Introducing a New Goat

In my search for a companion for Moose, I ran across an ad selling a blue-eyed Nigerian Dwarf buckling. Um, score!! I am so excited! DS#3 went with me to pick him up Tuesday night and now I am introducing him to our "herd."

 I find the introduction process very intimidating. The older goats can get a little rough when they're putting the young'uns in their place. On top of that, this new little guy is tiny. TINY! He's smaller than most of the kids that have been born here, although he's about 3 months old.

After much thought about how to integrate him and protect him at the same time (while the little dude snoozed in a pet carrier in my living room) I decided to use the same plan I used to introduce Moose to the does. In order to explain it in a way that might make sense, you'd have to see our goat set-up. So I drew it out in Microsoft Paint to give you a general idea:

not to scale, open spaces are gates

In an effort to keep him safe, all the other goats are in the doe pen. They are separated only by the cattle panel and gate. So he has their companionship- in a way. 

It didn't take long for him to figure out that he could fit through the panel and join in the fun on the other side of the fence. It took only a few seconds longer for him to find out that it wasn't friendly over there. So back through the panel he went! Right now he can go back and forth as he pleases. My hope is that by the time he's too big to fit, he will be totally accepted by the other goats. This worked well before, fingers crossed!

Coming soon-pictures and a name for the new guy.