What happens when you put two male goats together in the same fenced area?
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Goat Farm on Itasca County 88, Pincherry Road
Question by Jordan Z: What happens when you put two male goats together in the same fenced area?
This may sound silly but we jst got two male goats…we put them in the same area but they keep fighting or i dnt knw if it is playing…I WNT TO KNOW… IS IT FIGHTING OR PLAYING?? Plz givee me tips if it is fighting on how to stop it.. =} THXX
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4 Responses to What happens when you put two male goats together in the same fenced area?
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This happens even if you put two female goats together that don’t know each other. They are establishing a pecking order–someone has to be “boss of the goat-pen.” I don’t know if your boys are intact or fixed, all goats do this. In a day or two, things will sort themselves out, and from time to time the “boss” will assert his/her authority over the others. And, sometimes they will play-fight as well. Just let them sort themselves out. BUT, if one has horns, and one does not, then keep them separated.
sweet_trixie
August 31, 2013 at 4:04 pm
We always keep our bucks and wethers together. We raise boer goats and the bucks will always butt heads with each other or one of the wethers, sometimes for play, sometimes to assert who is the boss. Young bucks and older bucks will do this. It is natural for them. We started to put our wethers with the bucks due to the females not allowing them to eat enough so they lost weight. They gained at least five pounds a week once we put them with the bucks and they never had horns. They will butt heads that is natural. I have raised over three hundred goats in my time so far and not once did we seperate dehorned bucks/wethers from horned bucks/wethers.
You never want to have collars on them though, if they have horns. A horn can get caught in the collar and kill the other goat if you are not there to get them seperated.
anbymemc87
August 31, 2013 at 4:08 pm
All goats who are strangers to each other will fight, no matter what the sex. They are a herd animal, and establish the herd pecking order immediately.
Sometimes the “fight” can be as little as a dominant goat cocking their head, and flairing their ears out, and the other goat running away. Pecking order was established.
Are your goats wethers (castrated male goats) or bucks (still have their testicals)?
If they are bucks, you need to have them castrated. Bucks do NOT make good pets.
Are the goats young and near the same age? Chances are they are playing then. Male goats, especially young ones, just like to play fight. They do it quiet a bit. Bashing heads, and scampering about chasing each other, and mounting each other. It’s perfectly normal behavior.
If one goat has horns, and the other doesn’t, you need to be careful. The one with horns might injure the other goat. On the other hand, I had two adult bucks together. The dominant herd buck, which did NOT have horns knocked the other buck so hard, he broke one of his massive horns. I wouldn’t have thought it possible. Broke it right off at skull level. Blood everywhere. (The buck with the broken horn lived with my care, and grew back a knobby fist looking horn)
It’s actually better not to try to stop your goats, wether they are playing, or fighting. Remember they are goats and herd animals. They do not think like humans. They are going to try and fight to establish pecking order no matter what you do. Once it’s established, the fighting will stop.
If these two goats already knew each other (like they are brothers, or from the same herd) chances are they are just playing. In which case, just enjoy watching them.
~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years
Raising meat goats since 1999 (currently 81 goats in my herd)
Bohemian_Garnet_Permaculturalist
August 31, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Sometimes they will fight and mount eachother when they are first put together. If they get too rough and the fight gets bloody then seperate them. If it seems fine they will settle down in about a day or so when one dominates the other.
wutupwitu
August 31, 2013 at 4:53 pm