"No farmer should ever raise animals that are smarter than they are. That rules out Border Collies, goats, pigs and horses for most people" -Willard Fox
I got a call this morning. A Southern Belle's goats had gotten out.
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| This is what I saw when I arrived at 6:54am |
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| I opened up a gap between two feedlot panels and bent them as shown to help funnel the animals back into the pen. |
There is no profit in chasing goats.
I went to Southern Belle's barn and got a large "book" of alfalfa hay and carried to the corner of the pen. The friendliest goat came over to check me out and smelled the alfalfa and was very interested. I walked through the funnel and she followed me in. Goats are social animals. Three of the other four followed her in.
The fifth goat is lame and is the omega in the social caste. She decided that eating weeds and dogwood leaves suited her better than fighting her sisters for alfalfa hay.
I put some corn in a plastic bucket and carried into the pen and shook it. The four in the pen knew EXACTLY what that was and were suddenly my best friends. The lame goat ignored me.
So I walk in a round-about way to get her between me and the pen. Then I slowly, very slowly, started moving toward her. That is called "putting pressure on the animal". They will usually move in the direction they are pointed if you slowly approach them from their side.
She decided that her mean sisters were a better option than my getting closer and she scooted around the corner and joined her sisters.
I had the foresight to preposition some twine to refasten the feedlot panels together. Time elapsed: 7 minutes.
Way better than chasing goats, especially with a sore knee.
After securing the gap where I had let them back in, I walked around the pen to find where they had gotten out.
One of the feedlot panels had a bottom corner that had not been secured to the fence post. I fixed that while I was there.
Then I added a half-bale of hay and the rest of the five pounds of corn I brought.
After all, Willard Fox said "The best fences have the animals, food, water and salt all on the same side of them".
I have chased goats too many times. I won't help anymore unless they have fainting goats. YMMV, but it's never zero when it comes to goat chasing.
ReplyDeleteYou can lead goats and sheep easily, very difficult to drive them. Raising them gave me a bit better understanding of a lot of scripture. Also frequently tempted me to take the name of the Lord in vain
ReplyDeleteRoger that.
DeleteSome people insist that we don't need "Church" or community if we have Jesus. That ignorantly ignores the fact that Jesus used sheep as a metaphor for humans and sheep behave differently when in groups of four or more than they behave as a solitary animal.
Humans are inherently social animals.
Someone smarter than me once postulated that the only effective way to contain goats would be to pour two concrete walls 10 ft tall and 20 ft apart, fill the void between them with water, and stock the moat with sharks and piranhas.
ReplyDeleteI had goats when I was in veterinary school and still living at home with my parents but when graduation rolled around, Dad told me, "Don, I love you, but when you leave, so do the goats." He'd had enough of them escaping to eat his flowers/shrubs and was tired of finding the buck on top of the family car.
When we started our farm we wanted to raise Angora goats because of their valuable fleeces. I drove down to Pennsylvania to help a goat farmer on shearing day, to see what they were all about. That's why we raise Finnsheep now.
ReplyDeleteWe have the “Fort Knox” of goat fencing. The only time a goat got out was when hubby left a gate open. I saw her standing outside and said, “Hi Rose! What are you doing out here!?!” She was a very friendly goat and let me take her collar and walk her back in. I run like a girl, have only two legs, goats have four. I wouldn’t even attempt to chase a goat. Plus I’m 69. Too old for such nonsense. Brenda
ReplyDeleteERJ, were you able to figure out where they escaped?
ReplyDeleteChrist knew what He was talking about when He compared us to sheep and goats. We think of ourselves as much better.
What kind of twine did you use to hold the panels closed? Is it goat proof twine?
ReplyDeletesam
Baling twine.
DeleteSo far they have not nibbled on it.
As the loving father/father-in-law, I would be smothering if I insisted everything that MIGHT happen was armored against.
The pen is, supposedly, portable and will be moved Management Intensive Grazing style as the goats level each patch.
I've had the same experience herding chickens! Shaking a coffee can of scratch will usually have them following me like the Pied Piper!
ReplyDeleteA few times, when I was a boy, I woke to find stirks in our garden. They'd escaped from a slaughterhouse a few hundred yards away, run down the road, turned left and run up a lane, and thence into our garden - we had gates but practically never used them.
ReplyDelete"Stirk" = a yearling bullock, a beast much more aggressive than a cow and much bigger than a goat. They'll chase you if you don't recruit some pals with sticks. (Some did once: that was when I learnt to vault a hedge.)
Will goats chew on the orange colored hay twine ? We don't have goats but have cows and a donkey who won't eat the twine. That stuff is tough and can be unraveled for use on smaller projects if needed.
ReplyDeleteIs that brushy area yours (aka SB's property)? Goats find that sort of thing delightful! I would get some temporary electric-net fencing and a charger, and set them upon it while the weather is nice up there.
ReplyDeleteElectric may be the answer, too... Top and bottom wire.
I've caught a few loose horses and cows but never goats. My neighbor in PA goats like to escape and climb on the nearest cars and pickups. They nibble the roof of a BMW convertible which cost a pretty penny to replace.
ReplyDeleteJim ended up building a small mountain of pallets the goats seemed to enjoy climbing. They never wanted to wander after that,
Note to self: Goats are intelligent and need toys.
DeleteSouthern Belle worked at an "Agri-tainment" animal farm near a large city. I think they had teeter-totters for the goats.
Thanks for the tip.