Terrified Buck Kid

[CapraCurry]

Hiya! So here at Bellanova farms, my doe Bella just gave birth to triplets and my doe Asteria gave birth to twins. They birthed within 3 days of each other as they were bred on the same heat cycle. They're all currently being dam-raised, as I didn't want to pull them from mom if it wasn't necessary and it isn't the most feasible with my schedule (it's finals season!). The kids all got disbudded on the same day, between one week and ten days of age by an experienced Nigerian breeder. Most of the kids are doing just fine! I was present at both births and they're all extremely tame... except for one buckling. The rest hop into my lap to be cuddled, they follow me around and play, and they just genuinelly enjoy being around people! But ever since being disbudded it seems that he is flat out TERRIFIED of people, especially when we walk? Trust me, I understand that being disbudded isn't exactly a fun process by any means, but the other ones seemed to be pretty much unphased after the whole experience. If I sit in the pen quietly he may approach me and sniff but standing up and walking around is sure to make him run. When I say run I don't mean hop away, I mean like, RUN. Like a scared lamb. I questioned my does' breeder and asked for advice and she said putting him on a bottle would fix it right up. Before doing anything drastic like taking him away from mom for good, I wanted to try perhaps a bit of both to see if it would work. The moms get let out in the morning to graze around 7:30 AM, get milked out, and then are reunited with their kids around 2:30 PM. I figured this would be a good opportunity to try and give him a bottle or something sweet like raisins, since he'd be a little hungry. Well! He screamed, kicked, and spit out the bottle and just would not have it! Raisins, no thanks! I tried for about a half an hour before figuring it was likely making him worse. The other kids? They came over out of curiosity, nibbled the Pritchard teat, and figured out the bottle within 15 seconds! I wasn't even tryin to teach them to take the bottle, they just did it themselves! Every single one of them. Today is the second day I've tried. A couple of them even took the raisins happily. Any thoughts or advice? I really don't want him to grow up to be an unmanageable, skittish buck. A friend of mine loves his coloration and would like to use him as their herd buck, he has good lines. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Am I expecting too much of him? It's been about a week since disbudding. Is it just his nature? The other kids LOVE people so I'm certain it didn't result from not being bottled from day one, but rather the negative experience of disbudding. Sorry for being lengthy, I just wanted to make sure I was being thorough.

 

[Latestarter]

@frustratedearthmother @Goat Whisperer @Fullhousefarm @OneFineAcre @ragdollcatlady Any of the other great goat mentors available to take a swing? IMHO I don't think it has anything to do with the disbudding but is just his personality. Will or can it get better? Only time will tell. Hope it works out for you.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I would not separate him from his mom.

It's personality. All goats are different, just like people.

If you sit and he will come up to you, do that. Go slowly.
Raisins are good treats.

But, he may never warm up. I've got a doe who was born here and is almost 5 years old and just doesn't really like us.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've had little ones react terribly to disbudding too. It's one of the reasons I don't really try to tame mine too much before disbudding. It seems to make some of them feel that you have betrayed them - and they just don't get over it.

This is what I do when I have one like that. Hold him. Plop down on a bucket, sit on the ground or get a lawn chair and just hold him. Sitting on the ground or a bucket is actually better - but I use a chair. If he sees the other kids coming up to you out of curiosity or friendliness he should be less inclined to be so terrified.

He can only throw a temper tantrum or be afraid for so long before he'll finally fall asleep in your lap from sheer exhaustion! Scratch his withers, rub his face, just keep holding him. If he's old enough to be eating feed - bribe him while holding him. Eventually - he will at least learn to tolerate you.

Also, when I put one down on the ground after being held - I don't turn him loose if he's struggling. I make him stand quietly and accept my rubbing/holding/petting him. Eventually he should get better. He might never be your friendliest goat - but that should help.

 

[CapraCurry]

Thank you so much for the helpful responses!

This is what I do when I have one like that. Hold him. Plop down on a bucket, sit on the ground or get a lawn chair and just hold him. Sitting on the ground or a bucket is actually better - but I use a chair. If he sees the other kids coming up to you out of curiosity or friendliness he should be less inclined to be so terrified.

He can only throw a temper tantrum or be afraid for so long before he'll finally fall asleep in your lap from sheer exhaustion!

I tried this today for a looooong time and it seemed to make a difference! Instead of letting him bolt away after throwing a fit I held him still and spoke gently and let him go only after he chilled out a bit. I'll keep trying for a couple a days and hope for the best!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope it helps! Might take awhile - a week or more even...but most of them will respond after a bit. It especially helps if the other kids are crawling all over you - he won't want to miss out on the action ! Good luck!

 

[Goatgirl47]

The kid in my profile picture was the same way. Until she was around 3 months old she was very wild and crazy. It took a long time because we didn't have any little places to corner her, but almost every day I would catch her and hold her in my lap for awhile like @frustratedearthmother said. I had almost given up hope on her, but now, although she isn't the in-your-lap type of goat, she does liked to be petted and rubbed and is not afraid of us - unless she escapes out of the fence and we have to chase her everywhere. She too was dam raised.

 

[Goatgirl47]

Also - I recently purchased a little 3-week-old (23 days to be exact) buckling who had been dam raised right up until we brought him home. His previous owner had been raising goats for 11 years, and he said to wait 24 hours before feeding him so Benji (buckling) would be good and hungry, and then he would probably take the bottle easily. It sounds cruel, but it worked! The morning after I got him it had been around 12 hours since we had taken him from his mother, and I tried to get the bottle in his mouth but was only able to make him drink a few ounces, and only with me holding the nipple in his mouth and squeezing the bottle slightly. Then that evening he took the bottle like a pro.
He was VERY wild too, at any unexpected move from us or when we came anywhere near him he'd run away at full speed. And when we would finally lay hands on him he'd scream at the top of his lungs like he was dying.
That was about two weeks ago - now he is really tame and loves being rubbed and petted and scratched.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

We tame baby goats by watching shows. A movie or couple hours of TV several times really helps. They struggle and scream about 10 minutes or so at first, but a few days of that usually gets them more comfortable with us. The 'come up to you' kind of tame, usually takes other kids coming to investigate and learning that we aren't out to grab them every time. Letting them approach, nibble on our pants, sniff us and walk away on their own, goes along way toward making us "safe" to them. Keep in mind that other goats reach out and bite, pull hair and ears and such, and sometimes they are convinced that when we reach for them, we are just going to do the same.