Introducing 2 new bucklings

[ani's ark]

Ok, so I brought the 2 new freezer-boys home tonight. They are this years kids from Salma's old herd, but boy they are puny compared to my 2 big fat sleek kids - about a 3rd smaller in size and weight and they are only a bit younger. I guess thats the difference between pasture-farmed herd goats and grain-fed dairy-pets! Now fattening them is my project. They come from a herd with 18 kids, were just separated today so are scared and jumpy. My goatlings have never seen another goat other than each other and mum.

I put them in the small pen/shed with water, hay. They ate a bit of grain and I stroked them down to tame them a bit. Tommorrow I will worm them and band their testicles.
I took them out to meet Salma, Willow and Sausage. Salma aggressively butted them and her kids were trying to hide behind her.
So I took all 4 kids back to the little pen/shed and left Salma in the paddock, to milk as normal in the morning. As the sun was going down the new kids were terrorising the 2 larger babies all around the pen, but I'm hoping they will all lay down together tonight and wake up buddies?
My question is, how can I get Salma to accept these 2 new kids into her 'family herd'? Will she be more accepting if her kids arent running behind her for protection? I dont have the facilities to separate them all the time...

[Backfourty,MI.]

Congrats on your 2 new boys but I was expecting pictures! You can't introduce them without pictures can we?

[DarleneJ]

If you have the facilities you could keep them in separate pens within visibility of each other for a short time until they adjust. Putting bands on them and then putting them with Selma seems a bit on the harsh side.

Seperating the kids together seems like a good idea. Perhaps try some alone time with the new kids and Selma without her babies. She may not come off as aggresive this way. Make sure they have plenty of escape room or are watched to make sure she can't hurt them.

[Minelson]

Where are they?

[Crazy Farmgirl]

Are Salma's kids weaned? I have good success by taking one or two from my established herd and putting them in with any new goats (after quarantine), I leave the small new "herd" together until they bond (usually a week or 2 tops) then introduce the new herd into the old herd.

[Ford Zoo]

How aggresive is Salma with them? Does she give them a bit of a butt, or does she go all out after them? And are they big enough and old enough to know to get out of the way?

If she is aggressive I would let her get used to them thru a fence before putting them together. I have one doe that I cannot put others' kids in with until they are quite a bit bigger. I guess you could just try again today to see how she'll do with them, but stay right there.

[CaliannG]

Salma is being aggressive because these are someone else's kids, and she doesn't want them getting ANY ideas that she might be willing to give up some milk for them, as her milk is for HER babies, who carry HER genes.

In other words, she was acting completely normal.

The babies should do fine, locked up together at night. In a couple of days, they will calm down. It is unlikely that Salma will actually hurt the newbies during the day, as long as they aren't all in a stall together with her and they have someplace to run.

[ani's ark]

The poor wee things! They were very wild when I brought them home, but a night with my goat babies has calmed them down, they are ok to be petted now. Tonight we banded them and wormed them and they are separated into the shed again tonight with an all-you-can-eat buffet. They are just so scrawny! I will try and get some pics this weekend- work is mental at the moment, but I'd rather be at home with the animals.

Salma is still aggressive, not really violent, but more time letting the kids form a herd will hopefully calm her down a bit. Thanks for your feedback everyone.