hello from south mississippi

harleychicks said:

New goat parents here, received our first baby just yesterday. Kinda worried as shes reluctant to eat goat feed or her bottle,she has been munching on grass and leaves, I'm thinking its a new environment with very playful dogs . She lives with 2 dogs 2 cats a pot belly pig, rabbit and 30 chickens, so i'm sure it will all workout!
I have them all living together,minus the dogs and cats, in an enclosed 1/2 acre. She keeps escaping by climbing on the chicken coop and pushing through the top of the fence,Is a electric fence an option or is there some other trick to this? The fence is 4.5 foot tall and its twisted wire field fence. Thanks

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Southern by choice said:

Welcome to BYH!


1. How old is the kid? and what breed?
2. Did you buy her as a baby bottle kid? Was she on the bottle before?


3. The environment she is in is probably the most stressful environment she could be in. What environment was she in before?

Playful dogs are terrifying to goats as they are a prey animal- IOW someones lunch. I know the dogs aren't in with them now but that is a lot of stress. As far as the chickens... they cannot have chicken feed so this is a disaster waiting to happen. Pigs and goats are not ideal together from a whole different perspective.
If she is trying to climb out she is probably terrified.

When adding a new goat the transition should be calm, non stressful and in a lot without anything else. Quarantine is essential. When a goat is moved to a new home there is a variety of things to watch for. Fever, respiratory issues, parasite bloom.
If you do not have a thermometer you need one asap.

The other major factor here is goats are herd animals and must have a buddy. No one should have sold you a single goat especially if they knew you didn't have any others.

The dietary needs of your goat is different then all the other species you are raising.

There is no trick... sounds to me she is terrified. You may over time integrate with some of these animals but this is simply too much.

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