My sister recently gave me a bred doe that is not tame. She (the goat, not my sister) is due in 2 1/2 months. What would be the best way to tame her? I posted this on Countryside and I remembered that there was a new Dairygoat forum so thought maybe you all might have some more suggestions. Thank you!

-- Marie in Central WA (Mamafila@aol.com), February 13, 2002

Answers

Marie, I've answered a lot of posts like this, so what I did was to cut and paste one of my old answers- the general information is the same. I have tamed a lot of goats, and this is the method I use. YOur doe should calm down a lot once she kids. If I were you, I'd leave the udder alone until she kids. Just work on earning her trust and friendship for now. After she kids she will not mind her udder being handled as much as she would right now.

I think that it would be very possible to tame them down if you want to work with them. It is very rewarding to have a half wild goat learn to trust you and act affectionate. The first thing you need to do is to put a collar on each one if they don't have one yet. Then, every day,feed them a little grain, while they are standing in a milking stand, from your hand. While they eat,pet them all over their body. You could get a scrub brush and brush them,too. Talk quietly to the doe and say her name a lot. At first they will act relieved to be out of the milk stand when you are done. But if you do this every day, with each doe away from the others so they can't beat up on her or steal her grain, and don't ever give them grain except when they are on that milking stand,(future training for being milked) they will begin to look forward to being talked to and petted. You could just sell them and buy others, or raise kids off them and then get rid of them, but who is going to want a half wild goat if you don't? They would probably just get eaten. You could also take them to the vet (don't even consider doing it at home) and get their horns removed. That will really humble the bossies and they will be safer to be around too. Horned goats tend to have an attitude, that goes away when the horns do! They won't mind you handling the kids, you don't need to worry too much about that. Most does kick a little when they are first being milked, but if you handle their udders a lot for a month or two before the kids arrive they will be better behaved. The other thing you can do is to lead them around by their collars so they get used to going where you want them to. Goats are rather nervous animals and their trust must be earned. They also have amazing memories, so they remeber if they have ever been mistreated. Maybe the former owner intimidated them or kicked them out of the way, or maybe they just weren't worked with. Either way,if you are gentle and kind to them they will come around eventually.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), February 13, 2002.