Escape artist, who should I kill first?

[dianneS]

I told my husband years ago that I didn't want goats because I remember how horrible my goats were when I was a kid. They were awful. These goats embodied everything bad that you hear about goats.

Well, somehow we now have 11 goats. Never had a problem with any of these guys. No one walking on cars, no one escaping, no one eating our landscape plants, no one breaking into the feed room. They've all been great. Until recently....

I have two bottle baby girls, toggenburg/nubian/boer doelings, and one of the girls has figured out how to get under the fence. She can find a way out just about anywhere. If you fix one spot where she escaped, she just finds a new one. She can squeeze through the tiniest spaces too! I figured as she got bigger she's have a harder time getting under the fence but noooooooooooooo, she's actually getting more skilled at it!

Problem is this all began because my husband has been reinforcing this behavior by rewarding her with treats, and time in the yard. He even held her up to one of our landscape bushes and let her nibble it all she wanted!

I come home today to find my bush in the yard, completely stripped of leaves, all but the very top, and guess who's out running loose? You guessed it! The little escapee is at it again! I threw her in the chicken coop tonight, I got so mad, I can't keep her contained anywhere. She gets out of the barn, horse stalls, fences, you name it. All I do is chase this goat, and now that she knows I'm mad at her, she runs from me, so I do have to chase her..... grrrrrrrr...

I don't know who to kill first? The goat for escaping? Or my husband for encouraging it, and teaching her to eat our landscape plants? (We have plenty of pasture and forage for them, they have no need to be going after ornamental bushes)

I'm so mad right now I could scream! Is there any hope at keeping this one contained, or will she always be a brat? Should I just post her on craigslist now and get it over with before she makes me completely insane, or should I file for divorce?

 

[Siouxqie]

I'm sorry, while I feel your pain, it still made me chuckle. I think I might consider putting her on craigslist if she is making you that nuts. With my mini donk, Leonard, I constantly threaten to get rid of him, because he's a pain in the you know. But it's kind of a love-hate thing, because I have to admit, a part of me finds his antics and personality endearing. We had some boer/nubian crosses a few years back that I got rid of for many of the same reasons you're describing. Only instead of sneaking out, they were flattening our fences and breaking them down. Good luck to you!

 

[redtailgal]

Try adding an electric fence to train the goat. Try an electric collar on the husband.

Keep them both in the barn until the situation is resolved.

 

[SDBoerGoats]

HAHA Redtail, that made me laugh. And so did the story about the escape artist.
I came home one afternoon to find the Boer/Nubian cross in the front yard, with her twins, stripping the needles off my weeping white pine. I was furious. They were turned out in the barn area where there is tons of forage and weeds, etc. I had fencing OVER TOP of my lodge pole fence so they couldn't get in. Still, she found a way. Part of is, I am convinced, is the Nubian in her. She is stubborn and head strong.
BUT I love her to death, she has beautiful babies. She THINKS she is the Queen, and when she is in the playground area with all the does and babies (a huge play area my son in law made out of tractor tires, he put thick plywood inside them, and also rail road ties for steps) Spicey gets on the highest platform, and stands there, sometimes for hours, over looking things. Like a statue. The other day she lay down and surveyed. I will never sell her, but she has made me mad enough that I have made up a few new 4 letter words.

 

[manybirds]

i'm sorry but i LOATH nubians. and i'm not a fan of boers or toggs either. I would get rid of her. i have a problem nubian right now. i would get rid of the little beast in a heart beat but unfortunatly he was given to us by a friend and they like to keep updated so he's here. he's 2 years now and just gets worse. let her go or have a nice goat roast

 

[dianneS]

The thing is that she has a twin sister who is perfectly well mannered? No problems with that one at all and you'd think she'd want to follow her sister under the fence, but she doesn't, she always stays put and is not nearly as obnoxious.

I put her on craigslist. My husband doesn't want me to get rid of her. I got two responses to my ad so far, and I'm afraid to respond... I feel bad getting rid of her. She's driving me crazy, but I bottle raised her, know what I mean? Maybe when she's totally weaned, she will bond more with the herd and stop escaping and bugging me to death every time I'm within view?

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

If she's still a bottle baby that changes the scenario a bit. Ours follow us around like little hopping shadows and are terribly upset if we are in view but not in tasting distance. Because my pants might have milk on them or something.

Ours seem to settle down about 2-4 weeks after weaning. They are still very excited to see us but it is less frantic.

 

[dianneS]

If she's still a bottle baby that changes the scenario a bit. Ours follow us around like little hopping shadows and are terribly upset if we are in view but not in tasting distance. Because my pants might have milk on them or something.

Ours seem to settle down about 2-4 weeks after weaning. They are still very excited to see us but it is less frantic.

I'm working on weaning them now. My husband wants me to give her a second chance. If I do, he is going to have to run some electric fence because I'm not doing it!

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Electric makes a BIG difference in exactly how much the little monkeys escape.

 

[dianneS]

Electric makes a BIG difference in exactly how much the little monkeys escape.

My only problem is that part of their pasture is my riding arena and I didn't want that wire down low where the horses could get tangled in it. Maybe I could do something temporary until she learns her lesson, and when she's bigger and can't fit under the fence, I could take it down and see how it goes?