"Momma Got run over by a Nubian!"

[Lemontreefarm]

Hi all,
I would like to get some of your ways of feeding your goats (pictures would be great). I am sure this has come up many times - but us newbies to this sight would much appreciate real things that work. I am so tired of getting beat up trying to put grain in the feed troughs. Or actually trying to fool the goats into going around the barn (using my daughter as a Decoy)while I run into open stall to pour in their grain. Feeding never use to be a problem with a few goats, but with 20+ nubians now my family will be singing "Momma go run over by a Nubian -Walking down to feed them Christmas Eve" next holiday season.

Last night was the last straw! I got knocked to the ground -Turned
my ankle -Feed Bucket went flying and I ended up staring at the loft while baby Goats decided I was the greatest new toy to jump.

They are all in time out until I figure out a better feeding system.

I found a sight on line a few months ago about a feeding system that you pour feed in on one side and then a lever rolls the feed over to the goats, but I can't find it now. Does anyone know where I can find this sight?

[Oceanrose]

TRAIN THEM! THey should respect you better than that and stay off of you while you're doing anything. Otherwise, even though goats aren't huge, but they could be dangerous.

I'd give them a few tough love lessons of no one eats till mommy says Ok.... I'm no goat trainer, but the ones I've worked with are a lot like dogs, and learn the same way, operant conditioning, a clicker, and if necessary a few hard corrections. If you're using plastic buckets, you can't hurt them with them, but you can make them respect the sight of swinging bucket really pretty quickly..

[goatmarm]

Lisa,
So funny! We have some very pushy nubians too. I have seen the feed trough that you are thinking of, I'll try to find plans for it. We do not have such a setup ourselves. I tried to explain it to DH when we were building the stalls, but I just couldn't get the idea across. He did things his own way, while I helped(biting my tongue the whole time).
Anyway, try flailing those legs about as you walk in the pen with the feed. I have resorted to this after being shoved and bruised one too many times while everybody vies for the first gobble of grain. You'd think they were starving!
Yes, you will look pretty silly, and you will surely catch a few off guard with a sneaker in the chops. I'm not saying go in, take aim, and kick deliberately, just walk like the biggest goofball clutz on earth. Seriously. A few times doing this and they will give you some space.

[Jcran]

I agree with "train em". We have what my 6 year old calls the "goat whacker". Now we don't whack THEM, but smack the wall or gate when they get pushy. The loud sound startles them and they back right off! The GOAT WHACKER is just an old lunge whip that our dog chewed the end off of, so I cut some more off and it looks like a stiff buggy whip now. Now all we have to do is show them "the whacker" and they stop crowding. Good luck.

[Wingdo]

I too have a "whacker" of sorts. It's called a cane, and boy do they know how it operates! All I have to do is show up and they form up at attention! They don't tounch anything until I step back... they're smarter than I look, but not by much.

Wing

[Lemontreefarm]

What kind of Goats to you folks have? These big "Sweet feed Crack Heads" don't even respect our Border Collie "Zip" when it comes to feeding time. I know alot of people say that Nubians are very pushy. Well mine are living up to their reputations.
But, I still love them.

[dosthouhavemilk]

We are still working on that one. As our herd grows so does the number of feet trying to knock me over.
At this point, I have my bag of feed and my scoop.
We have three feeers for the goats currently (need to get more up). I throw one scoop into one feeder and then another scoop at another feeder. I am still outside the pen at this point. The feeders are perpendicular to the fence line but not close enough for Utopia to use in escaping. After the two scoops are out I can safely enter the pen and rather than fighting with 30+ goats, I only have to deal with a handful that dash to the third feeder I put the feed out in.

I hope to have a creep pen for the kids and feed them there. I am also going to turn one shed into a feed room as it were. I will feed 6-8 does seperately. That way I can control intake (not doable with the large group) and keep them handelable.
I feed the up close does at the cow barn in this manner.

I am also looking at other ideas. There was one on a fainting goats webpage, I believe (tried finding it but wasn't successful), where there is a feed alley you walk into. There are troughs on three sides. The goats stick their heads through a panel, or else the panel was there to keep them from climbing over (wish I could have found that site again). That way the goats can't get to you when you are putting out feed. I would want self latching head gates for that or possibly keyhole with a drop down board to keep them in place. Some way to control who gets what. I woul have to feed them in groups.

[suzyhomemaker09]

I have a seperate feeding pen for when I bring in the milkers...everyone else gets to browse the pasture. I bring in the feed, put it in the feeder and man the gate to monitor who gets in to eat....makes it easier to fetch them for milking. They know who gets milked 1st and will return to the pen after being milked...just have to be sure to fasten the gate or more than one will come out to be milked

[Lemontreefarm]

Thanks Roseanna,
I was starting to think that I have a bunch of spoiled goat Children on my hands. "Wonder what Nanny 911 could do for me?"

