I have no idea why he all of the sudden he has started doing this. It started when he was following me around outside while I was doing some clean-up. He was sniffing a small stack of potting soil bags and suddenly started ripping big chunks of the plastic bags off and chomping them down! I quickly stopped him but ever since then, he goes out of his way to find bits of plastic and try to eat them. And let me tell you, it's no easy task to pull plastic out of a determined goat's mouth.
This is his first weird behavior thing, previous to this he was my least stressful animal. I'm really sad that I may not be able to have my little buddy follow me around outside anymore because I can't keep a constant eye on him. Does anybody have any experience with this kind of behavior?
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Goats should have free-choice, loose minerals available 24/7.
If it makes you feel better, the goat that died ate a whole plastic bag, which caused a blockage. A little bit of plastic will hopefully pass right through him.
Oh no. Now I feel a bit sick. He hasn't eaten any dirt, but I did wonder he's doing this because of a deficiency. Guess I'll up his minerals for awhile and see if that helps. I would be devastated if I lost my little buddy.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Eating dirt is a sign of mineral deficiency. I wonder if he associated the taste of the plastic with the soil in the bag? I've never had a goat do this, but it is definitely a bad thing. Someone on here several years ago had a goat die because she ate a plastic bag.