Our doeling keeps getting out...

whinnyninny · #1 05/20/08, 07:04 AM

... our 7-month-old. She can jump over our 5' high chain-link fence.

I just watched her do it, and she's a nightmare to catch. And she's peeled the skin off her nose with her last landing.

Any way to stop her from doing it?

LomahAcres · #2 05/20/08, 07:53 AM

Hmm, mine always go under the chain link.

Do you have a bigger pasture you can put her in, I find mine what to get out less the more the space they have. I've also had to just let some go loose because they were such good escape artists I didn't have a way to contain them. Never went more then 50 feet out, and we don't get much wildlife that'll eat/take on a goat. We even tried tying at one point, almost lost the goat's leg because he got tangled so bad (not a good idea). Anyway, don't know if that was any help to you, hope you find something that works.

tioga12 · #3 05/20/08, 08:02 AM

Wait till she gets an udder.

Torn up udders from jumping fences are not pretty.

If you don't have your heart set on keeping her, save yourself some aggravation and sell her!

**mygoat** · #4 05/20/08, 08:27 AM

She's escaping because the grass is greener on the other side. If your pasture is grazed down and there isn't enough fun or food in the pasture, they're not going to stay.

Also, once they get bigger I've never had a goat that would jump. So, keep her occupied within her pasture until she gets bigger.

CookingPam777 · #5 05/20/08, 08:41 AM

Put a board at the top for extra height. Is she standing on the fence and jumping over? I have found they can bend it just enough to be free. In this case with the board there nail the fence to the board with U nails so it doesn't give. This is what we have found to work.

whinnyninny · #6 05/20/08, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tioga12

Wait till she gets an udder.

Torn up udders from jumping fences are not pretty.

I told DH that... he said maybe she'd calm down after having her first kid (it'll be at least 2 months before we even see about getting her bred), and I told him that might create an even worse problem if it doesn't calm her down!

This is an extremely recent thing, just in the past couple days. She's never tried jumping the fence before. She actually gets a running start and jumps over it... she's tried climbing but it doesn't work.

When I saw her go over the fence she actually hit it (bent the top rail) and landed on her nose... I'm wondering how keen she'll be to try that again. I've been keeping an eye on her, though. She's hard to catch, I'm not fast enough right now to catch her myself, and when she is caught she's hard to get back into the pen! She's never acted like this before, usually she's real easy to catch!

Backfourty,MI. · #7 05/20/08, 09:57 AM

We have a pygmy whether that is about 65 pounds & the neighbor calls him our ADHD goat. He has always been our jumper but we love him anyways! DH wired re-rod to the bottom fence to make higher posts then we wired chicken wire fence all the way around where he couldn't jump out. He could break that type fence I know but he never has & been almost a year, I think it's because it looks like he can't get out! Maybe give something like that a try & it's not too exspensive either.

crazygoatgal · #8 05/20/08, 10:12 AM

My nd's stop jumping (any kind of ) by age 2 just because they mature and I guess get a bit heavier. Although they don't jump my fence(4ft.), THANK GOD, I do know that the look of an abstacle can be as good a deterrent as the real thing. But some goat, somewhere will be the exception to the rule and make a monkey out of all of us with all our good advice.

Sweet Goats · #9 05/20/08, 10:20 AM

I would try hot wire on the top. Use those fence post connectors that are like 2 inches long and have them facing the inside of the pen, that way as she trys to go over it she will get a git of a shock.

I sell those that jump like that. It is just a invitation for the dogs around here to come kill a goat.

CookingPam777 · #10 05/20/08, 10:26 AM

My goats like to play Ring Around The Rosy HaHa You Can't Catch Me! Drives me insane.

crazygoatgal · #11 05/20/08, 10:43 AM

I really and truly am NOT trying to be an annoying person, but I don't have problems catching my goats, they huddle around me and I have trouble getting away from them. They are not all bottle babies and I didn't raise all of them, so is it the breed? I have always been told that Nigerians were the friendliest(in general), is that they were referring to? Just a question for anyone who wants to teach me.

whinnyninny · #12 05/20/08, 11:56 AM

I never had a problem catching her until just very recently. (I've only had her 2.5 months, though). She's always been friendly, would come right up to me in the pen, etc. She's still "friendly" (meaning she's not aggressive or mean), but she just doesn't want to be caught!