# How do you "get your goat"?



## Oakroot (Oct 28, 2012)

We don't have a trailer yet but we do have a pickup truck with a fully inclosed camper shell. I think we are going to go pick up our first goat next weekend so our plan is to bed down the back of the truck with some straw. She should be safe and warm in there. We might look woefully like green horns doing so but what the heck, I am a woeful green horn when it comes to goats!

Just wondering how everyone else moves their goats around. Any funny stories about crazy goat transport antics?


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## SheepGirl (Oct 28, 2012)

Don't have goats, but I move my sheep in the back of my pickup truck in an XL dog crate (it's 4' long and like 2' wide) and it fits two ewes in there. I did have to add a 2' extension onto it (so it was 6' long) because I took my ram and wether to auction and there wouldn't have been enough room in there otherwise ('cause my ram had a wide belly ).

I also put a medium sized dog crate in the back of my car (mercury cougar) and put my two 40-50# lambs in there to take them to fair and a 4-H meeting. They were so loud baaing the whole way, right in my ear 

eta pictures:

Ewe & lamb in 4' long dog cage (we had it when we had bullmastiffs)






The same dog cage with a 2' extension - and then with my old ram and wether in it


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## cindyg (Oct 28, 2012)

Depends on how far we are going if we use a crate or not, we have a Nissan Rogue, so put the back seats down, lay a tarp with some hay and they will travel just fine.  When I took my week old kids to be disbudded, I just put them on the front seat with a big fluffy blanket and they laid down and slept most of the way.  Goats like car rides, I know some folks take them just like dogs.  Don't think they put their heads out the window and let the wind flap their ears tho!


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## Alice Acres (Oct 28, 2012)

Heck, we brought our pony Teddy home in the back of our suburban! I couldn't see hauling our big stock trailer for one small pony.


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## HankTheTank (Oct 28, 2012)

I've brought two goats home in a large dog crate in the backseat of my moms Kia Optima, then I brought one home on my lap in the same car, and one just roaming in the backseat. Another one was transported in my sisters Ford Escort with free range of the backseat.


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## Catahoula (Oct 28, 2012)

When the kids were young, we just put them in the cargo area of our small Honda CRV using a cargo barrier so they can't jump over to the passenger side. Now that they are big...depends on the weather...nice days we fold all the seats down in the CRV and use the cargo barrier or bad weather...in our pick up with a large cage. We can only hold two of our goats and we have four. We need a trailer....


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (Oct 28, 2012)

*I've used the pickup with campershell method when I am able to, but I normally strap them down and cross tie them (like a doggie) in the back of my pickup. (I'm working on getting a better method of transportation)...

LOTS of funny stories with that... 

I once had a lady roll down her window and ask what "it" was...

I once had two guys in a big rig baa'ing back and forth with the goat at a stop light...

I once had two germans jump out of the car at the gas station and ask if "it" was a sheep... their tour guide said the goat was more popular than the Midway!*


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## bigmike (Oct 28, 2012)

I brought my Lamancha home in the backseat of my Corola.It was a 2 hour drive and I had to remove goat berries from the car the next day.I now have a pickup truck.......Grid


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## terrilhb (Oct 28, 2012)

When we got our 1st 2 we brought them home in the front seat of our truck. 1 on my lap and the other on the floor board. The 3rd in a dog crate and the 4th in my lap. LOL


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## ragdollcatlady (Oct 28, 2012)

I used to transport everyone in the back of my minivan, loose but with someone holding a leash for safety. When we had to get to the fair with the van in the shop, we just let Bambi (full sized nubian) ride in the back of the car with the kids...ended up fine but with a husbands good humor slightly bent out of shape, since it was his car and he really doesn't care much for all our critters.....the goat was only one of the many transported to the fair in his car that year...chickens, ducks, rabbits.....

Dog crates are perfect though...for their safety and relative cleanliness. I now put a tarp down under the crate in the back of the Durango and use bungee cords on the cargo hooks to keep from having everyone all shook up by the end of the ride.


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## BrownSheep (Oct 28, 2012)

That is exactly how we use to do it!


