Starting harness training

I have two  1 year old Nubian weathers.  I have dome some halter training with them.  I want to start harness training and am considering the Ground Driving Rig sold in the Hoegger Catalog. They sell a Goat Driving Pamphlet at the bottom of the same catalog page.   Are these good products to start with?  Are there other training books,catalogs or products that you can reccomend?

You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!

Join Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Great question. Older is better only for the purpose of pulling sooner. It is not advised to let a goat under 2 years of age pull at its full capacity because it is not fully grown. However, training young is always good. Actually, in most cases it is recommended because the older the goat, the more bad habits it has developed which means more trouble for you. :)

    If you want to train the 4mon it would just be slow training until he is about a year or so, but he would be well trained. Generally speaking, bucks can pull twice their own weight. So, you would really not want him pulling any human weight until he is older. However, bucks are not always the desired sex because of the hormones and the desire to find does --- wethers are the most desired.

    As far as your doe goes, five minutes a day in collar training will perk that girl up! I had a shy doe and the daily interactions of training got her on the human side. My wether has yet to pick this up, but does are different. If she is not already collar trained, I'd start there. Work 5-10 minutes each night or morning. Make that time her time. Make it postive and fun and she will want human interaction. :)

    Also, feel free to check out the Working Goats group here on the site --- lots of great resources. :)

     

    Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with!

    - WG4

  • I have a ND buck and a pygmy doe.  My buck is only 4 months old while my doe is almost 3 years old.  I was wondering how old is a good age to start.  Is older, wiser?  :D  Whiskey comes right up to me when I call him, but Sugar still runs from us.  Her previous owner did not interact with her at ALL.  :(  So we already have issues to deal with, there.  I just did not realize that these little ones could pull carts.  :0)  Just one more reason to <3 them!!
  • You're welcome. I think it would be best for you if you trained them together. Personal experience, I tried training my wether, who was very attached to his friends, and it was a constant struggle to get him to concentrate on the task. I trained my two does together --- sisters -- and it worked out great. However, it will make it harder if you ever want them to pull alone, but it does lessen the stress on the goats and yourself if you did them together --- and whenever you have the chance to make it easier on both, go for it!

     

    Hope that helps!

    -WG4

  • Ok, Thanks for the advise-I will start with a real harness.  My 2 weatheres are very attached to each other.  When ever separated there is crying until reunited.  Would I be better of to train them together with a double harness set up or should I have them tuff it out one at a time?  I am okay with either way and just wonder what you reccomend.
  • Hello!

     

    In the long run, it would actually be cheaper just to start out with a harness, such as this one. You can train with this harness and once trained, you can use it to hitch a cart and begin cart training. I have never seen this book before, but imagine it is similar to the one sold by Caprine Supply. I bought the one from Caprine and it is really handy.

     

    Have you seen the working goats group here on the site? I have been training for the past three or four years now and have four working goats (hence the name), and I started a group on this site for training tips, plus I have a website  - workinggoats.webs.com with more info.

     

    Let me know if you have any other questions! I'd be happy to help!

    - WG4

This reply was deleted.