# My goats scream all the time!



## gskinner

My family is getting tired of my four goats constantly screaming every time we walk out the door. It's mostly the two little ones that I bottle fed. They are little fat butter balls, so it's not like they are hungry. They've been weaned for quite a while now. The older they get will they get more quite? I'm thinking about selling them all and starting over with goats that haven't been pets.


----------



## CaliannG

What breed are they? The breed of the older ones might have something to do with the yelling.

Babies are going to yell when they see their "Mama", even if they aren't hungry. Your mother did more than just feed you, didn't she? Like provide a sense of safety and caring? When you bottle feed, you become their mother; of course they are going to cry to be with you.


----------



## gone-a-milkin

This screaming issue has a been a big factor in helping me select animals to keep versus cull when it comes to goats.

I know it doesnt bother some people at all to get yelled at by their goats constantly, but it makes me crazy.
I dont keep anything w/ Nubian blood any more. The ones I have known were always just frantic high-pitched shriekers. YMMV.

I dont have any specific advice for you to get the goats you have to be quieter, but in my opinion it is a perfectly valid reason to get rid of them.

I value my solitude THAT much.


----------



## gskinner

Gone-a-milkin, thank you so much. We feel the same about our solitude.

My buck is a mixed breed miniature. The adult female I believe is a pygmy and everyone on here told me the babies were nigerian dwarfs. 

I realize I am their adopted mother but since they've been weaned I've spent very little time with them. I figured by now they would kindof be over me being their mother. 

I got rid of a flock of guinea's one time because they followed me all over the yard yelling at me. We spend a lot of time outside and we like our quiet country living. 

I have a feeling I'm gonna be starting over with my goats.


----------



## Oat Bucket Farm

We had to sell off all of our Nubians for the same reason. I live in town, but even if I lived in the middle of a thousand acres with no one around for 200 miles, I still wouldn't want the yelling and screaming.

Our Mancha bottle babies don't yell. So far our two Mancha/Nubian babies don't yell when they see us. But then, their sire is the quietest Nubian I've ever met. So far they talk in little LaMancha voices. Their dam is more talkative when we come out the door, but she is still getting used to the idea that her "babies" (us) live in a human barn and are very disobedient. But even with that, she isn't out there screaming and for the most part doesn't raise her voice much. Just baas at us in her Mancha voice. None of our Manchas have ever reached the volume of a Nubian. 90% of the time, we can barely hear their voices across the yard. Even had feed time, when they talk more, we can't hardly hear them until we are almost to their pen.

I did read once, that your herd queen has something to do with it too. If you have a quiet queen, the rest of the herd tends to be quieter too. Not sure if it's true or not. Missy is our herd queen and she almost never talks at all.


----------



## CaliannG

Nigerians can yell.

My Alpines do chuckles or moos when they want my attention, but it is nothing like the yell of a Nubian, or some Nigerians.

You NEVER stop being Mama until THEY are Mamas. Sometimes not even then. My does follow me around all the time, as will the bucks if I let them out. Getting something quieter is one thing....but if you want something to leave you alone, I can't suggest goats.

There are wool, meat, and dairy sheep....which are quiet and will often ignore you.


----------



## thaiblue12

What do you have goats for? Milk? Weed eaters? It sounds like you do not spend much time with them, dairy goats are less annoying if they are friendly and just get on the milk stand and not run or fight. 
If you are just looking to have goats for weeds or some other purpose then a hands on one, get Boer goats, they are quiet and aloof and will not mind if you ignore them. 


My 3 Nubians are quiet, each come from a different breeder, my mini Nubians are also quiet. 
The loudest goat I own is a Nigerian and she only yells for food or if she does not know where one of her kids happens to be. 
My La Mancha and mini Mancha are the most annoying goats in my herd and I will not own the breed again. The ear envy is annoying from the full size girl, the mini just likes to see how much trouble she can get into, I would prefer they yell all day.


----------



## gskinner

My main concern is the noise.
I guess we're all really aggravated right now with the constant screaming. 
I really enjoyed them wanting to get pet and their little baas but this screaming is awful. It's making me not like them much anymore. My adult female has the sweetest little baa. I loved my two older goats until I got the babies. We think we will sell the babies and maybe we can enjoy the older two like we use to.


