House trained goats?

Pony · #21 01/27/12, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick

She even lives near you, in northermost Arkansas, and she's a fulltime writer too! What are the chances?

What is your point?

You know, people have tried very hard to let you know that you tend to come off as abrasive. Before you hit 50 posts, you'd managed to alienate a good number of the folks here.

Please stop being rude - especially to newcomers. I don't know what your game is, but your snarkiness is becoming tiresome.

Pony · #22 01/27/12, 03:14 PM

Dreamgoat Annie, I love your handle! Welcome to the forum! (And now I have "Dreamboat Annie" playing in my head....)

Any friend of Emily's is a friend of ours!

As far as housetraining goats, my guess is that you'll probably be most successful by training yourself to know the signs that the floodwaters are about to burst the dam and respond accordingly. That may actually help the goat to realize, from your reaction, that it may want to wend its way to the door at a certain point, but at least your cleanup will be minimal.

Again, welcome. Glad to have you on board!

LomahAcres · #23 01/27/12, 05:16 PM

IMO goats are highly intelligent and if you've trained dogs, goats will be a breeze. I house trained a doe kid once - or rather - boxed trained. She was house broke by 2-4 weeks of age. SOOOO much easier to train then a puppy! I had a cardboard box - lined with plastic - added straw. One side was a half wall so she could jump in and out by herself,but it would keep the straw inside. When she would go to squat I'd just pick her up and run to her box with her - it would startle her a bit just enough so she wouldn't like it - then she learned that if she'd pee in the box by herself - no interruptions. Her box was accessible 24/7 and she knew where it was, so no need to hold it. They like to go as soon as they wake up and after every meal - so I'd just put her in their anyway and wait for it. After a while she'd walk to her box first thing in the morning and after every meal all by herself.

From the time she was able to walk well she was outside as often as possible so plenty of greens to nibble and her hay as well. I had her in the house for about 12-15 weeks - she was born a preemie and I had no other bottle babies at the time, no other goats to put her with, so she just lived in the house/yard with us. Finally another doe kidded and she moved out to barn life with those bottle babies. She did go through a bit of an adjustment period, but it did help that she was in the house with us and the new bottle babies before being pushed out side - then she at least had made some friends already.

Dreamgoat Annie · #24 01/27/12, 05:50 PM

Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Yep, that was me at the Hobby Farms forum but things got pretty negative there, so I stopped participating. Life is too short for people to be mean to one another. A lot of my Hobby Farms forum posts were about goats or sheep--they're my passions.

I have to figure out how to post here, so please be patient with me while I learn.

And pictures? Oh boy, will you get pictures once I find out how to upload them!

Sue

Dreamgoat Annie · #25 01/27/12, 05:59 PM

I'm a full-time writer, so I'm home nearly all the time. That makes house training easier.

Kerla, the buckling I trained took himself to the pad whenever he wanted to pee. But now that he's a fullgrown buck who pees in his beard (and worse!) he doesn't get to come in any longer.

Some people do train goats and sheep not to poop indoors but I'm not that picky and will rely on my trusty Dustbuster.

Sue

Oat Bucket Farm · #26 01/27/12, 06:01 PM

What do you write Dream? I've never been to the HF forum, but the fact that you are a full time writer and a goat lover is awesome!

Donna1982 · #27 01/27/12, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamgoat Annie

Life is too short for people to be mean to one another.

Sue

I couldn't agree more.

You will find this place for the most part is a bunch of fun loving goat people. Who help as much as we can and have a laugh at others stories. You will like it here.

Dreamgoat Annie · #28 01/27/12, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

What do you write Dream? I've never been to the HF forum, but the fact that you are a full time writer and a goat lover is awesome!

Thank you!

I write books for Storey and BowTie Inc. and articles and columns for Hobby Farms and Chickens magazines. I used to specialize in horse publications but branched out when Karen Keb (who was then an editor at Horse Illustrated) took over as editor-in-chief at Hobby Farms.

My Nubian buck, Ozark Jewels General Martok, posts a weekly blog at Hobby Farms Online. He's quite a character. You might want to check him out.

I've always had a goat wether or two with my horses and I loved my goat guys but didn't get seriously bitten by the goat bug until we visited MAC Goats to shoot pictures for Hobby Farms Goats. When I met MAC Goats Chief Forty-Five (Chiefee) it was love at first sight. Really, I can't explain it except that my heart opened up and I was smitten. That was 7 years ago and now goats are my primary passion.

