I LOVE my boys. I bottle raised them, they've been my pack goats for 5 years. They are polite and friendly and affectionate and quiet. Intelligent, excellent foragers. They come when I call. The best goats I've ever seen!
But I'm at my wit's end. It's rehoming time if I can't find a solution.
Currently the only fence that will "keep them in" is woven wire fencing with logs tied to the bottom perimeter, and 2-3 strands of hotwire to keep them away from it. The problem is only our smallest enclosures have solid wire fence. Enclosures less than 1000sq ft. Or the one around the orchard.
For several years now hotwire has been a dream come true. The miracle fencing I always hoped for. I was able to totally phase out solid wire fencing and pay pennies per foot for electric wire. Worked like a charm!
They've been in a 2~ acre wooded pasture for a year now. It's 12 strand 6' tall hotwire (alternating hot/ground), with additional strands ran where needed (dips in the ground, etc.) It's on a 6 joule charger pumping out 10,000 volts. The lowest lines are as close to the ground as I can get away with. It worked like a dream. Until now.
Now, they don't care about the shock. I've been patching, amending, and tightening the hotwire everywhere I could see any potential escape route, trying to figure out how they constantly get out. So today I stalked them through the woods and watched. They literally just WALKED through the fence. Right next to the charger where it's blasting electricity out. The shock doesn't phase them anymore. It's apparently worth enduring to get out.
They have a goat paradise; several acres of forest with a fresh mountain creek running through it, all you can eat hay, mineral blocks, loafing sheds they share with 3 other goats... And they want to LEAVE.
Anyway. I refuse to make them live on a lead or lock them up in one of our little pens. I'm also confident that neither would contain them. They can get out of a halter if they try hard enough, no matter how tight I make it. Forget collars, too, they'd strangle themselves. And they're experts at hog tying themselves with their leads. If I lock them in a solid wire pen with hotwire combo I have NO DOUBT that they would someday manage to get out. One of these boys has climbed vertical chainlink. And OSB. He can untie knots from rope and undo gate latches.
And there's no way we can afford to hard-wire several acres of rugged terrain pasture. We were about to fence in a new pasture that's like 4 acres and turn them loose on that! But now... what's the point?
I don't know what to do. I watched my boys walked through 10,000 volt hotwire that has no more than 3-5" between alternating hot and ground lines. Any closer and they'd start grounding out, I can't add more lines :/ And I don't want to.
Any ideas? My next option is rehoming them. I can't have them destroying my gardens and orchards and greenhouses or sheds, dancing around in the road, or getting eaten by dogs or cougars...
But I'm at my wit's end. It's rehoming time if I can't find a solution.
Currently the only fence that will "keep them in" is woven wire fencing with logs tied to the bottom perimeter, and 2-3 strands of hotwire to keep them away from it. The problem is only our smallest enclosures have solid wire fence. Enclosures less than 1000sq ft. Or the one around the orchard.
For several years now hotwire has been a dream come true. The miracle fencing I always hoped for. I was able to totally phase out solid wire fencing and pay pennies per foot for electric wire. Worked like a charm!
They've been in a 2~ acre wooded pasture for a year now. It's 12 strand 6' tall hotwire (alternating hot/ground), with additional strands ran where needed (dips in the ground, etc.) It's on a 6 joule charger pumping out 10,000 volts. The lowest lines are as close to the ground as I can get away with. It worked like a dream. Until now.
Now, they don't care about the shock. I've been patching, amending, and tightening the hotwire everywhere I could see any potential escape route, trying to figure out how they constantly get out. So today I stalked them through the woods and watched. They literally just WALKED through the fence. Right next to the charger where it's blasting electricity out. The shock doesn't phase them anymore. It's apparently worth enduring to get out.
They have a goat paradise; several acres of forest with a fresh mountain creek running through it, all you can eat hay, mineral blocks, loafing sheds they share with 3 other goats... And they want to LEAVE.
Anyway. I refuse to make them live on a lead or lock them up in one of our little pens. I'm also confident that neither would contain them. They can get out of a halter if they try hard enough, no matter how tight I make it. Forget collars, too, they'd strangle themselves. And they're experts at hog tying themselves with their leads. If I lock them in a solid wire pen with hotwire combo I have NO DOUBT that they would someday manage to get out. One of these boys has climbed vertical chainlink. And OSB. He can untie knots from rope and undo gate latches.
And there's no way we can afford to hard-wire several acres of rugged terrain pasture. We were about to fence in a new pasture that's like 4 acres and turn them loose on that! But now... what's the point?
I don't know what to do. I watched my boys walked through 10,000 volt hotwire that has no more than 3-5" between alternating hot and ground lines. Any closer and they'd start grounding out, I can't add more lines :/ And I don't want to.
Any ideas? My next option is rehoming them. I can't have them destroying my gardens and orchards and greenhouses or sheds, dancing around in the road, or getting eaten by dogs or cougars...
.....they are ND, little girls.....mabey your boys need a distraction....lady goat ?