----------



## gskinner

Well.... I originally got the first goat for a weed eater and to see if I liked goats. I thought he was a baby when I bought him. He was being sold with a bunch of large goats. He ended up being a small adult. It was a funny story. My husband laughed when I brought my "baby goat" home. I went back and got a pygmy so he would have a friend. Then I got the babies...... Lately I've been thinking about meat goats so maybe I should go with boers.


----------



## RedSonja

gskinner said:


> My main concern is the noise.
> I guess we're all really aggravated right now with the constant screaming.
> I really enjoyed them wanting to get pet and their little baas but this screaming is awful. It's making me not like them much anymore. My adult female has the sweetest little baa. I loved my two older goats until I got the babies. We think we will sell the babies and maybe we can enjoy the older two like we use to.


I think selling the babies and keeping the older, quieter ones is a good idea. My newest doeling that I bought from another herd started out being a screamer (yes, she's Nubian, as are all my goats). But she's quieted down, thank goodness. The rest of my herd are pretty quiet, only yelling when I first go to the barn in the morning to start milking and let them out.

-Sonja


----------



## Minelson

This is an interesting thread....My goats are SO quiet! The only time I have heard them loud is when a stranger was walking down the road in the distance. They were very upset about that for some reason. Oh and once when Frankie got stuck in a folding chair...that was a scream. I think that is the only scream I have heard.
They make little baa baa noises when I come home from work. The horses nicker. Just little hellos.  I feel lucky now! I have 1 Pygmy and 2 pygmy/ND cross.


----------



## Steph in MT

There are goats that DON'T scream? :shrug:
It makes me smile when I walk out my door and am greeted by screaming goats and sheep, braying donkeys, howling dog, and meowing kitty that all think they are staaaarrrrvvvviiiinnnngggg..... (everyone of them could probably be classified as obese..) I love watching the fat goats come runnin' to me as fast as they can. 
I must be weird though, I also love the sound of the guineas and peafowl yelling.


----------



## Alice In TX/MO

Mine don't scream.  MiniManchas, MiniAlpine, Alpine, Saanen/LaMancha.... 

Only noisy one I *had* was a Nubian. Past tense.

I will tell you that Yarrow breeds beautiful QUIET Nubians.


----------



## southerngurl

Ok, I have Nubians. I even have one Nubian that screamed constantly for about 2.5 months after I got her. But my goats are quiet (unless something is wrong or they are bottle kids ready for a feeding and see me coming. Yelling animals drive me insane. My girls are silent, actually my toggenburg is the one that talks some when she sees me, but its quiet togg talk. Also had o e nubian buckling that yelled for a while but he quit. Make sure they have good hay and *free choice*. I almost never let my goats run out of something to eat. They are designed to be eating almost constantly. Also, make sure they always have minerals and good water. And never talk back to them or tell them to be quiet etc. Give them a little time and they should hush up.


----------



## CarolT

My goats talk to me when I go out, they only get loud and insistent if I ignore them. They tell me where they are, I answer and they go back to their search and destroy mission...

My boer boy is my loudest yeller. My Nubians are usually quieter than he is. He's not happy with a "hello" he wants Fooooooood!


----------



## oz in SC V2.0

We got a new doeling,quite young,she cries almost constantly...and at first you felt bad for her as it was that 'Where is my Momma' sort of cry.

Now we realise that is just how she baahs....which makes it much less enjoyable.

It doesn't help that two of the others boss her around.


----------



## kabri

Our neighbor has 3 Nubian weathers who were rescue bottle babies. They are 2 years old now and have finally quieted down! We could hear them constantly screaming, even from inside our house! Our sheep only "talk" at feeding time or if I call them, they talk back. Of course lambing time is different, lots of noise with everyone trying to keep babies in line!


----------



## BackfourtyMI.

I have nigerians, a full size nubian & mini nubians & all of mine are pretty quiet unless they are talking to me or it's time for chores & feeding.

