can I leave my little ones with the rest of the girls?

[goat lady]

Our two week old does are still in with their mother. I have two other pregant does in there also. The one should kid in 2-3 weeks and the other in Nov. The little ones are doing great eating grain and hay and just hopping around the place and climbing on things. My question is I saw one of the other does head butt the one and she yipped like a dog. Are they okay with the rest of the girls? At what age do you introduce a new one to the herd? We introduced a 8 week old buck the end of July and they leave him alone most of the time. I have a 6 and 8 week old does also that are in another pen because they are still being bottle fed.

 

[lilhill]

I let mom's and babies out of their respective kidding stalls and back into the herd after 4 days of bonding. The little ones find out really quick which adults to avoid.

 

[goat lady]

That is good to know. Cause we are planning on leaving them together for now. I guess when the next one kids her's will know also. Animals must be smarter than blondes sometimes.

 

[trestlecreek]

I would keep a watchful eye just to make sure all is well.
My does w/kids each get a stall of their own and a big pasture.
If your areas are large enough, they all will work it out.

 

[goat lady]

When I was out early this morning and giving hay and doing the normal routine they pretty much stayed away from each other. I know that doe will be different when she kids in a few weeks.

 

[helmstead]

I do the same as Sandie - 2 to 4 days in a private stall, then out into the nursery pen. In winter, I might keep them up longer to make sure the kids can get under a heat lamp...but that is my general rule.

 

[cmjust0]

I agree with the above..

I saw a 2-3 day old kid get horn hooked under the chin and flipped over backward yesterday. Didn't happen at my place, mind you, but... Anyway, the kid got up, looked a little goofy for a minute, then went BAAAAAA and ran to its mama.

They're tough...that's not to say that bad things don't happen -- they do, occasionally -- but there are millions of years worth of ruthless horn hookings built into a baby goat's body.

Just keep an eye out..

 

[lilhill]

None of mine have horns, so I don't have to worry about that. I have seen my other mom's nudge the kids that aren't her's out of the way. Couldn't believe they were so gentle in getting rid of the little twerps.

 

[goat lady]

All our goats have horns so I am just watching them. Everyone seems to be getting along. I do have a separate pen if I need to separate my doe and her little ones. It connects to our main pen, but there is a gate attached. I can see my goat pens from the house, so I check on them a couple times during the day. My human kids are both adults so I have four legged ones now.