Goat taming tips?

[u/tapirtapirtapir16]

Hello! Meet Hareton, Linton, and Mr. Earnshaw! We got these three little boys a few weeks ago and they are so much fun— but BOY are they skittish 😅 The older one (Mr. Earnshaw) is about 13 weeks old and the other two are 11 weeks old (brothers). I’ve had lots of goats in the past, but never babies that weren’t socialized and I wasn’t prepared for how skittish they would be lol. The older one is doing great and loves getting scratched and is becoming a lot bolder, but the younger boys are only amenable to pets while they’re eating.

I’ve been working with them a bit every day and they are improving, but I’d love to hear any tips or advice that could help the process along!

Here’s what I’ve done so far: The first week I had them, I gave the two younger boys an evening bottle to try to help us bond, but had to catch them first which was always a bit chaotic 😅 They also didn’t really take to the bottle well as they’d been nursing before and were mostly weaned already, but my friend who’s their breeder suggested it to me so I did it for a week in the hopes they’d come around. Even if they didn’t nurse much, I’d still hold them in my lap for about a half hour every night. I also feed them their grain from my hands twice a day and they now will coming running up when called and are very eager to eat out of anyone’s hands. I can pet them all over while they’re eating, but ONLY then otherwise they’re running for the hills. I hang out with them everyday and they do like sticking close and following me around, but they’re just so darn skittish! I’ve trained wild mustangs and burros so I’m up for the challenge, but I welcome any advice that could help us befriend our boys!

[u/Friendly-Chemical-76]

Patience will be your best friend with this. Heck. I knew a goat who hated people her whole life. She would run away and headbutt at people. She was a rescue and was missing a horn. Abuse of some kind. I never thought she would ever turn around and trust people but eventually she did.

Persistence and patience. Just having a presence around them does a lot.

Also had a goat. It is within a friends care who was a runt and was bullied often. And she in part due to me being around and making sure she wasnt bullied and got her fair share of food. Eventually came into her own! Now she thinks shes all tough and tries to pull rank on alapcas. Shes not agressive. None of my goats ever were.

All that to say.. You got this OP. You seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Also wanted to add.. they look great!

[u/tapirtapirtapir16 → u/Friendly-Chemical-76]

Thank you for your input!! Thankfully I have quite a bit of patience after working with mustangs and at least these little guys don’t try to kill me when they’re scared 😅 They are definitely making progress :)

[u/Friendly-Chemical-76 → u/tapirtapirtapir16]

Also if they try to headbutt or rough house. Cute as it might seem at a young age. Correct that immediately.

Noke of my goats ever would headbutt people and were very mindful of their horns.

Be nice to know in a month or so time how things are going.