Best goat toys???

[Show Sebright]

Hay need some goat toy ideas! My friend and I are trying to see who can spoil their goat more.

 

[BaBaaHMonica]

Our goats seem to like a picnic table. The one that seems to want to be most dominent has to fend off from both sides and they all seem to want to have a chance to be on the table part. The crack of the horns sounds a lot different when it is the older ones butting heads with each other vs the younger ones. It allows them to work out their issues and stage their squabbles. I think it is much better to have them fight their little wars on the saftey of the picnic table rather than into the side of their shed that holds the hayfeeder. It seems like they wear each other out after a few cracks and then they all lie down for cud chewing and siesta nap. Then it is 'War On' again and they start all over and don't seem to vary. The dogs don't seem to like to stick around much when the headbutting starts, I think the bigger of the wethers headbutt her and both dogs avoid them.

 

[Lizzy733]

Hoping to get some goats next year and very keen to keep them entertained, so watching this thread.

I like the idea of climbing frames - I've use a few with my chickens and they enjoy them immensely.

I was personally thinking dual purpose toys that could help keep their hooves under control - boulders, ramps lined with sandpaper, cement pipes etc... That last one could double as a shelter too!

 

[Alaskan]

Anything that they can climb on and jump off of.

Do make sure all climbing things are far enough away from the fence so you aren't helping them escape.

 

[Show Sebright]

I am hanging one of the balls they sell for horses so they and head but it. I have a push rooms for scratchers and a salt lick. They have a small pen because we are running out of room and are trying to convince the school to give us the space for a barn/stables.

 

[Legamin]

Hay need some goat toy ideas! My friend and I are trying to see who can spoil their goat more.

When I read the premise of your plan i thought ‘THIS is worthy of response!’. The spoilage of the noble goat is one of the most worthy causes in my book (except maybe my sheep). But goats have such intelligence and personality and mechanical intuition you are inviting disaster if you ignore their basic needs. Have you ever noticed how carefully they watch you work the latch on the gate and how they position themselves to take advantage of an open or even unlatched gate if you get distracted for a moment? it is both eerie and fascinating. (Thinking ‘raptors’ from Jurassic Park? Except they won’t eat you) You buy them for meat and they endear themselves by alternatively loving you and outsmarting you. You say you will not spend one more dollar on them….and they prove you wrong! Yes…the NOBLE GOAT…the king of manipulators, the master or our hearts!
I am not a big money spender as a force of habit. But I had to lay a bunch of wire across five acres an ended up with four big wooden cable rolls…you can buy them from your local utility company for pretty cheap! They can be stacked in progressive piles and are clean, permenant structures for generations of goats to climb. If you start to build like this you will have to hire a small crane for a day…a couple hundred bucks but worth it! ..they love a table but will defile it pretty regularly and chew the board ends…which…you will come to expect with EVERY toy or fence post or structure that they acquire at your expense. I found a 30” firm rubber inflatable buoy. Round and stable enough for them to jump on and off. It became a game for them to see who could get it over near the fence and then make their escape. Of course the roudness defeated them….for a day. They discovered that shoving small sticks and rocks around the base stabilized it and….goat to freedom…point-goat! I sold that to another excited goat newbie….
I found a bunch of the large 270 gallon square tanks in metal cages for forklift handling and stacking. Hospitals buy iodine in them and toss them out. Candy companies buy honey and molasses in them and toss them out or sell them on the cheap. They cost about $80 if you need a bunch fast. I screwed plywood on top and moved them into a mountain climb in the center of the paddock..they L O V E D it! My neighbors a mile away voiced concerns that goats were seeming to hover 20 feet in the air on a narrow pile of boxes!…I fixed them together to make this permenant. It was a sad day when we decided to go from goat to sheep exclusively. My wife still presses for a small goat herd near the back of the property in an unused barn…I’m beginning to run out of excuses why we ’can’t’.

 

[Show Sebright]

Yes one goat learned how to do the lock!!!! She gets out and just wonders around all night. I am going to try this fence idea. We have some tires that they play with. She has a ball, dog toy, salt lick, and a pallet. This is where they get put over night. Then they got to hang out wherever during the day.

 

[DeEtta]

Hay need some goat toy ideas! My friend and I are trying to see who can spoil their goat more

 

[DeEtta]

Imagination is the best way to think of goat toys. I look for things at flea markets any yard sales. Plus free stuff where ever I can find it.
My goats have cable spools, very popular. All different sizes. A plank good across 2. They like to rub all over those and go under the plank to rub their backs.
I have a large truck tire (used if course) buried half in the ground to jump on. My goats have contest as to who can twist the best jumping of them. They keep me in stitches. I found a large child's slide i attached to one pallet. Slides are their favorite thing. I also have cinder blocks stacked for hooves.
Last but not least, while putting up fence, my girls where walking on the fence post which was on the ground. It's a balance beam for them so I left it there.
Have fun with your goats.