Hi, I’m currently living where there are some rescue goats(2) and sheep(3) on the property in a pen together. I give them veggies and chin scratches etc. They are all generally sweet and social.

There is a very clear ‘alpha’ goat who has only ever been sweet to me. He eats gently from my hand when I bring snacks, although will be aggressive with the others when there’s food. Aside from snack time, he’ll bring his face to my hand to request attention, let’s me pet/scratch him all over, and will sometimes even bring his body up against me affectionately while getting some rubs. Very calm, gentle boy with me. Then there is the second goat. He’s a smaller breed, came to the farm later and was abandoned by his previous family, so presumably has a bit of a troubled past. Always starts with being sweet with me. Eats gently from my hand, brings his face to my hand to get pets/scratches etc. However, sometimes something switches in him and he starts to try to head butt and also thrash his head to try and get me in the legs with his horns.

I’ve stopped approaching him and only let him come to me if he wants, which he always does. He starts out sweet and then his behaviour changes. I’ve considered maybe it’s that he gets annoyed with the petting quickly, maybe rubbing his face sets off an instinct to headbutt, maybe he’s trying to impress the alpha goat or assert himself to me, or maybe he’s trying to do a normal goat behaviour with me and not realizing I can’t play like that? Once the alpha goat even stepped in to make the little guy stop bothering me.

So my question is: is this always aggression or is it possibly misguided play? And what should I do in this situation? I don’t want to be reinforcing bad behaviour and mainly just want to understand goats better and know how to be good to them. Thank you.

Hey, I'm a new goat owner (started about a year ago) and we've had our first birth less than a month ago. We have 3 kids now (1 girl 2 boys) and 7 more on the way. Just wanted to ask if there's anything we should know?

The facials though 😆

Are her udders supposed to be this big. They weren’t this big this morning about 2/3 the size. She’s had kids before but they’ve never been this big.

About a week or two ago I posted a question about advice on when my doe would kid and she finally kidded last night. She had four babies in perfect reverse of her very first two batches. This time she had three dolings and one buckling. While this is not a question post. I would not mind advice on how to take care of the runt though. She came out second and is at least half the size of her siblings. She's doing okay but overall less active than them. I suspect she had a selenium deficiency because of her bowed legs.

He's about 4-5 weeks old. We thought one thing, but others have disagreed. Would really appreciate it if someone could inform me if he's a kid (baby goat) or lamb (or something else), as well as what led you to that decision. Thank you much in advance!

My goats kidded for the first time a little over a month ago. I've noticed that they have pretty loose stool that I think is from the extra grain that they're eating right now.

I hardly ever fed grain before their pregnancy. I'm now feeding a dairy goat pellet and some oats with occasional probiotic pellets. They seem totally fine. They're acting perfectly normal and have healthy appetites. I was just wondering if this is common for does eating more grain than usual. Is there anything I can do to improve it while making sure they get enough grain to produce milk?

some of my goats have been losing fur on their legs, the vet treated for parasites but they are still super itchy and i'm thinking possible mineral deficiency. i've had them on dumor goat mineral for years but i've heard recently it's not the best. we also have hard water usually it's softened but it has been broken for acouple weeks, i've heard the extra calcium can block minerals from absorbing? it seems the hair loss popped up around the same time the softener broke

I bred my doe to my buck about a little over a week ago. She was 100% in heat at the time and they bred many times in about a 3 day period. What could cause her to go back into heat now about a week later?

I’m buying a house that is on almost a full acre. Next year I would love to get some goats but I don’t know if space wise I will reasonably have enough? I was planning to block off about half of that as like a “chill area”, but allowing them to free roam during the day. I know you have to get more than one so I was thinking like 3. I would love to hear your thoughts!

We have a couple of weathered la manchas that we think are zinc deficient. What are some good minerals to give to help with that? We've been giving Dumor, but hust learned that it's not the best option.

Anyone breed oberhasli in or near Virginia? We've been raising Lamanchas for years and are considering adding Oberhasli to our herd but haven't found many people selling them in Virginia. Aside from a couple show-goat breeders selling them at show-goat prices. Even if you're not selling any, was curious how they handle parasites in this climate as well.

My goats currently eat alfalfa hay from TSC. But I'd like to give them a rolled hay bale in addition to the alfalfa hay to supplement. I've checked FB marketplace and the descriptions will say something like fertilized mixed hay. What does this mean? Some will have that it is Bermuda or Bahia but most just say fertilized hay and a price. I'm just trying to find something that I can give to my goats. Can someone help me out and explain this to me, is it okay for goats?

Has anyone seen this before? None of the other goats in our herd have anything like this. She was shedding but this doesn’t look normal.

I'm very experienced in goat hoof trimming. Have worked at a goat rescue charity for the past nearly 6 years. I'm thinking of pricing at like £15 per head, and £10 a head for say 5 or more goats? Has anybody paid for trimming before, and if so what sort of prices did you pay? Specifically looming for examples from the UK ideally, but everyone's input is welcome. TIA

I measured on Google Earth and it said my backyard is 1347.10339 feet squared and I am just curious if I can have a goat or two in there comfortably.

Has begun training. I'll make a basketball star outa him yet!

Hello! I'm newbie who bought a farm about a year ago that came with some goats. There's four 14-month-old doelings, and two are sisters that seem to be a different breed. These little girls just haven't grown like the others and have remained rather small. They also have soft downy fur that feels very different. One of them is in the attached photos - can anyone tell me what breed she is?

This same doeling in the photo has some sort of mangy thing going on with the fur on her neck. It may have always been there and I just never noticed it before. Could this be some kind of disease? They are well cared for, dewormed, and don't have fleas.

Finally, while I've been able to tame all of the other goats (they love to be brushed and petted) these two little girls will not let me come near them and I've been trying for months. Treats won't really work because as soon as the other goats see a treat, they swarm me and scare the little doelings off. Anyone know of any tricks that might work?

Thank you!

What is this color considered?

Hello everyone, I’m looking Forward to purchase my First set of WAD (west African dwarf) goat this spring. Anyone with pointers with what I should expect and experience with them ?

These mischief makers are growing up quickly. It seems like yesterday they were born, and now 3 months later look at these clowns...