by Kira
This is for all you animal lovers who are curious about our goat herd! I’ve been wanting to share some info and updates, and what better place to do that than in our awesome Bee! For those of you who don’t know me – I’m a Broker & Executive Assistant at Olivette Realty, and one of my favorite work perks is helping to take care of our goats! I also have some background in farm animal sanctuary volunteer work and the love and care of animals has been an important element of my life since childhood.
There are so many interesting goat facts to cover, and today I’m going to talk a little bit about the social hierarchy of a goat herd. Daphne, Jolene, Rainbow Thunder Princess and Minnie are our OG mama goats (a female goat is also known as a doe or nanny). Daphne and Jolene are a bit shy, while Rainbow and Minnie are the bosses or “flock queens.”
Minne and Rainbow, our Flock Queens
Fun Fact: A group of goats is known as a herd. Less common names include tribe, trip, and flock.
According to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, “Dominance of a herd member is determined by three factors: age, sex and the absence or presence of horns…The most dominant doe is called the “Flock Queen.” She is responsible for leading the herd to the best grazing areas. When she finds a suitable spot to graze, the other goats will graze in the same area. If the Flock Queen is taken out of the herd, the other goats will show confusion until another Flock Queen is chosen.
A very interesting ritual occurs when the Flock Queen comes upon a plant that is poisonous or inedible. She will sniff the plant and then snort and show obvious dislike for it. All the goats in the herd will take turns smelling the same plant, using its scent as identification of that particular plant. After they have all taken a turn memorizing the plant’s odor, the Top Buck will trample the plant.”
Now how cool is that!
Stay tuned for our next episode of the Secret Life Of Goats!