# Transporting a goat



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 4, 2010)

This will be our first time transporting a goat (though surely NOT the last since you moved Kate! ) and she'll be on the road for around 5 hours.  We have a small pickup with a canopy and soft rubber mat, so we'll probably use straw bales to take up some of the extra space in the bed and provide padding should she lose her balance.  Any tips for safe travel?  Emergency supplies?

I'm sure it won't be any trouble at all, but I'd rather be prepared!  She's our first Nubian BTW...


----------



## ksalvagno (Mar 4, 2010)

You could put some hay in the back for her to eat while she is traveling. If you plan on stopping, you could always take some water and give her some water. But it sounds like you have it covered.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 4, 2010)

Food and water- check.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 4, 2010)

Do you think it would be helpful to dose her with some probios before we leave?


----------



## helmstead (Mar 4, 2010)

Yes, probios, then daily for a week might be a good idea.  Mine never will drink on the road altho it never hurts to offer it...but hay, yes.  Be prepared to scrub your truck bed...those Nubians pee a LOT LOL

Congrats on this beautiful girl!!


----------



## ohiofarmgirl (Mar 4, 2010)

this is how we move our goaties. we actually break up a bale of straw and they just snuggle right in. our drive was only 2 hrs. 

also - goes without saying, make sure you secure the the door on the canopy.


----------



## cmjust0 (Mar 4, 2010)

You probably don't need to worry about providing any 'lateral padding,' as it were, or taking up extra space to sorta tuck her in with bales.  Reason being, there's about a 99% chance that she'll lay down as soon as you start moving, and won't want to get up until the trip's over with.  If she's on a rubber mat and won't slide around, she'll be fine.

Probios and a dose of b-complex as a pick-me-up probably wouldn't hurt.


----------



## lupinfarm (Mar 4, 2010)

she'll probably lie down, but I can assure you that at any given moment she'll probably get up again LOL...

my 2 pygmy girls came only about an hour by car and spent the trip in a big dog crate on my back seat and everytime we slowed down for even a split second they'd get up, and then we'd start back up again and they'd almost fall over lol. 

Lots of nice straw to lay on would be good though, and she'll probably save all her urine for that one trip  mine did. They peed several big lakes on the way home, somehow all those lakes missed the seats.


----------



## Iceblink (Mar 5, 2010)

I drove a goat 4 hours just yesterday! She was in a big dog crate with straw bedding, and a little hay, which she didn't eat. 

I like the crate because in sudden stops she couldn't fly around, and I didn't have to worry, knowing she was secure. Also, it kept my car a lot cleaner. 

Good luck with your drive. Hopefully you get a quiet traveler. I have driven for 3 hours with a sheep bawling constantly... it wasn't fun.


----------



## Jupiter (Mar 5, 2010)

Hope your trip goes well! I've been wondering about this too but I don't have truck at my house :/ Wish I did.

Those of you that use dog crates.....are your goats full sized and what size crate do you use? Will the xl airline carrier work or does it have to be the giant size?



> I have driven for 3 hours with a sheep bawling constantly... it wasn't fun.


Sounds like I need to remember ear plugs too just in case


----------



## Mini-M Ranch (Mar 6, 2010)

We have transported 4 goats together in the back of a Ranger pick-up with a topper on it for a 6 hour trip. 4 goats that didn't really even know each other.  We spread straw down in the truck bed to sort of soak up the pee.  We provided hay, which they did not eat.  We made several stops and offered water, which they did not drink.  '

I also have transported two of our goats in our Honda Element (sort of a box looking thing. with a tarp and some straw.  AND I have transported one goat to the vet in the back seat of my Mercedes (yes, I love my goats - lol) (actually, the mercedes is a 1991 Model, so not really a top-of-the-line automobile, although I would put my goats in any car I had if I needed to.  A waterproof tarp and some straw and it'll be fine, although I did have to drive with a goat's head on my shoulder when she road in the car with me.


----------



## mully (Mar 6, 2010)

After trying many home made things I finally bought a goat transport from TS made by Billy Goat Gruff It has been the best investment ($325) I have made. It fits in the back of a pickup and is easy to load You can find them on the net.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 8, 2010)

Today is the day!  10 hours in the truck just to get a goat... Why not?


----------



## KinderKorner (Mar 8, 2010)

I drove 14 hours a few months ago to pick up a goat. And It ended up dying about a month later. 

Wah. My poor guy. 