[dosthouhavemilk]

I can snap some pictures of feeding time this afternoon, but it is extremely muddy here today so it won't be pretty.
I am still trying to get more feeders that the kids aren't so inclined to climb into. Especially when it is muddy (yuck!)

[mygoat]

I have a 1qt stainless bowls for each of my pygmies. I fill the bowls in the barn and then put them on the gatepost. Daisy comes up to me, I grab her collar and clip her onto the leash I have hanging on the first t-post. Then I grab Boston and snap her into her spot, then I grab Cadee, then Ester and snap them into thier places. Then I give Daisy her food on down the line, and then I do the same with my bucks. They don't come to me to get snapped into place, they don't get fed. So far, only Daisy is the problem goat, and she hasn't been fed I think twice, lol. I have an old hog whip that I keep on hand in case she doesn't want to be clipped into place and I can keep her away from the other goats feed. This way the goats have to come to you to get fed and also they get all thier own rations, and you don't get trampled.

[dosthouhavemilk]

Okay, it wasn't as muddy as I expected. The sun came out and dried it all up.



There are the three feeders. Two perpendicular to the fenceline and one paralell to it and set much further back.
I throw feed into the right feeder first. The kids will climb into whatever feeder I fill first and I would rather they go there than the other one. I then toss a scoop into the left feeder (the big one with the hog panels on top to try and keep the mature does from climbing in after feed).
Then I grab the rest of my bag (still has five scoops in it at this point) and go into the pen. I put feed in the last feeder first and put most in there. It is my favorite feeder. We have another like it but it needs repaired. Dad built them three years ago I believe. I also dump what is left into the first two feeders (most of it in the longer feeder). If Sweetie has decided she is eating in hte upper section I put her little bit on her pan.

There they are eating at their three feeders with Sweetie eating her pile in the upper pen. You can see my two feed bags (one is for four heifers that I feed after feeding the goats) and the scoop in front of the pen there.

This is one of the feeders that dad built that I like so much. The kids can't easily climb into it and the does can't butt each other as easily.

[Lemontreefarm]

Thank you for the great Pictures - I havn't considered feeding outside. I will try and get some pictures up of my goats and barn this weekend. I really Love seeing what other goat people do. Thanks

[Jen H]

Squirt gun! You need a good sized squirt gun. Goats hate getting wet - use that to your advantage. A stream of water won't hurt them, but it will get them to back off. The few times my monsters have ignored the squirt gun, a session of "crazy woman with a broom handle" has earned their respect. I don't actually aim to hit them during this little display, I just randomly swing around and if they're too close they get whacked - they learn to give me some space very quickly.

[nehimama]

LOL! Mine respect the squirt bottle and the red butterfly net that I wave around when I need to. I absolutely won't stand for crowding at the gate to the milking room, or being jumped on, or being pushed & crowded when putting out the hay. It didn't take too many squirts to get things settled down around here.

NeHi Mama

[fricknfarm]

Being as you're in One of the Carolinas, go cut yourself a good switch. A few good smart switches on those girls and all you'll have to do is wave it around, they'll give you plenty of leeway. Goats NEVER respect a weakling. Watch them eat. They'll just about kill each other for a kernel of corn. No reason that your goats should cause you harm, better they should feel a little sting than you end up in the hospital. I ALWAYS take a stick with me and make SURE they see it. Goats are very aggressive about getting food, you're entitled to use force when needed. Would you let your kids(children) mug you and steal your wallet????

[ForMyACDs]

Here was our solution:

The wall of the large doe stall has an opening in the wall that we can put feed in from the aisle........helps to keep the majority of feet out of feeders too. Actually, this is the old photo.......when we set a bunk feeder outside the wall temporarily. We now have a feeder built in to the wall:



This feeder is in one of the smaller stalls......we can pour feed in to the feeder over the wall:

[jill.costello]

I only have 4 goaties, but still am in danger of getting tripped and harrassed at feed time, so I have started clipping my dominant doe to the fence with a trailer tie (perfect length). This simple act seems to make the others look to me for leadership, and boy, do I give it to them! Big nudges with my knees in the shoulders and rumps to scoot them along to the proper places has been working MUCH better than the WWF Goat wrestling we used to have when the dominant doe was in the meelee!!

[EatChevre]

Reading this post makes me feel so much better... I was starting to believe that I might be becoming a goat abuser as I've been regularly having to use serious brute force to protect myself when I walk through their gate with a bottle of milk in one hand and a bucket of grain in the other. I only have two of them!! I would really fear walking into a room of 20 goats!!!! I am going to try to use the squirt bottle. That really works with my cat.

[The_Shepherdess]

Our mangers fill from outside the pens.