My nubian is probly 1 of my most quiet goats we have though.
I'm like Steph in MT though, my barn cats come to meet me walking to the barn, the guinnea's noise & following me to the barn, turkey's & ducks making their noises & the goats it's like music to my ears. I'd rather hang out at the barn & with all the critters a lot of the time than I would with some humans!


----------



## southerngurl

> I'd rather hang out at the barn & with all the critters a lot of the time than I would with some humans!


Me too, but I just want them to be quiet about it!


----------



## Dreamgoat Annie

Steph in MT said:


> There are goats that DON'T scream? :shrug:
> It makes me smile when I walk out my door and am greeted by screaming goats and sheep, braying donkeys, howling dog, and meowing kitty that all think they are staaaarrrrvvvviiiinnnngggg..... (everyone of them could probably be classified as obese..) I love watching the fat goats come runnin' to me as fast as they can.
> I must be weird though, I also love the sound of the guineas and peafowl yelling.


Ahhhh, me too. I second everything you said. It's one reason I love Nubians. However, the loudest goat we've had, ever, was a Boer doe. Unfortunately we lost her a few years ago but her daughter can scream almost as loudly and stridently as her mom.

Sue


----------



## yarrow

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Mine don't scream.  MiniManchas, MiniAlpine, Alpine, Saanen/LaMancha....
> 
> Only noisy one I *had* was a Nubian. Past tense.
> 
> I will tell you that Yarrow breeds beautiful QUIET Nubians.


that's because Yarrow doesn't want to listen to never ending screaming, even if we do have 30+ nubians LOL.... (right now, I have TWO that are screamers.. thankfully neither have much to *say* except at dinner time.. both of them are wildly spotted, very correct does with nice udders... OF COURSE THEY ARE !!!! LOL) 

My herd is quite... there are does out there that I've never even heard their voices...ever! The bottle kids are loud at feeding time.. but walk into the kidding barn any other times of the day... they'll run over to be petted.. but there's no screaming. From the beginning we raised the goats with the idea of wanting quiet nubians... I never responded when they yelled.. (you can tell the difference in just yelling and really NEEEDING something.. I'd wait until they were quite).. I sold off does that were yellers, it seems to run in lines.. it's also something they pick up from others.. My first herd queen didn't like to hear yelling, so she would hit the screamers! They learned quickly...

(We also don't want to be mobbed like at a petting zoo, every time we are out with the herd. We don't feed treats by hand, when the whole doe herd is there. No one ever climbs up and gets too pushy, since they aren't expecting food. Everyone comes over for loves, kisses, cuddles, backrubs ect.. but I didn't want to be viewed as a goat vending machine LOL)

susie, mo ozarks


----------



## southerngurl

yarrow said:


> but I didn't want to be viewed as a goat vending machine LOL)


And boy are they quick to define you as one!


----------



## Dreamgoat Annie

I should add that not ALL of my Nubians scream. But several of the wethers talk quite a lot. I guess I'm weird (well, I _know _I'm weird...) but I love their happy, strident voices.

Sue


----------



## wintrrwolf

Right now Pebbles is my loudest goat but she is still being bottle fed and doesn't have another goat kid to cuddle and play with.
My old herd queen (saanen) was the quietest goat I have ever had, next in line is Pawnee (nubian) all my mini's and ND's were/are loud, demanding, and sometimes pushy. With the 2 new boys (nubians) BamBam can get noisy if he cant find his friend but settles down if he is near me. His friend, I think will name Monkey seems to think I am a new toy to climb on but other than that is fairly quiet.
Oh they are all loud when they first see me, but after they realize its not feeding time they settle down quickly.


----------



## Pony

wintrrwolf said:


> My old herd queen (saanen) was the quietest goat I have ever had, next in line is Pawnee (nubian) .


:clap:


----------



## gskinner

Here is my new plan after reading all your comments. I'm gonna sell the two little ones. So... I'll try not get to attached to any new goats I get until I figure out if they are gonna be quiet or loud. I'll buy and sell until I get what we're all happy with. I really do enjoy my little goats. I'm very sad to sell my little babies but I have to keep my family happy too.


