How to keep my goats out of an area?

I have two ND about 30# each. I have them, a border collie mix and 2 pugs in a large fenced area together. They all get along great and enjoy being together, they even sleep piled up together. So I don't want to separate them but I need to keep the goats off the porch where the dog food is. I also can't use the porch because of all the goaty things and smell on it. Our last attempt was a fence wire "tube" about 8 feet long. It was only about 4 inches high and my biggest dog could barely squeeze thru. But along behind him was my two goats, pulling themselves thru. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to fence them separate but they are eating dog food (which is not good) and destroying my back porch. Thanks for the help!!

Replies

Margaret Langley May 21, 2012 at 7:49pm

I get it, but you want your porch for your family too! Without the mess I assume! And I do understand the whole scenario. I won't bore you again with the list of animals that run around my yard together and I feel like I am cheating the bucks everyday because they don't get out as much as the girls. I do put the girls up for a while and let the bucks out with prego doe and hopefully prego doe, but not as much as the does get out. Anyway, you are right, it is not good to leave out the dog food and if the dogs really want to be with the goats I am sure they won't mind giving up the porch. I would simply let the dogs on the porch to eat and spend time with there family. Do away with the constant supply of dog food and put them in with the goats when it is convenient. When we let ours out they have free run of our porch also. So believe me I know how messy they are. We keep a broom handy and since Marley is soooo prego I have even had to wash up a couple of puddles. They don't usually pee on the porch but she seems a little human on that score now since she is sooo prego she just seems to go all of a sudden. Sounds familiar to me.LOL!
Jessica Furnish May 21, 2012 at 4:48pm

I do keep food out all the time, not good I know but I'm gone from home a lot. The porch is inside the fenced area and it is where the dog food is kept. The porch is also where the dogs go when it rains or it's hot. There is shade and now they have a barn but they are just used to the porch. They also go from the porch into the house. I'm not sure that they will get a whole lot bigger, it has taken a long time to get this big. They just now weigh 30 pounds and are a year old. I know they will grow more but not a huge amount more. They just enjoy each other so much. Sometimes you don't know who is a dog and who is a goat! I just want to make them all happy but it seems any way I go about it one species will loose. Either they loose each other or the dogs loose their porch.
Rachel Whetzel at MigMog Acres May 20, 2012 at 10:12pm

Can you totally fence off the porch, and let the dogs up to eat? My dogs and my cats both have to be fed at certain times of the day when the other animals can't get to their food... and I just don't keep it out all the time.
Margaret Langley May 20, 2012 at 8:27pm

I'll try to help you think of a solution for this. I have 12 does that spend most of the day lose with a pack of about 10 dogs (right now we have pups-hope its back down to 4 soon), about 4-7 cats(3 boys only visit between girlfriends) and a raccoon. We manage fine, so I am sure this is a very fixable problem. Don't get me wrong , I totally understand. I have battled a goat over a many a bite of dog food, but it was human failure and very avoidable. I want to make sure I have a clear picture. I get the picture about the tube, good idea by the way good try. Now about the porch- is this where you have dog food and where they came through the tube TO to eat? Is the porch in there fenced area? Can you keep them off the porch? Are you trying to keep dog food out at all times for the dogs? If not, how many times a day do you feed the dogs? By the way, just so you know if I suggest something to help, I use to raise dogs. So I have dealt with way worse problems than goats cause. The good part is, if you want to use your tube later it should work because the goats will get to big!