Teaching a goat to stay in your yard.

[sagealbright]

Hello!

We have had our mini nubian buck for a month now. He's now 5 months old and so much fun. Only problem is that he has learned how to break out of our fencing. He knocks it over and runs up to the front door and driveway looking for us. We have tried tying him up on a long lead but he gets himself wrapped around so many trees during the day and then I am concerned that he is away from his water for too long. Every time I take my dog outside he runs down to us. My dog is not fond of him so it's becoming quite an issue. Has anyone has experience with training a goat to stay in their yard? We can't afford another fence right now. Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Bunnylady]

Goats are herd animals; most of them are never happy unless they are with their herd. If you have only the one goat, you are his herd. Breaking out to be with you is very normal goat behavior.

My goats also have the "grass is greener" attitude; they aren't lonely, just perpetually hungry. The only way I have been able to keep them where they belong is with a welded wire fence to confine them, and an electric fence wire attached to the inside at about a goat's shoulder height to keep them off of the welded wire. IME, training a goat is like training a cat - they may or may not do what you want when you are there, but when you are gone, all bets are off!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I definitely agree with bunny lady. You will have to get another goat to break the habit of running to find you. Breaking that habit any other way will lead to an unhappy, depressed goat.

When I had goats, our fencing was nothing special. We had some wood fencing lined by metal field fencing and then a small rock wall around the outside (mostly so the pig could not break through). They never were able to escape unless the gate was left open. I don't think you need to spend a ton of money on fencing to make it goat proof but some goats are more curious than others. I do think getting a buddy for your goat will help alleviate some of the issue though.