Biting Goats?

TheNelsons · #1 02/15/07, 12:46 PM

Do any of you have goats that bite? Each other I mean... I have a biter and he bit one of our 10 day old kids!!! He bit his lip and split it, poor baby, we had to clean it and glue it back... The kid is fine today.. He and his mom were in a stall alone, but the biter jumped in with them...
I have fixed it where he can not get back in, but why is he biting? Can I stop it?

Steph

Blossomgapfarm · #2 02/15/07, 01:36 PM

I have 3 does and one of them bites. Mostly she just bites the younger doe to show her dominance. Instead of butting, she bites - ears and tails are her favorite targets. Oddly enough, the younger doe respects the biting (no blood has ever been drawn - just a nibble really

) more than she does the queen's butting.

You said that it is a he - is he a buck or a whether? How old is he? I am new with goats (and so guessing here

) but could he be interested in momma and just trying to get the kid out of the way? I am interested to see what the experienced folk say.

Dawn

**mygoat** · #3 02/15/07, 02:02 PM

I have an alpine doe that likes to bite ears... Something they're prone to doing I hear. Each goat spazzes a little when you barely touch thier ears because they hink it's the alpine sneaking up for a crunch. I've had no serious problems with her, though. The rest seemed to have learned to avoid her biting. She seems to do it mostly just to be annoying, not out of any malevolence. I have yet to see her around other goat's babies though, she may be aggressive with them, not sure.

susieM · #4 02/15/07, 03:43 PM

I used to have one that bit me whenever I went to milk her. Goats can bite HARD!

Sweet Goats · #5 02/15/07, 04:28 PM

I had a wether that bit part of one of my champion does ear off. Yes I said OFF. I have a few others that will bite but really mine bite the Cashmere and pull it. (they can be so mean). I have one doe that does it evertime that another goat is getting grain, and she wants it.
And yes they do bite hard. They only have front teeth on the bottom, but in the back WATCH OUT, they have split my fingers more then I wantto tell you about. Those are really sharp.

Idahoe · #6 02/15/07, 07:34 PM

My goats don't have ears

, but a couple of them snap at the others when I'm filling the pellet feeder. One wether boy thinks my fingers may shed some particle of food, so I have to scratch his face very carefully or he'll bite accidentally. An older doe used to try to bite me when she and I were learning how to get milked. I slapped her rear with my flat open hand hard enough to sting but not any harder than that. It took a few times but she and I are great friends, now. I haven't had goats long enough to get chomped by the molars yet, not looking forward to it at all.

I'd not hesitate to separate the Biter, even staking him out so potential victims can get away. Maybe without the opportunity to chomp he'll "forget" after a while.

FarmGoddess · #7 02/15/07, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susieM

I used to have one that bit me whenever I went to milk her. Goats can bite HARD!

Amen to that! I have one boer doe who bites if her dinner isn't in the trough fast enough. Or if you turn your back on her. Or because the sun's not shining.
She's old and crotchety. My silly cat was sleeping in the hay feeder. She latched onto his tail and got in a good bite. What a racket!

Blue Oak Ranch · #8 02/15/07, 10:21 PM

Yep - I got one too. She'll be GONE if she keeps it up. She bites other goats' ears if she thinks they're getting close to the food, and has tried to bite my ranch security manager when she was being transferred to a different pen. The tastier the treat, the more aggressive she is.

In a way, I understand - she was a rescue, and more than half starved when I got her, about 60lbs underweight. They have free choice food here, so its isn't because she's hungry anymore. I understand why she feels like she needs to drive away the other goats...but it still doesn't work for me. If she gets put in the pen with the milkers after she kids, they may teach her better manners. Most likely she'll be sold if she doesn't calm down as a milker.

Cheers!

Katherine

topside1 · #9 02/16/07, 07:41 AM

Another darn good reason to separate the wethers/bucks from the herd during kidding...Always thinks about goat proofing everything, think "supermax prison" for determined bucks and your biting problems will quickly disappear..

goatmarm · #10 02/16/07, 07:46 AM

---

Silvercreek Farmer · #11 02/16/07, 08:13 AM

I have a doe that bites the free range rabbit's ears to get them out of her food!

dezeeuwgoats · #12 02/16/07, 08:49 AM

I was holding a large nubian doe, while my husband attempted to put a new kid on her for nursing. It wasn't her kid, but she had oodles of milk, and the kids momma nursing triplets, didn't have a lot yet. Well, quicker than anything, this doe turned, the baby yelled, and by the time the dust settled, and I asked, 'what happened?!" That poor kid was in the feed bucket! That grumpy ol' doe had grabbed her by the ear and thrown her into the feed bucket....

I guess she felt she should be eating pellets..........poor baby!

Nubians have handles as Sid so generously pointed out that day. The meanie!

Niki

Eunice · #13 02/16/07, 08:59 AM

We had a doeling named Butter that was harassing a cat. My daughter went into the pen to defuse the situation and didn't see that the goat had the cat by the tail. My daughter got pretty scratched up.
Now we are boarding a 4 yrs.old Saanen doe that bites everything to show her dominance. I think it is funny when she gets wool stuck in her teeth from biting our ewe.