabbed him by a couple handfuls of hide, picked him up bodily, and dumped him flat on his side. He never challenged me again.

 

[Stacykins]

Aye, you need to nip it in the bud immediately. Headbutting can really cause injury, plus as Cassie explained, it is a dominance thing.

Try not to even touch the top of his head. Especially don't push on his head. When I pet my goats, I rub them on the side of their faces or scratch their chins. I don't pat on them on top of their heads.

I am fond of the ear grab if a goat is acting up. They grab each other by the ear when telling off another goat. So they react well to do. A goat who tries to jump on me, for instance, gets an ear grabbed, and they drop to the ground in an instant. You don't even have to squeeze or do anything to hurt, they just stop whatever they are doing. Squirt gun does work well too, unless a goat is fine with getting wet.