Safer tethering protocols

While tethering goats may not be the best thing (the OP stated that right from the first) It is very nice to have a great description on how to do it effectively. Everyone has emergencies, an I can see that it would be quite common to have to tether one occasionally, if only temporarily.

There are always situations where one has to do something they don't prefer, yet which is the only reasonable thing to do under the circumstances. I suspect I will try to stay away from tethering after what I have read, but it is certainly great to have a description of the best way to do it on occasions where I must.

Thanks Jenni

"never use a screwdriver for a pry bar...... except when you don't have a pry bar"

Well Said !!

It depends on the density of the vegetation where they are working. If they are just maintaining an area that has already been "nuked" within the last six months or so, then I have to move them each day. If they are breaking new ground, so to speak, it can be two or three days in one spot before they are ready to move.

The rope-in-a-hose thing sounds pretty safe, particularly in pasture. Good idea!

We tether an Icelandic pony using a 15-foot chain-in-a-hose. The pony is rather special, in that he thinks before he reacts. He doesn't bolt and he doesn't struggle blindly against restraint. Those are not qualities one usually finds in horses.

The person who taught me the chain-in-a-hose trick used to tether his huge Shire stud horse that way. He said he never had a problem.

I'll see about doing that.

I was rather fond of a buck who would go through, under or over any fencing I tried. I wish I'd had your tutorial back when it became obvious tethering was the only option. You do indeed have it figured out LOL It took me a long time to get it....

I know the bramble she is talking about very well! I used to live in Puget Sound,Wa. no you can not run electric netting or poly wire thru that! Blackberry bramble in Washington is very different than the small blackberry bramble we have in Virgina, Tennessee. Then there is another horrid brushy pure evil thing out there called Scotch Broom. Horrid stuff. Chainsaw to cut it out or bulldozer. It is just as invasive as kudzu in the south. I think its worse actually. I would have done the same thing tethered out the goats to eat that mess down.

Fortunately, we don't have any Scotch Broom colonizing the place. I'm allergic to the stuff. No, we just have dense thickets of blackberry, salmonberry and red elder. And a few stinging nettle, thistle and the occasional foxglove and tansy ragwort. Oh, and a ton of buttercup.

Ah, Himalayan Blackberry. Invasive scourge of the Pacific Northwest. Here is a typical cane that came up this spring from an "old-growth" root mass that the goats had eaten to the ground last fall. These canes easily grow 20' long in a season. They arc up over the stiffened, dead old canes from previous years, as well as any trees. They form huge dense gnarled masses that swallow acres of ground, to a height of 8' without trees to hold them up and 15' if there are trees for them to trellis themselves onto. Working to clear this stuff makes a person look like they've been put through the dryer with ten feral cats.

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I was thinking the same thing....this is really great information. I would never tether my goats but at least we breached the stigma enough to discuss it rationally and learn the best way to do it if backs were up against the wall and it was the only option. Much better than just no no never never go stick your head in the sand and then totally screw up if the situation came up

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I am new to all this but have been reading along and learning. I have a silly question. Can goats eat the thorny stuff without harm? I would think the thorns would create all kids of problems.

I do wonder how they would do in Wyoming though. All my attempts at other blackberry varieties has failed.

They chew it up really well. Mine go for the blackberry leaves first, until the plant is denuded as far as they can reach. Then they hook the canes with their horns and pull them down out of the upper canopy of brush and trees, until more leaves are within reach. After they have removed all the leaves, then they start on the smaller twigs. The twigs have thorns but the goats eat them nearly as quickly as they do the harmless leaves. After the smaller twigs are gone, they sometimes start beating and sawing on the thicker canes with their horns to shred them. There is a core in the cane that they prefer to the thicker outer skin and thorns. They will usually continue eating the twigs and slim canes until everything thinner than my pinky finger is gone, and thrash the thicker canes until they are broken and eat the exposed core. After that, they'll start complaining that there isn't anything left to eat. If you ignore their hollering and leave them there, they will continue working at it but they will gripe because they aren't getting as much "bang for their buck" and there's much more delicious stuff juuuuuust out of reach. So they cry for me to come move them down to the next spot.

They also quickly learn how to use their chains to help bend brush and blackberry canes down to reach the upper leaves.

I really don't know how they eat the things they do. In addition to blackberry, they eat stinging nettle and poison ivy!

Yep those are the canes I remember and dreaded! Lucky you on the not having to deal with the scotch broom. I hated that stuff with a passion. I don't even know if goats would even bother with it.It is toxic to some.

Very informative. Great info to have if you ever need it! Thanks

Very informative thread. Thanks. We used chain on our previous goats but I always felt unhappy about the quite heavy length which had to dangle from collar to ground. Also, no matter what tethering pins we used and no matter how we attached the chain to the pin, there were occasions where the chain became completely wrapped round the pin.
We have recently acquired two neutered billys from a lady who could no longer look after them. They came with all sorts of goodies befitting their spoilt boy status on her smallholding The items which have impressed me most are their tethers which are in fact soft feel lunge reins for horses. They work beautifully, are light, soft and show no propensity to tangle or twist although they can still get wrapped round a shrub. They come with a loop at one end and a clip at the other. The existing reins are probably about six years old and only now are beginning to fray.
The new boys' arrival has prompted me to think again about the design of the tethering pins and I have a "prototype" under test which is looking very promising. I will post more detail after a few more days trial.

We've lost more goats to electric netting than to tethering.
When we tether the goats we use the heavy cable sold for dogs. But we usually only tether in open pasture that has no proper fencing.
If I was tethering in brush I would want to be checking on the animals constantly.

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