- Oct 26, 2007
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I am hoping somebody has experience with this. I have a La Mancha wether that I bottle raised a few years ago. I'll give a little background first. I was evicted from my home of 14 years about 2 months ago. The landlord told me he would be happy to keep my 3 goats (the La Mancha and 2 dwarf females) as pets with the condition that if they changed their minds they would let me know so I could take them to my new home.
I still have some cats on the property that I feed daily and have been able to keep an eye on the goats as well. All was great until I show up yesterday to find out that there are a couple of guys on their way over to pick up the goats. Excuse me??
Since I am already pushing the animal limit at my new place, I decided to let them take the 2 little girls. They seemed nice and knew a bit about goats and animals in general- supposedly kept chickens and rabbits as well as other goats. I thought that I would be fine just taking Charlie( the La Mancha) with me. Here's where it gets exciting. Apparently Charlie is really attached to me since it took him a total of 3 minutes to figure out how to jump a 4 foot gate to get to me. So, not knowing what else to do, I tied him to a tree. That was fine until he broke the rope- but he didn't want to jump with the rope trailing after him. Problem solved, I though. I thought wrong.
He stayed in his nice enclosure complete with oak trees and a pond and ducks for company until the next morning when he saw me drive down the driveway. I get a phone call from my new landlord about ten minutes after I left telling me about how he almost got hit by a car on the highway in front of the property! Apparently he jumped the 5 foot high fence to follow me!
So the landlord takes him and puts him in a smaller pen with fencing between 5-6 ft high. That worked for about 20 minutes until he jumped out. So I tied him to another tree. He got himself so worked up that he kept running away from the tree only to come to the end of the rope and flipping himself. Not good.
Plan D- I set up a 10ft by 12 ft by 6 ft high dog kennel with shade cloth on the top for a visual blockage so he wont try to jump. This works until he starts butting the sides and moves the thing several feet. So we pounded in T-posts at the corners. It seems to be holding him at the moment, although he did tear the shade cloth down. I'm afraid that the brackets wont hold up against the butting and he'll tear the thing apart. Who ever would have thought that a goat could be so determined and strong? I know he sees me as his mama, but come on!!
I don't know what to do next if this doesn't work. He's NOT coming in the house!! I'm planning on getting cattle panels, but won't be able to afford them for about 3-4 weeks.
I had thought about putting up hot wire inside the kennel, but I am concerned about the small space.
Do any of you guys have any experience with this sort of thing? Do you think he will accept the situation and calm down, or will he throw a fit every time I walk out of his sight?
Here's a picture of Charlie and yes, he does have a full set of horns- which by the way are great for hooking around people's legs and trying to toss them on the ground. His back is about waist high.
I appreciate any help and ideas anybody has. I am on this site daily even though I don't "talk" much. You guys are all great and I love reading everything.
I still have some cats on the property that I feed daily and have been able to keep an eye on the goats as well. All was great until I show up yesterday to find out that there are a couple of guys on their way over to pick up the goats. Excuse me??
Since I am already pushing the animal limit at my new place, I decided to let them take the 2 little girls. They seemed nice and knew a bit about goats and animals in general- supposedly kept chickens and rabbits as well as other goats. I thought that I would be fine just taking Charlie( the La Mancha) with me. Here's where it gets exciting. Apparently Charlie is really attached to me since it took him a total of 3 minutes to figure out how to jump a 4 foot gate to get to me. So, not knowing what else to do, I tied him to a tree. That was fine until he broke the rope- but he didn't want to jump with the rope trailing after him. Problem solved, I though. I thought wrong.
He stayed in his nice enclosure complete with oak trees and a pond and ducks for company until the next morning when he saw me drive down the driveway. I get a phone call from my new landlord about ten minutes after I left telling me about how he almost got hit by a car on the highway in front of the property! Apparently he jumped the 5 foot high fence to follow me!
So the landlord takes him and puts him in a smaller pen with fencing between 5-6 ft high. That worked for about 20 minutes until he jumped out. So I tied him to another tree. He got himself so worked up that he kept running away from the tree only to come to the end of the rope and flipping himself. Not good.
Plan D- I set up a 10ft by 12 ft by 6 ft high dog kennel with shade cloth on the top for a visual blockage so he wont try to jump. This works until he starts butting the sides and moves the thing several feet. So we pounded in T-posts at the corners. It seems to be holding him at the moment, although he did tear the shade cloth down. I'm afraid that the brackets wont hold up against the butting and he'll tear the thing apart. Who ever would have thought that a goat could be so determined and strong? I know he sees me as his mama, but come on!!
I don't know what to do next if this doesn't work. He's NOT coming in the house!! I'm planning on getting cattle panels, but won't be able to afford them for about 3-4 weeks.
I had thought about putting up hot wire inside the kennel, but I am concerned about the small space.
Do any of you guys have any experience with this sort of thing? Do you think he will accept the situation and calm down, or will he throw a fit every time I walk out of his sight?
Here's a picture of Charlie and yes, he does have a full set of horns- which by the way are great for hooking around people's legs and trying to toss them on the ground. His back is about waist high.
I appreciate any help and ideas anybody has. I am on this site daily even though I don't "talk" much. You guys are all great and I love reading everything.
