I'm sure she is just a little scared! If I was you I'd get her a buddy if you can, they are a herd animal and can get very lonely.
You can bribe her with treats, mine love animal crackers and gram crackers. I only give them a few at a time and I make one cracker go along way, breaking it up into small peices. When she feels safe she will love her treats and stuff, it takes time! Spend as much time with her as you can so she can get used to you.I have 3 and when I brought them home they wouldn't let us near them for a week, I just kept at them, now they won't leave me alone!!!

I also feed mine maple leaves, make sure they are not red maple leaves, and red maple leaves are green! They look different then a sugar maple leaf. Just make sure you read up on what is safe for them to eat. Do not let her near cherry trees,of any kind, they are toxic to them.
Have fun,
Brenda

Thanks Brenda! Do you have children? and are the goats nice with them? I have a 2 year old,but in time I'm hoping that the 2 of them will be great friends! I also never leave my son out of my sight anyways!! But I still worry...just nervous,never done this and want it to be a great experience for all. :)

(speaking with over 20 years of experience with raising both kinds of kids together; I've added a link to my youngest daughter's website)

Does this goat have horns? If so, she is absolutely not trustworthy around a small child. You can take her to a Vet and have her horns surgically removed; the Vet will cut them off and then hopefully, use a disbudding iron to destroy the remaining horn forming cells. It sounds gruesome, but the goat recovers nicely and believe me, it's no where near as gruesome as having your child poked in the eye by a horn.

I'm guessing this animal was not bottle raised and is not especially bonded to humans. Unless they have been messed with and accidently trained to head but, very young animals will run away rather than try to aggressively fight. To me, it's another strike against her. That's not to say she will never settle down, but that the animal isn't likely to hang out with humans (especially very young ones) unless there is food involved. If she is aggressive at this age, you will *definately* want those horns removed if she has any.

If you aren't going to be raising goats and just want one for a playmate for your child, I would suggest contacting a dairy goat breeder in your area and ask about buying a dehorned, bottle fed wether. (castrated male) Although a dairy goat will get considerably larger than a pygmy, you'll find there is no better pet as they are already well bonded to humans. You can't "ride" a goat like a pony because their back is built differently, and trying to carry weight can easily cripple them, but you *can* teach a standard sized wether to pull a cart or wagon. Now that's something a small child would enjoy. If there are no goat breeders near you who bottle feed, you can sometimes find a wether that belongs to a 4H kid that was MOL raised as a pet but can no longer be shown because it is too old. Just make sure the horns have been removed, and that you (and your child) have a chance to interact with the animal before you agree to buy it. If you do buy a wether, don't get buffaloed into paying a premium price for him; it doesn't matter what shows he has won in the past, or how great a milker his mother is; his current value is whatever the price for slaughter animals is at market. Remember, you're doing them (and him) a favor by saving his life.

Other than that, I'd suggest joining a goat mailing list where you can learn from knowledgeable, experienced people. The one I personally recommend is Goats-L and you can subscribe online at: http://lists.wsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/goats

The absolute best book for new goat people is a little hard to find but it's worth the effort. It's called "Raising Goats for Milk and Meat" by Rosalie Sinn. It's a Heifer Project International publication.

Good luck with your new kid. ;^)

Here is a link that might be useful: What my kid has to say about her

I love the name!

What color is she? Reese rams into my 13 y/o brother all the time. His horns were removed as a baby so he's not that dangerous..
You'll want to spend as much time with her as possible! Get her use to you and petting her...Reese loves to be loved on :)
I'm sure you're gonna fall in love with her before long! Goats can be stubborn and aggravating LOL but they can also be sweet, loving and cute!!
Good Luck! If you think of some more Q's just ask!
Genny

Just checking on how the goat is doing! I do have children, Michael was 4 when we got the goats. We received them at 12 weeks old. They were weaned from momma, and were not bottle fed, but had a lot of humane contact. I think they were a bit young to leave momma, but they are a year old and loving and ornery as ever, de horned. One of them grew some horn back, it a blunt horn and curves back not up or out. He is my head butter so to speak, he rears up like he is gonna buck and then stops short of ramming you like he knows it will hurt you. He does rub his horn on anything he can, and sometimes he tries to rub my shin,ouch, but he isn't aggressive and seems like he is teasing more than anything! They have never come after my little guy and tolerate his screaming and running around just fine. They hate balls though and if they hear one bouncing they run, and won't come within 5 feet of one if it is still on the ground. I have no idea why, but it keep them away from a tree I don't them near! LOL!!! I fenced around the tree and they walked the fence down, so I put the ball near it and haven't been by it since!
If she is running for you and ramming you every time you go near her, I would watch my child around it, and even if it doesn't have horns they buck hard and it hurts. She may be bucking your hand because she was taught to play that way.
So really it depends on if she is acting aggressive towards you or not.
How is she acting after a few days?
Brenda

Hi again,
well...I brought back the baby goat "joy" to the place I got her from,and they gave me a 12 week old doe. I called him yesturday explaining that I wanted a pet ut of the goat and she was too aggressive towards us. He had 2 12 week olds,so I exchanged them...and oh-my-god- she's adorable! she's pure black,and she's completely different from the other one..this one seems much more docile and shy,but I've already held her on my lap and sang her a couple songs!! (poor thing :)
anyways,so far so good...she does have horns but I'm not worried since she will be tame and friendly. I will just watch out for my little guy when she's loose with us in the yard. I am excited,does anyone know when a good time to train them on a leash is right?? also,I want a heated bowl for the winter,is that the best idea for thawed water??
Thanks everyone! xo
ps.not sure if I'll keep the name joy or not..I'll let you know she looks more like a delilah hahaha!

