stupid goats got loose...

[Elsbet]

or rather, stupid ME. When we put up our original fence, it was for chickens. It's quite sturdy for what it is, so I wasn't too concerned about the goats busting through it. I had, after all, tried to make it dog proof.

What I'd forgotten was, we used short staples on the fence post because chickens don't press on fencing. When Gytha and Mr. Goatberger were scratching their sides on the fence, apparently all the staples popped out. They were able to push the fence up from the bottom and crawl out under.

THANKFULLY on that section of fence, our neighbors also have a fence, about 3 feet away. I had wanted a doubled fence for just this sort of thing- so they wouldn't bolt. And THANKFULLY that fence is COVERED in honeysuckle and raspberry canes (wild, not planted). So they didn't want to go any further than 3 feet from their pasture. And Gytha had poked her head through the fence and her horns caught, so she couldn't get back out, so she was anchored there until I found out about it. (not freaked out or anything, she was quite happily munching on the honeysuckle.) It took me a minute to maneuver her head back through the fence, but it wasn't traumatic. What was traumatic was when they figured out they had to go back in to the pasture away from all that honeysuckle, and they kicked up a FUSS. These are normally the most laid-back goats I've EVER seen. It was all I could do to get them back inside. I'm getting some fresh batteries for my walkie-talkies so that I can get help from inside the house more easily!

We spent the morning fixing the fence. We also closed up the outside feeding hole we had for their minerals (there was a picture shown "how to" on Fiasco farms website. I thought it was a neat idea, but it doesn't work for my goats), and I'm just going to hang the minerals on the inside of the fence now. Make the hole big enough for them to stick their heads through and not get caught, and the silly things can also put their shoulders through it. Gytha is very, very narrow between her front legs, and so delicate and feminine all over. I can't count the number of times I've had to push Gytha back through the fence because she was hanging halfway out of it. She never seems worried or upset, I think she's honestly laughing at me.

So here is what I learned today:
no more short fence staples. Double, triple, quadruple check fencing before putting new animals in- just eyeballing it isn't enough. And remember that good ideas that work for other people, probably won't work for me, lol.

[brody]

glad the life lesson was relatively smooth

[kreddish]

Very happy everyone is safe.... we spent 200 times more on the fence than we did on the goats.... now trying to slowly expand the area.... thanks for my DH... no goat is getting out of what we have now

[madness]

Here's a lesson we learned today. CLOSE THE GATE. Yep, our goats got out for the first time today simply by walking through an open gate! Ours, like yours, were quite happy to much on the ample brush just on the other side though and didn't stray far!