Clover and Carson arrived yesterday and - while things ended okay - introductions did not go as expected!
When my last doe, Violet was brought in, she had a rough go of it because Queen Willow took an instant dislike to the newcomer. I was adviser that, in the future, a new doe should be housing with my gentlest doe first so that when they joined the herd it would be together. We have two stalls, so to start Carson and Clover went in one and Saffron and Petal went in the other so they would chat through the central door.
We would open the central door for awhile, the boys would snuffle at each other a bit and then begin to tussle. When it got too rough, we would break them up and put everyone back on their own side. We did this multiple times over the course of the day, assuming that eventually Saffron - who had a reputation as the more aggressive goat - would take control of the situation and peace would be restored.
Boy were we wrong! While Carson and Saffron are similar in size, Carson is a hair bigger and has bigger horns. And Carson had help - whenever they tussled, Clover would run in and hit Saffron from behind! It wasn't long before the poor guy was crying for mercy. Win to Carson!
Once the boys were sorted out and moved to the new pasture, the girls began paying attention to one another. Remember that bit about introducing the new doe to the smallest and sweetest first? That didn't work well either! Feisty Clover chased poor Petal all over the place! We had to bring in the other ladies post-haste, and Willow set things straight quickly.
Things seem sorted out for now. But it does appear that - at least for the time being - Petal does not have another Tiny Goat to be her friend.
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