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## Mamaboid (Oct 29, 2012)

We have hauled all ours in our Taurus station wagon.  We just drop the back seat, put packing blankets we keep for just that purpose down, and in they go.


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## 20kidsonhill (Oct 29, 2012)

We use something very similar to Sheepgirl. Depending on the weather and the distance of the drive, We put plywood on the top and 3 of the sides for wind and rain protection. We don't travel in the winter to pick up new animals.


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## Roll farms (Oct 29, 2012)

We've hauled more goats home in a truck topper than you could shake a stick at.    It's our 'preferred' method.  We have a trailer but...unless it's a HUGE buck we don't want to lift, the truck is easier.


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## fiddleman94 (Oct 29, 2012)

I brought my two kids home in a large dog crate in the back of my '89 olds.  I think I'm going to use the truck though with the two does I'm getting next month.


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## Fullhousefarm (Oct 29, 2012)

DD brought her Lamancha doeling home in the back seat of my hubby's truck. (Shhhhh.) It was only a 10 minute ride and no messes. She was nice and calm since she was a bit scared. Our wether was from next door, so we walked him home. 

For the health certificates and to go to the fair we put them in the XX lg metal dog cage with a rubber mat in the tray in the back of my Expedition with 2/3 of the back seats folded down. It fits perfect. Its not far away, though, so it works. I don't think I'd want them in there for hours because it would likely get smelly. We will probably eventually make a "top" for our 4x6 trailer so we can use it for goats, but we don't need to till after we have babies.


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## Catahoula (Oct 29, 2012)

The kids are still 'small' (between 80-130#) now but if we need to move all of them at once, the truck bed would be too small. We are considering getting a 5'x8' or 10' cargo trailer with windows to haul them around. I really don't care to haul them anywhere...seem like every time I did that, they got sick! We do need something...in case of emergency...which we almost did when we had that big fire.... Yeah, hauling them in car/truck is so much easier...


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## Egg_Newton (Oct 29, 2012)

I use a dog crate in the back of my crossover. Last one I got was too wide to fit thru the door. So, we had to make her "suck it in". She is a thick girl. Luckily it was only about a five mile trip.


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## marlowmanor (Oct 29, 2012)

We used a dog crate in the back of our Suzuki Grand Vitara. Last goat we got was a touch tall for it, but the trip wasn't but about 10 minutes so it wasn't a big deal. We need a bigger dog crate for adults. When we got our first 2 they were 5week old kids so both fit nicely in the crate together with room to move if they wanted to.


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## mama24 (Oct 29, 2012)

Put them in the "trunk" of my Toyota Sienna minivan. I can fit 2 smaller does back there together. It's a big deep trunk space, the back bench can fold down into it.


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Oct 29, 2012)

We built a "goat tote" when I first got into goats. I tried to put welded wire on the back so I can see in there when we were traveling, but it made it like a giant wind tunnel so we covered the back with a sheet of OSB. When I'm not picking up goats I use it to store alfalfa. It holds 2 3-string-bales with no problems. Its 3'x5'x3 1/2' tall. It totes 2 adults just fine. I haven't ever had more then that in there at once. It fits well into the truck bed and was even small enough for the small truck. The door slides down in on the front (which is the tailgate side), and the gaps on the side are enough for airflow and for them too look out, but not big enough to get a head through.


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## ThornyRidgeII (Oct 29, 2012)

back of my jeep liberty has hauled many many goats!!!


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## sunshine43 (Nov 2, 2012)

We use our van and a big dog carrier


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## SkyWarrior (Nov 2, 2012)

I have a Dodge Dakota with a topper.  Goats are either loose, or in a large dog crate.


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## CoffeeCow (Nov 3, 2012)

We use two large dog crates now. but the day we got our goats was interesting... We had ordered the dog crates, and later that evening, the guy giving us the goats said to come get them. We had to think of something fast(luckily the guy only lives about 3 or 4 miles from us). We grabbed the doghouse, and hoped for the best... here is what it looked like. It worked, but I wouldn't recommend it  hehe

Doghouse in truck.




Goats


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