AboutGoatlady Expertise Specializing in New Goat Owner understanding of goat physiology, goat anatomy, goat care and herd management. *I am not a veterinarian, any advice and information should be verified by your veterinarian before administering to your goats.
(! During times of severe weather in the Midwest, I may experience a delay in internet service due to the interference of the satellite reception - but will answer your questions as soon as service is restored. !)
Note: Keep in mind, the goat expert is volunteering her time to help other goat owners, she also runs her farm with her own herd of 100 goats and may not be at her computer at all hours. Questions are answered as soon as she can possibly read and answer them, usually within 24 hours.
Experience 18 years experience of raising goats and herd management. Active hands on experience with goat herd and research with various Caprine University Research and Extension Centers nationwide. 15 years dedicated to helping other goat breeders/owners with goat anatomy, goat disease and goat health care issues via phone, published goat care articles and internet interaction. The information I have to offer is not only from personal experience and years of research updated often as new information is made available to me, but supported by many Veterinary Research colleges and all medications and information I have to offer on how the medications work and what dosages "I" use, is information I have acquired by discussing directly with the company's veterinarians and staff research experts.
Organizations 5 year active member of International Veterinary Information Service
Publications United Caprine News, Homesteaders Magazine, Columnist for Goat Magazine, Owner and Author of GoatPedia™
Education/Credentials Graduate Programs in Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Question I have five goats, 1 wether and 4 does. My wether is an Alpine, one girl is a pygmy and one is a lamancha, the other two are tiny but I'm not sure what they are. I think that they are pygmy, but it doesn't matter. My older pygmy doe is six and she has a temper. Ireland(6yr.old pygmy) constantly attacks Delilah(7month old lamancha) all of the goats gang up on poor Delilah so she is forced to hide under their picnic table. We try to separate her from everyone else but she just complains until we put her back in with them. I'm not sure what to do, but I am planning on breeding her and the other females but I don't want her to lose her baby if she does end up pregnant, do you have any solutions or suggestions?
Also I am in Langley, Vancouver and I have been trying to find a pygmy or a pygmy cross buck to breed to my girls with no such luck. I don't really want to try the auction, as risk of disease and infection, but I don't know what else to do, my girls need to be bred and I have no buck.
My two little girls, Hershey and Daisy May, are small does. They are very small, but I am not sure what breed they are or how old they are. Hershey is a brown tri-color and Daisy has very loud black and white coloring. They have horns, about four in. or more in length. They don't really sound like babies and I got them about two weeks ago. If you could help me that would be wonderful.
Thank You
Answer Hi DJ,
You really need to get a little buddy for Delilah- her age and size so she has someone her size to buddy with- the bigger ones will pick on smaller younger goats when they are not related and do not have a buddy or sibling- was she the last addition to the group? :( They will follow the older (alpha) goat and do what she does, so if she beats up on Delilah they will too. Does the wether also gang up on her?
You have another year before you should breed her if she is only 7 months old. Rule of thumb is to breed your dairy and pygmy goats at 2 yrs old and angoras at 80 lbs.
Daisy May and Hershey sound like possible Nigerian dwarf goats- they are a very colorful breed.
The only one that should be bred this year wold be the 6 yr old pygmy. The others really should wait another year- so they have a chance to develop and be ready physically to create and grow a baby.
