Can you let a goat free range?

[jerseygirl1]

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DITTO

 

[ChickInDelight]

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That's exactly what I was going to say.

x3

And NEVER leave your car windows open or they will be in your car.

 

[ZoeS95423]

When I was young, and we had goats, we would put collars on them, and tether them where we wanted them and rotate them ever day, but put them in at night.

 

[TigerLilly]

I have to agree with everyone else as far as predators being the main concern. I can certainly identify with them being on the vehicle--and I have a mini-van that they constantly get on the roof of...
thankfully, the only time I have them get IN the van is when I bring home hay from the feed store. One jumps in, swat it on the butt & tell it to get out; while I'm getting the first one out, another takes advantage of the distraction & jumps in. Some days it's a vicious cycle! At least the zebu havent tried getting in...

 

[zzGypsy]

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and everything they can jump to from the top of your car... like your roof....
now just try to get them down!

 

[zzGypsy]

we've got 6' chain link and they can't quite get over that. they have, however, figured out how to get up on the 2nd rail of our 5 rail gate, wedge themselves sideways between that and the rail above, and wiggle until they slither through... pretty funny to watch them suspended in there, flat on their sides and all their feet off the ground while they wiggle themselves forward! funny unless you're late to go somewhere because they're definitely not interested in being caught after all that!

we've got one who knew how to belly-crawl under a fence when we bought her, and then promptly taught all the others to do it as well.

I've got a friend who free ranges hers... she's got 80 acres of hilly SoCal scrub. the pens are right in the middle, so they don't often get off the property, but occasionally she loses one to coyotes or a mountain lion. she's remote, so vehicle traffic isn't an issue.

if you're near a road, I'd worry not only for the goat, but for the liability if someone hits them with their car and gets hurt.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I've let 2 of my very tame, easily handled does free-range in my yard a few times. However, I put them back in the pasture at dark and if I leave the house. Goats are really curious and make easy targets for predators (4-legged and 2-legged) so they really do need some type of fencing.

 

[Illia]

No fence?


If your car is a playground, your house is a chewing/itching post, your chicken coop, well forget about that, your chicken food - forget about that too, I could go on.

 

[zzGypsy]

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yep. I'm guessing mine would belly-crawl through the pop door and eat all the chicken food... and let me just say that layer crumbles will do something to goat poop that you *don't* want happening inside your chicken coop!

that is, of course, unless my Misty-goat tried to get in there first, because she'd just get wedged in the pop door and then we'd have to take the wall apart to get her out!

 

[Illia]

When we first got goats a few years ago, they were the worst ever . . . It didn't take long for them to climb the fence, and as soon as they find out what chicken food is, ugh!! There's no stopping them. Well, there is, but it takes lots of work when you don't have many resources.



Tethering goats out front is indeed a nice idea, but make sure the line is a rope, and one that can't hurt them too much if they get tangled, and make sure the stake is DEEP in the ground. We tried it with a stake, and it was ripped out in no time, so we moved onto using tree stumps and the sort. But, that ended up a very limited idea, and we simply resorted back to keeping the goats in a fenced pasture.