My goats are drivung me CRAZY

Don't feed them pelleted feed. Make them eat the stuff. They will eat it. Mine eat grass it just isn't natural for them so they have to learn. Also boers are the best grass eaters. But with my goats when they have nice fresh grass up and coming in their pen I cut back on their hay a lot so they have to eat the grass and they do just fine. (except with my milkers they still get alfalfa and grain).

But just let them eat the grass as their food.

MotherClucker

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GoldenWood Farm - Breeding ADGA registered La Manchas and Grades
Website: www.goldenwoodfarm.com
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"Don't feed them pelleted feed. Make them eat the stuff. They will eat it. But just let them eat the grass as their food."
"Sorry, I would just like to point out that goats prefer trees and bushs to grass anyday, they also seem to enjoy weeds but not grass."So, MotherClicker...how long do I listen to their pitiful bahing before they'll figure out no goodies & eat the stuff?

BTW...the green stuff that's belly deep and some over their heads ARE weeds...not grass. Must just be weeds they don't care for...but hell......
You think they'd eat *that* rather then stand there & starve themselves.

I am not sure Smilinpossum. They will complain for a while but they will start to eat it (from what you said I thought it was grass they where eating..my bad).

I am not sure how long it will take though..sorry...

MotherClucker

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GoldenWood Farm - Breeding ADGA registered La Manchas and Grades
Website: www.goldenwoodfarm.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gwlamanchas

I love loving my goats! They are so affectionate. It is better than hugging some humans because unlike some people they nuzzle and lean in and love to be touched.
Even our chickens are pets. Sure I got them for the eggs, and the goats for the milk. But I have enjoyed them so much that when I was raising the chickens I even forgot we were going to get eggs from them some day! We line our lawn chairs up in front of the coop and stare at them! I remember the day I was looking at them with my dh and I said, "Oh yeah! We're going to get eggs from them too!"
We pet the chickens, pick them up and cuddle them...give them treats...
We did butcher most of the excess roosters, we only want one very calm guy who is big and beautiful and so far not very aggressive. My tiny 9 yo dd can catch him and pick him up without too much struggle.
smilinpossum, maybe you would enjoy making them into pets? You say your cats and dogs are your sweeties---goats are real sweeties too! A lot of farmers I know (and this is farm country so I know a lot of farmers) still care about their individual animals. Even those destined to be butchered seem to come in for a lot of care and attention...the milking heifers, the horses, and on and on---all animals benefit from an affectionate relationship with their owner...you never know---you might like it too! Giving animals affectionate attention is positive experience for us people too!
If I keep waxing rhapsodic here I may end up hugging the trees...better quit while I can!
Blessings, Jillis

We have three goats that are very vocal as well. They are all dam raised and were very standoffish when we got them back in April. Now they are somewhat tamed and cry real tears when they have not had their "quality time". Sometimes they just want us to go down and talk to them. Annabelle has reverted back to standoffish but still wants us to come down and hang out. Mine also like to browse in the trees instead of eating what is on the ground but we also spoil them by giving them sweet feed, goat feed and alfalfa pellets along with hay. I got them for milking after they get older so the weed control is not important.

Sherry in Ga

Yep, sure is true, our mutt goats will barly touch the grass but the Boers just sit there munching away. Gotta love 'em.

Hey Jillis, just wanted to say that you are absoulutly right. We have a doe that if you do not give her attention when she sees you, she will walk up to you, tilt her head, and look you in the eye as if to say "well hurry up would you". I love her SO MUCH! She just sits there and lets you hug her around her neck, and my 10 year old brother and my 2 year lod sister actually ride her, she is a VERY large Boer doe. Well just wanted to share my Queenies personality with ya, Bye.

We have a little Boer doeling, Gabby, tha she will keep baaing unless you talk to her or hug her. It is really funny because it is knida like this, "BAAA" "Hello how are you doing today Little Miss Gabby" "BAAA" "You can be quiet now." "BAAAAAAAA" " You are beginning to annoy me." "BAAAAAA" "Well Bye." "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB AAAAABAAAAAAA". I love my goaties.

My new Nubian has actually yelled herself into laryngitis! :-) Jillis!

It sounds as though the goats have definately been trained to be noisy. Its the same in training any animal on earth. Don't reward the behaviour that you don't like!! If the goats are supposed to be browsers, why feed them pellets?...especially if they have been fed after baaing! Electric fences in small chunks of pasture and several hogs would be a better pasture restorer anyways in my opinion.

smilinpossum --- it's true - goats always do the opposite of what you want them to do! And it's so very discouraging not to be able to figure out what it is they want - especially when they're noisy about it. I literally have to shove mine out of the barn in the morning to go out and graze and then have to beg them to come in the barn at nite. And my Boers do not like grass even a little bit but my Saanan loves it. They all would prefer to stand in the barn all day and munch hay. And they have access to about 15 acres of everything they could possibly want - trees, weeds, grass - everything! I'm sorry to say this - but in my observations, the most content goats I have seen are the ones who have everything you give yours but without the fussing. In otherwards, shelter, feed and water. They seem to rely on each other more than their human caretakers. I even wonder about giving them grain sometimes - the goats I have observed that are out browsing without grain are plenty fat and healthy, and don't act crazy like mine do at feeding time. What if you were to stake them out in their pasture during the day for a couple of weeks - maybe it would get them in the habit of grazing out there and not hang around at the fence. I do not favor tying goats out but, again, I have seen much success with folks who do that. I often wonder why my 1000# horses can be so gentle with me when my 125# goats can be so difficult!

