I had a realization this morning while feeding the goats... They have finally gotten used to me. I can pet them now. 
The process seemed so slow coming that I hardly noticed.
Acorn, the all-brown wether, still the most skittish and wary of people, will even let me pet him if I approach him very slowly. I read somewhere (or perhaps someone who commented on my blog) that goats won't let you pet them on their head. Whenever I've tried to pet them, I've always reached toward their heads. All of my previous goats had no problem with anyone touching their heads - so it was something that I didn't even think about with these guys. They will stand beside me when I go in their yard, hoping for a cracker treat.
As long as I don't make any sudden moves, they will approach me and hang out if they've nothing better to do. When they stood beside me - I reached out and petted Turnip's back (I was in his peripheral view). He didn't run or jump or anything.
He stood there seeming to enjoy it. He let me pet him for a long time - until I was the one who'd had enough. Then I tried it with Apple - and had success again with her. This was the way to do it! Acorn still is unsure of being touched by anyone; however I can pet him if I have him on a leash. I have to put him on a leash when I walk them over to the pasture. The other two are fine to walk over there; Acorn will go where he pleases, and it can become difficult to get him inside the fence. I have to bribe him to come near me using a cracker (they love the Wasa Light Rye crackers) or some grain. When he's devouring the treat, I can take hold of his collar and put a leash on him. This way we have an incident-free walk across the street. Anyway when he's on the leash I am able to pet him - only because I can gently keep him from fleeing. Both Apple and Turnip love being petted, with Turnip being by far the biggest sweetie and affection-lover of the bunch. He's like a big baby. So I'm happy with where we are in our relationship. It's good.
2 comments:
We are getting two Nubians in a couple of weeks! We homeschool our 2 children and are adopting 2 more from Africa. We broadcasted Alfalfa yesterday and dug up 40 t-posts to prepare for our goats. Thanks for the blog. I know it will be a good resource for us as we start with our dairy goats:-)
I found that the best way to make friends with sheep, goats and llamas is to offer my nose instead of my hands. Once nose touching is established, back scratching seems to be the next step. They are always itchy and the scratching is heavenly to them.
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