Hi all,
Brief intro, as I'm new to this forum; then a question.
I raised, trained, and showed dogs until the early 90s. I'm very well-versed in canine behavior, but I'm a newcomer to goats. Over the last several years, I've been charmed by a friend's Pygmy goats. Last summer, I bought my first registered girls: a proven 2-year-old doe; a yearling doe; and a baby doe (one black, two black agoutis). This spring, I added two caramel does - a 5 yr old with a doeling at her side.
My first kiddings (1 and 2 weeks ago) were pretty much a disaster, although not as bad as it could have been. I did an awful lot of research and reading, but didn't ask the right questions or didn't assimilate some of what I read. Although I provided goat-mineral free-choice, the kiddings were complicated by selenium deficiency. Neither my mentor nor my vet thought to mention that we are in a *really* selenium-deficient area, so the does should have had Bo-Se injections. The first doe (the proven one) required a C-section and lost one of her twins.
The first-time mom needed a little help getting her twins out, but at least it wasn't another C-section. One of them got off to a slow start - needed help nursing and couldn't stand. When my friend came over to see the babies, she immediately recognized the signs of selenium deficiency, so that problem got taken care of.
Now for the goat-behavior question. The moms each have a separate pen in a kidding-room in our barn. A few days ago, I started opening the pens so the kids could play - what a hoot! They are so funny to watch. Yesterday, I opened the pens allowing access to the pasture, and both moms beat feet for the greenery! Only the older doe seemed to worry much about where her kid was; the younger one seemed not to care. When I brought them in yesterday afternoon, the younger does' kids were quite hungry, and she didn't want them to nurse. It was as if they'd come "dis-mothered"!
I thought maybe the pasture was too much space, so today I let them into a smaller side-yard next to the house. Dual benefit - I could sit on the deck and watch them. What I observed blew me away! The older doe would not allow the younger doe access to her own kids! Whenever the young doe would come near her babies, the older doe would butt her.
This occurred repeatedly. After about 30 minutes, I put the older doe and her kid into the adjoining yard, leaving the young mom and her kids by themselves. She was a perfectly FINE mother!
I now suspect that the problem yesterday was that the older doe kept the younger one from mothering her kids all afternoon.
Have any of you run into this before? I know that goats have a hierarchy and will use butting to establish dominance. But I didn't expect to see one mom try to claim all of the kids. She doesn't really want to FEED them; she just seems to want to POSSESS them!
Strange behavior, or normal behavior? Or... is this maybe PYGMY behavior?
Have been enjoying the forum very much. Glad to be here!
Anita
Normal goat-mama behavior? and Intro
