Traveling with Goats

wardarden · #1 06/27/06, 10:30 AM

Hey Guys & Gals, I need advice, again! We will be going to our 7 acre future retirement farm in East Tennessee (Fentress County, Jamestown TN) this Friday (June 30th) and staying for 9 days (coming back July 9th) We take the horses, dogs and goats. We trail ride on the Big South Fork Park which is at the end of our driveway. I love it! The horses and dogs travel great with little or no stress. I am taking my two Oberhasli (1 is 4 y.o. milker doe and the other is 5 month old doeling). My doe is milking and I don’t have anyone that I would trust to milk her regularly and make sure they are taken care of. It is a lot to ask of someone. My oldest son feeds the cats, 1 Jersey heifer and chickens but I don’t really rely on him to milk on time, etc. Soooo… my darling does are going with us. This will be their third trip up. My question is what is the best way to travel with goats to minimize stress? The last time we traveled with them they got pretty stressed. Some of you will remember Nita, she decided that she didn’t like the molasses rich Purina, etc…. The first time she traveled she did better and when she traveled 2 hours to her new home in January she did OK too.

I have purchased some Goat Serum from Hoegger Goat Supply and plan to give a dose of that before trip to boost immunities. She is now settled on a good feed that she is doing well on. I am buying some good “leafy” orchard grass hay from the Co-Op and she is eating that well. She will be traveling in the back of our Nissan truck with a topper on it which I bed down with lots of straw. Last trip she traveled in the back of the horse trailer behind the horses (separated) and didn’t like that at all! She drinks water just fine up there so no worries about that. (I take her buckets that she is used to.) Part of my concern is with the browse up there. What she is used to is the browse at our farm in Murfreesboro Tennessee which is mostly Hackberry Trees, Hickory Trees, Honeysuckle vine and misc. What she has browsed on at our place in East (Fentress County) Tennessee is Pine Trees, Oak Trees (are Oak Trees poisonous?), Maples Trees and misc. low growing stuff. She has tried to take a bite of a Hemlock Tree (evergreen tree like a pine) before but I wouldn’t let her. I read that Water Hemlock is very poisonous but after more research online found that water hemlock is not the same as Hemlock trees. Are Hemlock Trees poisonous?? Would the change in types of browse upset the rumen just like change in feed? I am thinking probably so. At home in Murfreesboro I take my girls for an hour long walk every evening in the horse pasture. I love that part of the day walking with the girls! They love it and run around eating all kinds of things that they have eaten down in their goat lot. Could I take them for a browse walk at the place in East Tennessee or do I just need to keep them up for the whole 9 days? I would hate to do that! They have a 12’ x 12’ stall that they stay in up there which is roomy but I know they want to run outside and eat brush and bramble. I have got them on a probios powder that I put in their grain everyday and will continue that throughout the trip. Well, I’m rambling… anybody have any advice? Also, are there any Tennessee or Southeast goat friends that would like to send me their phone #’s that I can have on hand? If so please email privately to epona1@comcast.net I will not have any access to internet or email for online support.

Thanks so much. Love you guys, ya'll are goat angels!

Arden Ward
Murfreesboro, TN

Sweet Goats · #2 06/27/06, 12:17 PM

I love Tenn, I went to the Smokey Mountains one summer with my Grand Parents. I would love to move there. How long is the drive for you? What I do is give all my goats Nutri Drench, for at least three days before I leave with them on a road trip. You said you ordered goat serum, I didn' know if that is what you ordered. I also give Vit D, it is in the equine section, just a little like 1/4 cup per goat, for the bigger ones and maybe just a little out of your hand for the little one for a few days also. Good Luck and happy and safe travels. You are very lucky. Can I go?

wardarden · #3 06/27/06, 08:36 PM

Hi Sweet Goats, It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive for us from Murfreesboro. Don't you have the Rocky Mountains? I would love to see the Rockies some day. Oh, I also got some homeopathic herbal remedy from Hoegger called "Travel Anxiety". It is supposed to help calm them I think. Do goats ever get used to travel?

Arden

AnnaS · #4 06/28/06, 05:45 AM

I travel to shows and breeders with my goats. I feed Probios in their grain and electroytes (Bounce Back) in their water. If they have good footing so they feel they can get up again, they will lay down for most of the trip. I have take 4 75 lb doelings on a six hour road trip in the back seat of my car with no problems. If I think they will be nervous or panicky, I give 4 caps of ground Valerian root a couple hours before the trip.

Sweet Goats · #5 06/28/06, 09:40 AM

Arden, yes I do have the Rocky Mountains, but you know you don't realize how beautiful something is if you see it everyday.

I guess we take advantage of it. I still love Tenn Smokey Mountains. I think your 2-1/2 hour drive is fine. I have heard about that Travel Anxiety, tell me what you think of it. Most my goats do pretty well on the travels, I just have two that will NOT lay down the whole trip. It drives me crazy

. Anna S. How do you like that Bounce Back?? I did do the Probias a few weeks ago. we went to Estes Park for a HUGE goat show, the goats were a little stressed before we were even half way there, so I went and gave them all probias. I think they were stressed because they were in a stock trailer (we had to have two big ones to get them all there) and it started to rain, (something they had not seen yet this year), so they also got a little chilled. They were fine by the time we unloaded.