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Post by mzgarden on Oct 11, 2019 23:23:02 GMT
We have Nubians - 2 adult does and 1 buck. We lost our last companion wether to M-worm this Summer. I bought DH 3 little wethers in August. They came out of quarantine after their CAE/CL/Johnes tests came back negative. While in quarantine the 'bigs' and 'littles' could see each other across a fenced area, but could not share fence line. Once they were good to go, we let them together for periods of time, until they were together morning to night. Our oldest doe has not taken to these kids. They are fine together in the pasture and the pen all day, she basically ignores them, but she will not let them into the shelter at night. So far, the weather is fine, the night pen has another roofed shelter they can sleep under so I'm not 'panicked', but this other shelter has no walls so it's not a winter shelter. The other two 'bigs' couldn't care less about the 'littles', it's just the older doe that runs them out of the shelter every time they come in. The shelter is about 16x20 & has two hay feeders one on each side so it's not a space thing or a fighting for food thing.
Any ideas for what I can do to get her to stop running them out of the shelter at night or should I just let them work it out?
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Post by feather on Oct 11, 2019 23:45:56 GMT
You started it. They are borg (the oldest doe) and not assimilating the new ones. Obviously defective borg. You must be like Picard in Star Trek, you first become one with the borg, share your thoughts, then they become more like you, let the little ones in, and then you can become human again. The little ones will be with the borg. Yeah, I don't have goats, but it might work.  |
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Post by mzgarden on Oct 12, 2019 0:03:15 GMT
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Post by feather on Oct 13, 2019 15:55:53 GMT
mzgarden, it's getting a little colder out. Is the borg letting them in the shelter yet?
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Post by mzgarden on Oct 13, 2019 16:41:54 GMT
Well, she that must be obeyed is still being a bit of a bully, but not as much. We got some ideas from others with goats and we sort of created a straw bale wall down the center - one side where the bigs have always slept and one side for the littles. DH got them all in the shelter last night and laying down but then the littles followed him out of the shelter (why I'm not a huge fan of bottle babies). Anyway, we're working with everyone inside the shelter. They're fine during the day. If we have to, we'll bring the girls into the barn. Not wanting to do that until they're closer to kidding, but if needs-must.
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Post by mzgarden on Oct 17, 2019 11:14:55 GMT
Well, it never did work out so DH kindly reinforced the 4 sided shelter in an unused pasture. We moved the girls into that pasture by themselves and they'll stay there until close to kidding. The adult buck has taken to the 3 kids very well, although he's crying for his girls. So, boys will stay in the big winter shelter until Spring, girls will stay in the newest winter shelter for a few months, then into the barn for kidding. We'll see what happens next Spring.
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