Not to mention the fact that he was a Champion, and I paid alot for him. Never even got to use him yet.

I usually haul small goats in rubber maid tubs, or dog kennels, in the back of a car. Or if big let them run free in the back of the SUV. Not fun. lol


----------



## cmjust0 (Mar 8, 2010)

We drove 2.5 hours from home to Corbin, KY to pick up our current herdsire..  Stayed a few minutes...maybe a half hour...to chitchat.  Not too bad, right?

Well..

Then we went from Corbin to Prestonsburg to pick up 28 RIR chicks my uncle hatched out for us.  That's about 2.5hrs.  And we stayed down there for several hours, chit-chatting..

Then, from there, we came back home...another 2.5 hrs.

Needless to say, we were EXHAUSTED by the end of the day.

I told my wife it was ironic that we'd spent nearly 8 hours on the road and never left the state, considering an 8 hour drive would get you pretty close to a beachfront hotel.

And, yeah, I realized what a mistake I was making just as the words "beachfront hotel" were coming out...as we stood in our living room...knowing that with all our animals, we'd probably never stay in a beachfront hotel again.


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Mar 8, 2010)

The farthest I've driven for a goat was from MD to Mebane, NC.  It was about 6 hours one way.  We combined it with a trip to visit my family in Winston-Salem (another 2 hours), so it wasnt' too bad.  

He rode in a huge dog crate in the back of the truck (that had a cap) on a nice bed of straw with a flake or two of hay.  He did beautifully.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 8, 2010)

KinderKorner said:
			
		

> I drove 14 hours a few months ago to pick up a goat. And It ended up dying about a month later.
> 
> Wah. My poor guy.


That's unfortunate; what happened?


----------



## ksalvagno (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, what about some pictures of that new goat you drove far to pick up!


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 8, 2010)

Just got back and got her settled!  The trip went without a hitch.  

It's dark out, so I'll have to post a pic tomorrow.

Edited to add: we think she's pretty as can be...


----------



## helmstead (Mar 8, 2010)




----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 9, 2010)

Here's Sam!







She is bawling her little heart out in the quarrantine pen right now- it's breaking my heart!  When I'm out there she's quiet as a mouse, so I'm sure she's just lonely and nervous.

Any tips for stimulating her appetite a little?  She's already had some probios and she's about to get some b-complex (not sure if it will help but I guess it can't hurt...)  She's picked at her feed a little today when I'm with her, but she still doesn't seem relaxed enough to eat and I don't want her off her feed if I can help it.  We also have some bounce back on hand- think that would be useful?


----------



## helmstead (Mar 9, 2010)

How isolated is she?  Can she see the others?


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 9, 2010)

She can see them, but they can't touch.


----------



## mossyStone (Mar 9, 2010)

She's a beauty........ That lonely cry breaks my heart......  


Mossy Stone Farm

Pygora's and Nubians

Bantam Marans Bourboun Red Turkeys


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 9, 2010)

She's eating this evening- not heartily, but she's eating.


----------



## cmjust0 (Mar 9, 2010)

Got a clean sentry wether you can put in with her?  

FWIW, quarantining is of limited use without a sentry anyway.  Yeah, you'll see that she doesn't pop a CL knot or anything like that, but hey...maybe she's got internal CL abscesses.  If she coughs those out onto the sentry and he pops a knot...then you know something.  Or what if she's got a little soremouth scab hiding somewhere in her coat?  _She's_ obviously not gonna get it again, but a clean sentry might...which would be the only way you'd ever know she carried it.  

Which, of course, is the whole point of a sentry..  They act as the canary in the mine, so to speak.  Plus...they provide company.

Just sayin'.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Mar 9, 2010)

Fuuny you should mention it, all day I've been considering doing exactly that!  I do have a wether and he may go in with her soon.  The trouble is he's 8 weeks and small enough to slip through the cattle panels, so we're going to have to get creative.


----------



## Kinderheim (Apr 13, 2010)

Hi! I am new here!
I'm hoping to find an answer to transpoting goats in a dog crate.
Xtra large or giant size?  I will be driving about 4 hours with a mid-sized goat and week old kid.  Any advise?


----------



## ksalvagno (Apr 13, 2010)

It is nice if you can have the largest size dog crate you can find. You want to give them room to move around in.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Apr 13, 2010)

I just saw this thread pop up again and thought I should add that Sam is settled in with the herd and all is well.


----------

