Okay so I am feeling a little frustrated at the moment by my kids!! Our property is tiered and our house sits on the highest tier and goes down to our field which is a little over and acre. We have a 2 story barn, the upper is for storage and the lower is all theirs. The pasture is all fenced off, there is a pond which overflows into a stream. But will they stay down there? NO they want to be up by the house all day long. Half the house is fenced with the back yard, garden and chickens, the other half hangs over into the field so the goats can be up by the kitchen. We have 2 acres total.. We can't really fence it off to keep them away from the house. We knew we had a problem spot we were just hoping they wouldn't find it!! Well they did :0( and now I can't keep them in. My husband works 12 hour shifts so he hasn't had a chance to fix it permanently. I fixed it temporary, I thought until they are once again at my back door. They where bottle fed and I know VERY attached to me. We are getting an 18 month old doe in 2 weeks and was curious if you thought she would help them be a little more independent. She was Dam raised and was told she is very sweet. I have decided that I love my babies, but I do not want anymore bottle fed kids. Unless we have to. They are driving me up the wall. My neighbor whose house is behind ours brought them home 3 times yesterday.... Which I run a daycare and had 10 kids yesterday. Not really the best day to be chasing goats all day.. So to fix the problem I have them locked in my back yard, which then they eat all my plants I just planted, until my husband is home tomorrow to fix the problem spot. Ugg sorry just venting. I love them very much, they are just rubbing me wrong today especially since they can be up by the house they are just determined they want to be in the backyard!! They really do have a mind of their own!! LOL Any suggestions on how to make them a little more independent would be great. They are 3 months old this week. I just weened them Wednesday, so I don't know if that's part of the problem I slowly weened them cutting out feed over the past 3 weeks... Thanks for listening. I know it won't always be easy, but I really do LOVE them dearly just frustrated today... I know they are just being goats :0)
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Well I won for now. I sat and watched for over a hour today to see how they were still getting out, because even after my temporary fix where I thought they were getting out, they were still getting out. The little buggers were crossing the tiniest, rotted out piece of wood, over a drop of about 15 feet to cross to my neighbors property.. So I went out with a sawzall and took care of business!! LOL Now they have no were to go but in the field!!
Goats are such escape artists! Our two does, if not in their pen, will come up to the front porch and cry until the kids come out to play with them. We used to let them roam the property, but had to pen them up. Our neighbor has 3 horses and the goats prefer to be with them. That worked when we had 2 of the horses here but now that they are rotated between properties the goats have to be separated. It was cute to see the goats standing there waiting for the kids to come out, although it was less cute at 6am, lol.
Our does weren't bottle fed, but we did get them at around 4-6 weeks old. (My SIL bought them for the kids right before we moved here).
I used to have a problem with our goats getting out of our yard and going across the road to eat the neighbors plants. SO annoying. I know how you feel. we did "fix" the spot with a wooden pallet, and I was able to put a bored in front of the gate lock. Eventually those two were sold, and the ones I have now, have only gotten out of the yard once. When they first came here they rushed the gait as I opened it so David could drive the car out. Took us an hour to catch them! Now we just leave it outside because it's easier, and probably safer in terms of bio security. But they have never since tried tried to get out of our property. Getting out of their pens is another story. At the moment it seems to be a daily occurrence between 5 and 7 PM. I wish I could just let them have the entire property to roam as they pleased... but I HAVE to do something about escapes before kidding season or I'll end up with surprise kids!
A ll of our goats still like the front porch. its my kidding place. a couple weeks before they are due I start letting them sleep up there at night... and I can lock them in during the day if they go into labor. Every time they have ever gotten out they have ended up there. It never bothers me, but its not David's favorite time of the year, but he knows why I do it. If we ever get around to building a barn I'll be sure to give it a front porch like room. :) If we convert the interior of the garage, as we have talked about, I guess they will just have to live with it.
Thanks guys!! Yes I have really learned that although I love my goats I don't think I will ever buy another bottle baby. The 2 goats we just purchased were both dam raised so I am excited to see if they can help my little ones. They will also have a little bit of a disruption because we bought our first buck so our wether Jasper will be put with the buck, and they cannot get to the top tier where their house and pen will be. So maybe the girls will hang out more in the field. Thanks again :0)
This is exactly why I do not like bottle babies. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do at this point. As they get older, they will get more independent, but in the meantime, you just have to figure out a way to keep them contained. I know it can be terribly frustrating. Since the new doe is older, she should be the dominant one, so hopefully your babies will follow her, although with bottle babies, they don't always have the best herd instincts, so your success could vary with these kids.
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Goats are such escape artists! Our two does, if not in their pen, will come up to the front porch and cry until the kids come out to play with them. We used to let them roam the property, but had to pen them up. Our neighbor has 3 horses and the goats prefer to be with them. That worked when we had 2 of the horses here but now that they are rotated between properties the goats have to be separated. It was cute to see the goats standing there waiting for the kids to come out, although it was less cute at 6am, lol.
Our does weren't bottle fed, but we did get them at around 4-6 weeks old. (My SIL bought them for the kids right before we moved here).
I used to have a problem with our goats getting out of our yard and going across the road to eat the neighbors plants. SO annoying. I know how you feel. we did "fix" the spot with a wooden pallet, and I was able to put a bored in front of the gate lock. Eventually those two were sold, and the ones I have now, have only gotten out of the yard once. When they first came here they rushed the gait as I opened it so David could drive the car out. Took us an hour to catch them! Now we just leave it outside because it's easier, and probably safer in terms of bio security. But they have never since tried tried to get out of our property. Getting out of their pens is another story. At the moment it seems to be a daily occurrence between 5 and 7 PM. I wish I could just let them have the entire property to roam as they pleased... but I HAVE to do something about escapes before kidding season or I'll end up with surprise kids!
A ll of our goats still like the front porch. its my kidding place. a couple weeks before they are due I start letting them sleep up there at night... and I can lock them in during the day if they go into labor. Every time they have ever gotten out they have ended up there. It never bothers me, but its not David's favorite time of the year, but he knows why I do it. If we ever get around to building a barn I'll be sure to give it a front porch like room. :) If we convert the interior of the garage, as we have talked about, I guess they will just have to live with it.