I know there are people here who feel about their goat the way i feel about my dogs, and that's cool.
That just isn't me.
I don't WANT to "love on" these guys.
If you don't understand that, or it offends you, too bad.
OTOH, I don't get people who dump dogs off on the side of the road.
But.....I digress..

At this point, goat curry is sounding pretty good...
Even if we could afford a mower or bush-hog, it would never fit in there.For several logistic reasons.

If they wouldn't be so LOUD and CONTINUOUS, I wouldn't care, but my hub & I can't even sit out in the yard any more, for all their racket, and we've taken to sneaking out the back door to feed the chickens, so the goats don't see us & come running up to the fence & start hollering.

It really sounds like they're just being .... goats.

If you want to re-train them you'll have to listen to them yell till they figure out it won't work anymore. They actually are trainable in a strange sort of way. You can also start spraying them with a hose or squirt gun when they yell - goats hate to get wet.

If the time comes, any recipe that works well for lamb will also work with goat.

Get two or three more goats.Problem solved.

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Magwa

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Hi smilinpossum:

It won't make any difference what kind of goats you have or how many you have ( even if you have 50 goats ) if you feed them free choice hay and lots of feed, and treats in the pasture they will NOT eat the weeds or brush that you want them to eat.

My brush goats eat brush and are plenty fat enough and in good health.

I bought my goats to grass, brush, weeds, and leaves off of trees, and to kill small trees, and they do a good job.

I did not by these goats to waste money on buying costly feed and hay, and pellet feeds.

It sound like your goat have got you trained just fine.
When they holler you come running and reward their hollering by feeding them the treats that they like.

When the goats get hungry they will eat more leaves and then the brush and even the grass if they are hungry.

The only time my goats get feed is just before dark and then they only get what would fit in the palm of your hand and not piled up high.

When they see me feed time they come running because they know that it is time for a treat and NOT a banquette dinner fit for a king ! ! !

I have had many herds of brush goats and they all acted the same, and did the job I bought them for work, not me working all the time just to make them happy.

You only feed a goat when they have nothing else to eat. Keep and eye on them and if they start loosing weight then feed them a little until they have the weight that you want.

Let the buffet be the pasture of weed, brush, and grass which is cheep ! ! !

No my goats are NOT pets.
But I do take care of my goats, and their needs ! ! !

bumpus
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Just forget the goats and go buy half a dozen sheep.

I agree about the sheep comment. QUieter, more independant. I'd suggest Barbados. They're wild as hell (at least any of the ones I"ve come in contact with) and are excellent with brush. I dont' think mine EVER make a peep.

Hey now,goats are way better then sheep.Just chain them to a tree
for a few hours(with water of corse). Then they dont have
"choise feed" but the food you put in front of them.

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Magwa

I'm not done reading, so I dont know if anyones mentioned this yet ....but what you really need are sheep. Sheep eat grass more (like cows) and goats eat...well....brush. Anything you DONT THINK could be eaten...they'll eat it. Lost 5 rose bushes that way. I have five dairy goats (not that many) and they pretty much are akay to themselves, but they are still sweet and like to be petted. Lots of goats are raised with more interaction than cows, which is why I think (my personaly opinion) why they act more like dogs than livestock. Growing up my sister and I had a Nubian (not all that there up there anyway.....by the way ....do you know what breed your two are???) wether. He was a NUT!!! We used to carry him everywhere. He rode fourwheelers with us. When left alone he'd climb into the porch swing and rock. What other animal can open their own gate and walk out??? But......(as that is neither here nor there) I think your purpose might be better acheived with sheep. (GOOD LUCK....and you thought your GOATS were fast movers!!!) grin.

Ok, this is just speculation, but I think there are three possible things that could be going on with these goats, assuming it's food related and not a health issue:

1) They know you will feed them pellets sometimes, they just don't know when exactly since you feed them 2-3 times per week. Perhaps you've even been "reminded" to feed them by their baaing and that just reinforced their noisiness. (it really sounds like this one combined with #2 to me)

2) The weeds grew up too much and became unpalatable. If you keep it mowed to encourage soft green growth, that will solve that. But that would defeat your purpose of having goats, wouldn't it? If you had some grass eaters in there with the goats, that might be mutually beneficial to each kind of animal.

3) The ate everything they'll ever want to eat. Are the weeds that are left a nice variety, or is it mostly all one thing? What is it? I know a lady that's been raising goats for years. She has a pasture full of some kind of weed; I think she called it horse mint. None of the goats will touch it. Mine won't eat Red Buckeye, but that's a good thing since it's poisonous.

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Shae in Arkansas