Do your goats wear collars?

In your poll you need one more category...do you wear collars on some of your goats and they are regular collars.
I used to wear collars on all of my goats. They are all horned goats and I've never had a problem until recently.
They've always sparred among themselves, but the herd queen has figured out that her horns are great for securing another goat by their collar. Fortunately, I was home at the time and was able to separate her latest conquest or I'm sure there would have been a fatality.
That ended collars on all of my goats, except for the queen.
Now, I only use collars when I need to do something specific to one of them such as hoof trimming, etc.

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There are as many opinions as there are experts.

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We have a variety of collars on our goats, have had them for over 20 years now. We've never had a goat get hung up by the collar, but we've lost them about every other way you can think of. I like to keep them fairly snug up high, SWMBO likes them down lower. I don't think any of the dog collars we use are break away and the rope collars surely aren't. It's something to consider though.

When we put them out on pasture the collars generally come off.

Nope, never, and never any need.

My goats will all lead with my gently holding an ear as a suggestion. If I need to actually move them, the tiny bit of hay twine in my pocket gets looped over and I hold both ends in my hand.
If I feel that they are going to be stubborn, which they are generally outgrown by a year, the little piece of hay twine makes a simple halter with one knot, and again, slips right on, off, and back in my pocket.

Why take a risk, when that is so cheap, simple and effective?

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A ship in the harbor may be safe, but that's not what ships are built for

Meat goats - no collars. Milking does - yes collars, and yes they're handy. Kids and bucks - no need.

This is dependent upon the animal too. Our milking does are mellow enough that we don't have problems. If their personalities warranted a hazard, we'd do without. We had breakaways, but one of the does chewed them off the others. (Took a while to figure out who ... weren't able to identify our culprit until it came down to the last goat wearing a collar).

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Yep. They free range too. One is pretty wild, other is mellow, but collars are just useful for leading.

I had collars on the last batch, these chew them off each other.

I have a few thats not tame and there the ones that find my holes. We live on a somewhat busy road. And when they get out it takes everyone in the family to catch. So a colar is needed. 1 doe im about to turn into goat kabobs if she keeps her antics up. I know my fences need work but goodness. She can get threw chain link and dog kennel panel like a ghost . None of my other does can figure out chain link or dog kennels.

Looks like the majority use collars all the time.

I use narrow dog collars w/ plastic clasps on my milking does. There isn't anything they can get caught on...no access to any wooded areas and there is a hot wire keeping them off the fence. The kids don't get collars...they are too stupid still. Plus I only need collars on the milkers because I have to walk them all the way to the barn to milk. Most of the time they do fine and know where to go, but you know goats...sometimes they think they would rather go where they want to go.

Mine run to the front of the line and I would have 4 of them on the milk stand at once if I didn't lead them to it one at a time. Trust me. Its happened.

There kind of need to be another category, I use collars all the time and they are break away collars. :P

It's a really interesting subject. I have never encountered collar eating goats... and yet, I don't have to see a crazy goat related thing to believe it utterly!

Crater, there is a election available for breakaway collars.
Im not a sheeple and wont follow the vast majority

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I'm a goat person, not a people person,
De @ Udderly Southern Dairy Goats
we will be adding a new breed in the spring

I'm not a sheeple I'm a.. uhh goatple. I have collars of different colors on my girls but I don't actually _use_ them like grab and lead with them, they come when called and they are all the plastic chain break aways. I don't fret if one breaks and they don't have one for awhile, it's more for ID at a distance so I know which name to call. But I surely would not put collars on my goats that they could not get loose from if they were caught up... they wander the brush and play and jump on things, too dangerous for my tastes.

I am very much of a mind that if it doesn't come, if it's not friendly and looking to be in people company then I would probably be better off eating it and not troubling myself with a herd member that makes my job difficult. With three going on four children and a husband and whatever, whatever on top of that I just don't have the time or patience not to have thoroughly social and pleasant herd members.

Was referring to a previous statement by another poster crater sorry about the lack of distinction

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I'm a goat person, not a people person,
De @ Udderly Southern Dairy Goats
we will be adding a new breed in the spring

I took the leashes off my goats but still have the collars. I don't have any brush though. My goats have to scrounge for weeds.

Mine will follow me, but it is also important to me that they learn early to be led by a collar. All mine have breakaway collars, except the buck. He had one but I haven't replaced it since he lost it last. He's in a separate field and I haven't brought him in for awhile. When I do, he'll get another collar.

My goats are sweet and loving and gentle and... they're GOATS. That means that there are times when they will come along willingly, and there are times when they would prefer to keep me waiting until some more browse grows.

Then, I use the collar.

This certainly does not mean that my goats are ill-mannered or not interested in human company. We had plenty of loving goat company whilst building the new turkey pen this evening. (They think they know how to do EVERYthing better than humans!) But if I'm in a hurry, or I need a goat to hold still while I am checking her out, then the collar it will be.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

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We run around 200 head of goats on about 80 acres (pasture, woods, brush, etc). That 80 acres was brought down in size to 30 acres when we cannot be with them less than a month ago. Obviously, not all of them wear collars.
I buy the nylon dog collars from Family Dollar (and not just any dollar store collar, it has to be family dollar). They have the plastic clasps that break when strained. We have yet to find a goat hanging dead by her collar (knock on wood). We have a number of collars go missing in the field. They are not tight to their necks though. I have them fairly loose so they can slide off if need be. Having said that, we have had at least one doe almost choke herself in their pen when she got it caught and twisted and twisted. But we can hear them in their pen and we check on them.
Some does need a collar to help us catch them. I can guarantee you we do not have 200 goats you can just walk up to when you want to work them.
We have been using collars for quite a few years (8?) with no issues.
As with everything, your mileage can, and will, vary.

I should probably point out that at this moment I would guess about 25 (?) of the current goat population actually has collars on it... so not a large percentage. More during kidding season. They have been out on pasture, so a lot of collars have gone missing since kidding season.
I leave collars on my bucks whenever possible. I need those to lead the boys the many places they are expected to go. Only one has his collar at the moment though. At least I think Charm lost his.

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Roseanna
Morning Mist Herd
Journey's End Jerseys
Jerseys, Jersey/Norwegian Reds, Beef, Boers, Nubians & crossbreeds

I keep a leather collar on my most stubborn doe. Its snug enough nothing should be hanging up in there. She's had it on for 3 years without problem, but then again she's not a trouble maker like my other does (who like to stick their heads under fences and push into tiny spots of sticks and debris)

Sometimes I think about hanging a bell from her

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