*caveat* I am a true NEWBIE when it comes to goats. I can point out that "it's a goat!" but couldn't tell you breed or anything else. Please excuse my novice-ness!
We recently (not of my decision!) had four (4) dwarf does arrive on our farm. In approx 3-4 weeks we will have 3 horses arrive at the property. My job is to acclimate the horses to the goats with the ultimate goal of having the goats either live with the horses or, at the very least, turned out daily with the horses. How does one get a horse & goat to become BFF's?
Our fencing is standard 3-rail board horse fence. While the goats currently have a large chain-link fenced pasture, it is not feasible to install stock/goat fencing along the base of all 7,300 linear feet of fence. THe barn owner would like to eventually do away with the private goat yard & have them turned-out daily with the horses (all animals brought in at night).
Advice??
Replies
Margaret: Regarding that trap door. My husband is the greatest! The boys are such a pain around the door, always pushing past me. We had gone to visit the wildlife sanctuary behind our house, they have lions and tigers. They have those drop doors that you pull the rope and let it down from outside the cage, to put the animal in a holding area to clean. My husband was like "I could build that" so he made me one at the back of the boys' stall. In the morning I just pull the little rope from the hallway and their door opens for them, and drop it down at night. No more buck wrestling constantly! It is so cool.
I really do not see a 3-board horse fence keeping in NDs. Our farm was a former horse farm when we moved here ten years ago, and we had to completely change out all of the fencing -- the board fencing, as well as the electric fencing, because all of it was about a foot apart, which was more than enough room for the goats to go through.
FrauBurau, Have the horses arrived yet? If so, how are things going so far?
Thanks guys!! I love these suggestions!
Juliana, well put, very true. Excellent introduction advice.
They usually do get along, after all goats have long been used as stallmates for horses, especially high strung racehorses. Having their BFF with them proved to help keep them calmed down when in their stalls.
I love that trap door idea. That could prove a great idea for kids also. I can see it being handy to have a stall or other area with a kid size trap door, and teach the new kids that they can run hide their if someone big starts picking on them. Especially in the case of bottle babies not being looked after by momma, or maybe smaller breeds with bigger breed bullies, etc.
Sounds like Duke is quiet the little stinker!
I have two Haflinger horses that share a pasture with my bucks. One of them is very sweet and nice and will let the boys eat off her hay pile and run under her belly. The gelding thinks it's funny to chase them and bite at or kick at them. (Now...he is obviously not trying to really bite or kick them or he would have long since done it) One of my bucks is friends with him and they antagonize each other for fun. The other just stays out of his way.
Now, I can't put these same two horses out with my does because they are not nearly so bold & wily as the boys. They can go days without bumping into each other in the pasture but when they do, Duke will chase the girls & they were terrified for their lives. At the time, Annie was thin and weak and recovering from preemies so needless to say I wasn't just going to let them work it out. Nor would I take the chance of Duke pulling his shenanigans on a pregnant doe.
Duke is the same way with dogs, he'll pin his ears and snake his head at them although he's never actually hurt one. (and i seriously doubt he ever will). The bucks have a trap door into their own stall with their own hay rack that the horses can't get to. This way they can't be bullied off food and they have somewhere to escape if they need it.
3 rail board fence will almost certainly not keep in a ND, but I have found that you can sometimes keep them in shoddy fencing if they are happy there & don't want to leave. If you put up wire along the boards of the fence towards the barn, and not on the off side that might work-- my buck pasture has no perimeter fence at all at many places at the back of the property but everything they want (girls, food) is in the opposite direction and that fence is sound. This is a huge risk for predation, but they are locked up in a stall at night with hotwire to prevent climbing or digging.
My advice is to introduce slowly & carefully and be prepared to protect the little goats if someone takes offense to them. I suspect that the vast majority of horses would probably just ignore them, a smaller percentage becoming chummy or being nasty. That said, even if you wind up with a nasty horse like Duke...if the goats are not pregnant or ill and don't need special care, they will learn to stay out of the nasty horse's way unless that horse REALLY wants trouble in which case they shouldn't be together at all.