Boy, are my does mad!!!

[2happymamas]

I finally got my Saanen doe today (yay!) and my two mini-nubian does are mad! We only have two stalls and they share a common wall. One of my mini-nubian does is seriously trying to tear down the shared wall to get to the other. It's ugly. We have one big stall, with a removable partition that is in place to create a smaller pen. The new Saanen is in the smaller pen. I had to lead her out through the bigger pen to the yard this morning and she got rammed twice. Poor girl. Even though she's the largest of all four by 20lbs, she's pretty tame and is waaaay backing down to them.

Any suggestions? I know they are going to have to duke it out for herd hierarchy, but I really don't want her to get hurt.

[Doug Hodges]

She's not going to get hurt. It's what they do.

[CAjerseychick]

Just make sure she has enough room to get away, she is bigger she will be Ok..
My little 14 lb buckling had to figure out his place in the herd order when I brought him home - I gave him places to get out of trouble of and then turned him out in the field with the 2 miniToggs and 3 Oberhaslis, and now a couple months later all is good (and he gets the odd butt in the side from the 6month old Obers now and then but he gives as good as he gets and hangs out with the Herd Queen now...)...

[Clovers_Clan]

Originally Posted by CAjerseychick

Just make sure she has enough room to get away, she is bigger she will be Ok..
My little 14 lb buckling had to figure out his place in the herd order when I brought him home - I gave him places to get out of trouble of and then turned him out in the field with the 2 miniToggs and 3 Oberhaslis, and now a couple months later all is good (and he gets the odd butt in the side from the 6month old Obers now and then but he gives as good as he gets and hangs out with the Herd Queen now...)...

Ditto. Introductions are best left out in the open where they can establish pecking order and run off a bit of steam. And then get distracted by a dandelion, then a clump of grass, oh, look some clover...

[KSALguy]

better to do it like a bandaid rip it off fast, the you coddle and separate and try and do things slow the more of a beating over and over the new doe will take, the pecking order needs to be established for the herd to settle down, removing one and putting it back starts the whole thing over, even removing a member of the herd over night will reset the whole thing,

[IndyGardenGal]

They will adjust, and possibly, get it right back for her. They establish the order pretty quickly, IME.

[dozedotz]

We have half the herd with one buck and half with the other buck...not only do they have to "reset" on the girls...but on the boys, too. Last year the boys settled it really fast with one big bout of "I'm bigger than you are" and then were totally happy until rut set in late July. A couple of the girls were STILL having disagreements when we separated them in September for breeding. We have several smaller shelters in separate pens and this year we are thinking that we will keep some of these "herd queens" with just their good buddies for feeding sleeping. They do fine when they are out to pasture, but they can be really mean when they get inside closer quarters. We do not want to risk injury to the pregnant ladies or their kids so we do not bring them up to the barn and the kidding stalls until one week before due date. So far that has worked fine. Neither of the bucks has ever hurt anyone accidently or on purpose...it is the girls who get really pushy.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I would try putting them together first in their outside area where they have lots of room & the underdog has room to get away. I wouldn't lock them in an enclosed small area right at first. Is there anyway thy can come & go from the barn during the night if need be?