----------



## Steph in MT

gskinner said:


> Here is my new plan after reading all your comments. I'm gonna sell the two little ones. So... I'll try not get to attached to any new goats I get until I figure out if they are gonna be quiet or loud. I'll buy and sell until I get what we're all happy with. I really do enjoy my little goats. I'm very sad to sell my little babies but I have to keep my family happy too.


Wish you were closer! I'd take your little screamers~


----------



## bee

All right...I'll confess...I TRAINED my goats to "call". It was really easy. I was new to Nigerian Dwarves, terrified they were hurt/in need so I answered ever lil bleat and baa..Then to make sure they would be noisey, I usually gave them a treat before I left.
Goats learn faster than I do....apparently.


----------



## April

I love my screaming girls. We have shouted conversations every morning as I go out to get in the car to go to work. Me: "Morning, girls!" Entire Herd: "OooOOOOOooohhhhhh, heeeEEEEeeeyyyyyyy!" They're the perfect way to get a free smile!

My Yarrow girls aren't very quiet, though. Susie must have bred away from this line. 
I have a granddaughter of a Yarrow girl that we call "Screamin' Stella". I've been hollering at them in order to hear them yell back since they were on the bottle, so I totally caused it. I wouldn't have 'em any other way. 

I don't have neighbors, though,so the noise isn't breaking any ordinances.


----------



## yarrow

April said:


> I love my screaming girls. We have shouted conversations every morning as I go out to get in the car to go to work. Me: "Morning, girls!" Entire Herd: "OooOOOOOooohhhhhh, heeeEEEEeeeyyyyyyy!" They're the perfect way to get a free smile!
> 
> My Yarrow girls aren't very quiet, though. Susie must have bred away from this line.
> I have a granddaughter of a Yarrow girl that we call "Screamin' Stella". I've been hollering at them in order to hear them yell back since they were on the bottle, so I totally caused it. I wouldn't have 'em any other way.
> 
> I don't have neighbors, though,so the noise isn't breaking any ordinances.



LOL... poor April.. I totally forgot you have CARLA daughters LOL.. one of the wildly spotted screamers is also a Carla daughter .... (Carla does talk some .. but she has a deep *smoker* voice.. I actually enjoy *chatting* with her)

susie, MO Ozarks


----------



## MaddieLynn

Our does are SO quiet. I was shocked at how quiet they are compared to our neighbor's cashmere goats. They didn't even yell when we took their babies away to disbud them. 

One is full LaMancha, and the other is 38% LaMancha/62% alpine. From different breeders too. The mixed girl makes the tiniest whispery squeaks when her kids nurse.


----------



## The Tin Mom

My girls are pretty quiet. I have one that tells me when it is time for dinner, whether she sees me or not. The rest will yell if it is dinner time and I walk by the pen without stopping to let someone on the stand. Sometimes they talk just to talk, but it is usually quiet soothing baas. 

I like the guineas, too, but I am glad my girls don't talk as much as the guineas.


----------



## Tallabred

My nubian doe aborted her babies, I am now her baby. She hollers for me CONSTANTLY!!

Has anyone tried a dog collar for barking?


----------



## yarrow

I probably should take back any ugly thoughts I was having about the spotted screamer whose babies are due today... I was dreading her time in the kidding barn.. It's right next to my bedroom window.. I just knew I'd never get any sleep last night.. when we put her & her friend in the stall at dinner chores.. she began yelling.. she yelled until about 8pm.. then just laid down, took a nap, ate some hay... she is being really quite.. Not at all what I expected from her... I induced her yesterday morning, so we should have kids late this afternoon/early evening... It will be interesting to see if this new quite version of Lotti-Dotti-Doe (yes, that is her name LOL).. holds or if we go back to Sir Screams a-Lot, after she kids... 

susie, mo ozarks (ear plugs at the ready)


----------



## BarbadosSheep

My sheep are the same way if I feed them grain. If I ignore them and only give them hay and pasture, they are pretty quiet. All it takes is one day of graining them and they all bbbbaaaaaaaaa loudly for me. It drives me nuts. I had to sneak out in the dark to feed the dogs and chickens this morning, hoping the darn sheep didn't spot me and start bellowing.