I started with Boers (and still have most of them; they're now expensive pasture ornaments). Then I met Emily through some of the YahooGroups goat lists and arranged to visit her to buy a Nubian to breed to my Boer buck. I fell in love all over again but with Nubians this time. So now I have Nubians purchased from Emily as well as some of their offspring. Emily has great goats!

I love writing about goats and have written several goaty articles for Hobby Farms, plus writing Hobby Farms Goats for BowTie and The Backyard Goat and Storey's Guide to Raising Meat Goats (under my pseudonym, Maggie Sayer--therein lies a tale). There is also a goat section in Storey's Guide to Raising Miniature Livestock. Now I'm doing some ebooks (some to sell and some to distribute for free) and am under contract to Storey for a book called HomeGrown Pork. Pigs are okay but it's not nearly as much fun as writing about goats or sheep!

Sue

lasergrl · #29 01/27/12, 06:55 PM

My nigerian was housetrained as a bottle kid, untill about 4 months of age. I took her many places and she would go outside if I took her in time. Number one and number two. Eventually the jumping and chewing became more then enough. That is about the time I was able to find my other doe who was also a bottle baby and not housetrained. Depends on the goat and the training. Not all will housetrain while other do without much training at all.

prairiedog · #30 01/27/12, 06:55 PM

Oatbucket is a writer too so you have something besides goats in common.

Dreamgoat Annie · #31 01/27/12, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairiedog

Oatbucket is a writer too so you have something besides goats in common.

Cool! Oatbucket, what do you write?

Sue

Dreamgoat Annie · #32 01/27/12, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

What do you write Dream? I've never been to the HF forum, but the fact that you are a full time writer and a goat lover is awesome!

I wrote a long response but seem to have done something wrong as when I hit reply, I got a screen saying it had to be checked by a moderator before posting. So it should show up later on. In the meanwhile, I need to learn the rules.

Basically, I write books for BowTie Press and Storey and magazine articles for Hobby Farms and Chickens magazines.

Sue

Oat Bucket Farm · #33 01/27/12, 08:54 PM

That is great that you get to make a living on your writing.

ozark_jewels · #34 01/30/12, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairiedog

Any babies yet Emily? Need pics.

Just last night, triplets, two boys and a girl. Girl came first, then the two boys both tried to come at once. I convinced the bigger one to wait and out popped his little brother, then he came. All healthy, mama is fine. I'll start a 2012 kidding thread.=)

Oat Bucket Farm · #35 01/30/12, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamgoat Annie

Cool! Oatbucket, what do you write?

Sue

Sorry, I must have missed this post somehow. I write fantasy.

Dreamgoat Annie · #36 01/31/12, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

Sorry, I must have missed this post somehow. I write fantasy.

Oooooh, I've just been to your fantasy blog. I have to do my morning chores, then reading it is #1 on my agenda!

Looks fantastic!

I'm writing a cozy mystery but only between paying jobs (gotta buy goat feed and LOTS of $8 bales of hay, alas), so it's not getting finished very quickly.

I used to correspond via snail mail (back a million years ago before the Internet became such a huge part of my life) with Ann Schwader and Sue Isle, both of whom wrote fantasy. They kept me inspired. Hopefully reading your blog will too.

Sue (who could use a healthy dose of inspiration right now)

Oat Bucket Farm · #37 01/31/12, 09:48 AM

My blog doesn't have a whole lot in it yet. I've been so busy working on the final edits of the book itself, I haven't had much time for either of my blogs. I do make a small post every few days on my FB page.

Patrick · #38 01/31/12, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreamgoat Annie

Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Yep, that was me at the Hobby Farms forum but things got pretty negative there, so I stopped participating. Life is too short for people to be mean to one another. A lot of my Hobby Farms forum posts were about goats or sheep--they're my passions.

I have to figure out how to post here, so please be patient with me while I learn.

And pictures? Oh boy, will you get pictures once I find out how to upload them!

Sue

Oh, I was just curious, because I thought that you said in your original post that you had never partcipated in a forum before. I just like to try to understand things correctly. Sorry if that sounded snarky to some.

Dreamgoat Annie · #39 01/31/12, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick

Oh, I was just curious, because I thought that you said in your original post that you had never partcipated in a forum before. I just like to try to understand things correctly. Sorry if that sounded snarky to some.

I didn't take it as snarky. I've only participated at the Hobby Farms and riding steers forums before this one and at the riding steers only briefly (it seems to have disappeared), so I'm still learning how this one functions. I'm still a bit mind-boggled but things are getting clearer.

Are you Gallus from the Hobby Farms forum?

Sue