I need general goat advice. We have a herd of about 25 goats, separated males from females. The females are penned in a large grassy area with one kid so far. He is about 6 weeks old, strong and quick. Mama Daisy is weening Milton, so he is headbutting the other females to drink from them, when they turn on him, he tries to mount them. He can't reach some of the females, but there are a few pygmy goats that he is almost big
enough to mount. His mother is one of two goats who don't herd well, so he is wild and playful, but hard to control. Today, I took him out of the female pen and left him with the males in their muddy pen where nothing grows. A few hours after he stopped crying, I went into the pen and had the boys follow me around. Milton went the other way, but eventually followed far behind. I opened the gate door and the herd ran out to graze, but Milton didn't follow. When I eventually chased him to the open door, he wandered around for a moment before running to the female pen where he slipped right through the
fence and back to mama.
Since I can't afford to get him castrated right now, I need to separate him from the nannies, but I don't want to do it too soon or too late. He doesn't follow the herd, so I don't know how he'll act when he goes out to graze. Right now, he can fit through the
fence and back to mama, but he'll grow and be stuck away from her. I'm afraid he'll follow her around the perimeter of the fence and find a hole into someone else's property. When the other males bump him, he runs as far away as he can get, so he might run off somewhere and get lost.
We also have a few females who will give birth within the next few weeks. I'm wondering how he'll act towards them if they are penned together or not.
I only have a few months
experience with goats, I don't know what's going to happen. I need general goat advice.