----------



## gskinner

Life is good again! I found a great home for the babies. My 2 grown goats baa every now and then and it's great. I love my does baa it sounds like a baby and it's not very loud. The bottle babies were louder than I even thought. I'm glad I made the decision to sell them.


----------



## TSYORK

I used to have some nubians, but now I have lamanchas and alpines. While my ladies now do make noise to some extent, at times, it's nothing like when I had those loud-mouth nubians.... those ladies could peel the paint off the walls screaming.... and Lord help with one of them went into heat.... I had one in heat one time wake me up out of dead sleep, and my pasture is quite a ways from my house...


----------



## Donna1982

Our loudest is a boer doe. She screams daaad whrn she sees the bf. A close second would be moms wether Little Foot but he's only 3 weeks old. For the most part they don't make much noise. Unless in heat or like now when Red is in rut. He cracks me up though so I don't mind.


----------



## Shygal

You think screaming goats are bad? Try being followed around by a pig screaming and snorting and squealing and screaming again every where you go outside


----------



## gskinner

> You think screaming goats are bad? Try being followed around by a pig screaming and snorting and squealing and screaming again every where you go outside &#65532;


That is so funny!


----------



## Cliff

Just be sure if you bring a bigger buck onto the place that he never breeds the pygmy doe. Pygmy does have a hard enough time having little babies. And you can't get your hand in there to help without injuring them. Btdt.

Also, for meat goats I personally prefer kiko to boer by far. They are much more hardy - don't need the coddling that boers always seem to. And quieter.


----------



## Pony

Poor Nubians... Getting bad-mouthed on the basis of a few bad eggs...


----------



## Cliff

Pony said:


> Poor Nubians... Getting bad-mouthed on the basis of a few bad eggs...


Yeah was gonna say we've never had the loud nubian problem either, and our herd is almost all nubian. Last spring we did have a doe born who hollered all the time but she grew out of it and now doesn't make a peep. She was just troublesome in general though, don't think it was necessarily bc she's nubian. I literally saved her life 4 times because of the situations she got herself into. Good thing she had a good yelling voice I guess lol. She'd get stuck somehow and yell loudly and repeatedly for help.


----------



## Pony

Cliff said:


> Yeah was gonna say we've never had the loud nubian problem either, and our herd is almost all nubian. Last spring we did have a doe born who hollered all the time but she grew out of it and now doesn't make a peep. She was just troublesome in general though, don't think it was necessarily bc she's nubian. I literally saved her life 4 times because of the situations she got herself into. Good thing she had a good yelling voice I guess lol. She'd get stuck somehow and yell loudly and repeatedly for help.


Goats are like children in that way, aren't they? There are the "Oh, I'm just bored so I'll vocalize" calls, and then there are the "HOOOMANZ!!! GET OUT HERE QUICK!!!" calls that make us drop everything and come a-runnin'!


----------



## SilverFlame819

Everyone talks about the Nubes being loud, but I've never been around Nubes that were screamers. Boer bottle kids, on the other hand... :flame: The noise is more than I can bear.


----------



## Ellie Mae

we also now have "quiet" in the barnyard after selling our first and last Nubian doe's. Loved them, wanted some for years, but was worried about their reputation for being talkative.

The breeder we bought them from told us she breeds for quiet and while we were at her place, never heard a peep out of the large herd. It was a whole nother story when we got them here though, yikes!

Our other gals hated them, beat the tar out of them at every chance, and we felt sorry for them. We figured after 9 month's our other goats would have accepted them, but they never did. So between nonstop screaming and getting bullied constantly, we felt it was right for all involved to find them a new good home.

we just added 3 Saanen does to our herd after selling our Nubians last week, and our girls are all calm, content and quiet. 
Life is good.


----------



## lj_sunshine

I just sold my screamer. At 4 months she did nothing but scream! She was a bottle baby and when she was weaned the herd would not accept her. They nearly killed her. I fed her separate from the herd so she wouldn't starve. After eating she would stand by the fence and scream! She would not go browse with the others. Finally I gave up and sent her packing.


----------