Neat! Can you send pictures?

I'm sure you'll love her, I'm glad you got one you were happiest with :) I bet she's adorable!

I tried getting Reese to walk on a leash but he wouldn;t have it ;) he's a very funny guy and wants things to be his way. He can walk on one, but won't come sometime when I pull him!

Are you going to just have her or are you getting another one too?? just wondering....

actually I'm just gonna have her...for the time being,if I go nuts and it's easy enough I MAY get another sometime...but I do only plan on having just her. She's so funny...she's following my ducks around like she's one of them, copying what they do ect!! I have her own little barn with her own stall in it,but its also open to the chicken and duck run which is a BIG fenced area for everyone to hang out in. so she can come and go as she pleases..I hope it all works out ok,she's SO awsome! Sometimes she calls for her friends but I'm hoping soon that will end. Does your goat make alot of noise??? and what's your setup like??

So glad to hear you exchanged her for one with a gentler temprement. Still, I can't impress upon you strongly enough to go ahead and have those horns removed. Even if she's the friendlest little girl in the world, a goat with horns is trouble.

I know, at 12 weeks those horns are small and cute. It's funny when they get longer and the goat realizes they're up there and uses them to scratch their back, but not so great when they swing their head around to look at something and knock you in back of the leg, or poke your child in the eye.

Horns are also a great way for a goat to get it's head hung through a fence, or caught in a bush. There is nothing worse than finding an animal that has been trapped and suffering (or worse, dead from strangulation or a broken neck) because of it's horns.

Honest, she will be a much better pet without them. :^)

Yes, Reese can make a lot of noise when he's lonely.

Our setup? :) Well we keep Reese in the back yard. He has a doh house that he sleeps in with hay insidee of it. I keep a plastic kid's swimming pool with fresh water for him to drink/play in (but he never gets in it LOL) He has about 2 1/2 acres fenced in to just walk around in. He can get up to our back deck and he hangs out there alot. He shares the back yard w/ our great pyrenees. She is 4 months old now and they've really seemed to bond.

He also likes to hang out with my ducks too! He will walk around with them like he's one of them kinda like you said your goat does :) it is real cute!

So did you name her Delilah? Can you send pictures????

actually,I've gone ahead and bought the twin sister now! I couldn't bear the loneliness she seemed to have...every time I would leave her she would cry out. Anyways now they're together and I'm so happy I did that! They have a ball all day long...the names are billy-jean(the first one) and mary-jane. I tred the picture thing..but didn't work out..if you give me your email address I can send you a lot of my pet pics...I have them on my computer and know how to do that at least! haha! my digital cam broke recently so I haven't yet taken pics of the does,but soon we'll get a new one. We just (as in 2 days ago) signed for our house! so now we own it....so happy!! bye for now

Hold them as much as possible, when putting out food, go in and pet them, if they squirm away your not holding them enough. Sit in their pen as much as you can stand it at this age. When they get older you won't need to do this since they will already be used to you. This is the critical age where they figure out if they are part of your heard or you are just an outsider who feeds them and goes away. This is especially serious when your child want to touch them and they feel the little one is an outsider and they need to 'protect' themselves. The first time they try to even playfully butt you, be very very stern and say NO point with your finger and maybe even touch their nose saying NO. Horns and human children are the worst thing ever. Its too late to disbud them but you need to be careful to train your child as much as these goats. I have all horned goats, my pygmy is the worst to use them on outsiders, dogs, or even a little bush he finds annoying. His horns are his way of communicating. Not with me or hubby but with strangers, family members, outside dogs etc. Please educate yourself on the dangers of horns and buy Carolyn Eddy's Practical Goatpacking book. I know you won't be goatpacking but you can learn so much of how to train your goat, how many words they can learn and the discipline it takes to create a well loved pet. You can train goats to do much more then they will show you lol

Hi beeliz,

I'm glad you're enjoying them both! I wondered if you might get another. They are very neat animals to have--I love Reese so much!

I LOVE the name Mary-Jane. I have always thought it was a cute name. It's weird cause the other day I told my mom that one of the next animals I get I'd like to maybe name it Mary-Jane LOL

about emailing pictures...I really don't know how to send you my e-mail privately. I don't want to post it here though for everyone to see either :(

talk to you later :)
let us know how they are when you get a chance!!!!!

Definately use the name mary-jane! It's awsome!
I wasn't thinking when I asked for your email,,,jeez,I should have known better! Do you get hurt with reese's horns? I'm starting to get worried now :(
anyways,I'm going outside right now to play with them,thank you for all the info !!

Hey,

When we first got Reese we went and had his horns removed. I know it sounds cruel, I wasn't really into doing it at first but my mom talked me into it...she was afraid he would hurt one of the dogs as he got older if we didn't get them removed.

So we talked to the vet about it and as long as you get it done at a young age it isn't very painful for them. But they said we needed to do it now or never because if he got older it would be too painful to do...so we went ahead and got them removed and also got him neutered all in the same day!!

I'm not trying to take over your post or anyhting but here is a picture of Reese.Do any of your girls favor him??

{{gwi:45577}}

This was almost a year ago so he is a lot taller and bigger around now. I'll try to get some more recent ones of thim later :)

oh wow,he's so cute! He looks like my two! one is pure black and the other has a white mark over her nose as well,with white on her ears! cute!!
yeh,I'm really glad I got them,their so much fun...but I won't dehorn them,I'll just be careful and teach my son the dangers of horns! I keep them in an eclosed fenced area most of the time ,but sometimes they come out with me in the yard when I'm with them...they like to snoop around and eat grass ect...they won't always be free,especially when my son is playing in the yard.
I'll just use my common sense...so far,they're extremely freindly and fun...very delicate too!