New here!! need help with babies

[Dawn Conway]

Hi everyone!
I'm new, we recently got 2 male mini pygmies. They were born around Easter. They were banded last week before I got them. Thing is, they run away from me. I have been trying to win them over but they seem to not like me. We have a pygmy at the barn I ride at and he is like a little puppydog. He follows you around and is playful-loves human attention. I want my kids to act like this!!! Any suggestions on how to teach them to like humans? Thank you!!!!!

[mpillow]

Sounds like they were raised by mom possibly in a large herd without lots of human attn.

Bottle feeding makes friendly babies. You can try keeping raisins in your pocket and treating them with them.....sit right on the ground and let them come to you if possible....often curiosity will get the better of them.

[Milking Mom]

You can try putting them in a small pen where they cannot run away from you. Hold them and love on them and talk to them several times a day. Make them come to you for their food. Are they still on a bottle or weaned? I do this with calves. I put them in a small cattle panel pen and when they get used to me then I let them out, but they have to come to me and trust me before they get out of the little pen. I have a chair in there and go sit with them when I get some time. I have a glass of ice tea and they come sniff me. Eventually they will be crawling all over you. Treats is a good idea. You might try getting down on the ground too in their pen. You are such a GIANT tall thing to them. Even my big girls like it when I sit in the grass with them.

[Jen H]

All of my goaties have free access to hay and pasture. The only way they get any grain, though, is from my hand. That's how I tame them down.

I sit down in the barn with a bowl of grain in my lap. I put some in my hand and hold it out and then wait. Eventually they'll come up and nibble - slowly let your fingers curl up while they're eating so they get used to being touched. I just continue like that everyday. Eventually they'll come up and eat out of the bowl in your lap - by then I'm actually stroking them lightly while they munch. They'll scitter off sometimes, but they keep coming back. I let them wander around me and sniff and nibble.

Once they're coming up reliably and eating out of my lap I start holding them while they eat. I stroke them and talk to them. It takes a while, but I haven't found a goat yet that didn't come around within a couple of weeks.

The way to a goat's heart is honestly and truly straight through their stomach. Use that to your advantage.