I need a suggestion....

Oakshire_Farm · #1 04/19/10, 08:55 PM

Well first I will start with a question??? How long in general do Lamanchas live????

About 4 years ago we adpoted a aprox 8 year old Lamancha, she had been tied up with a imbeaded collar,starved to the point that she could no longer stand up and thrown in a ditch. SOOOOO, I am a sucker and cannot say no and she came to live with us. Fast forward 4 years, she is a pain in the you know what! Ever since she got fat and happy, she cannot be kept in!!!!! Ggggrrrrrrrrrrr She can CLEAR a 4 foot wire fence, with a electric top line! We are at the point of having a enough! We love this goat, she is just a pet, every spring she bags up and gets a bad case of mastitis, I have to milk her out every few days to keep it under control, and give meds if it gets bad. The kids love her and she is very friendly. BUT I cannot stand her any more! The thought of having her put down has crossed our minds, but other than being a escape artist she is great!

Does anyone have any suggestions to keep her on the right side of the fence? I have thought about putting a short rope with a ring on her to drag around, to deter her from getting up enough speed to jump, but I worry about her getting tangled? Any suggestions?

shiandpete.1 · #2 04/19/10, 10:35 PM

How about adding some hog or goat panels on top of the fence you have, they are 3ft tall at least so that would make it 7 foot. Otherwise I have no idea. We have one who is a year and her nickname is slim, Billie can fit between and through the smallest opening and is hard to keep in too, guess what breed!? Lamancha, you guessed it.

deineria · #3 04/19/10, 10:45 PM

You might try to place here. I know once they start to get out, keeping them in is very hard.

HillsideWayCSA · #4 04/19/10, 11:08 PM

Not that it's funny but now you know why she had the collar on. I bet the previous owners couldn't keep her in either and tied her up. (not saying it's a good thing, just saying) You might find someone with a field big enough to keep her happy, or atleast far enough back in the sticks that if she's not penned in it won't make a difference.

garyh141 · #5 04/19/10, 11:14 PM

Is she a single goat (a single goat is a lonely goat -- goats are herd animals)? Does she have any other goatie friends to live with? She may just need some company.
I don't know about Lamancha's, but goats can live to be up to 20 years old. Males have a shorter life span I think.
Sorry, no other suggestions.
Sandra

Oakshire_Farm · #6 04/19/10, 11:44 PM

She is not a single she lives with our big fat Boar goat (she is way to fat to escape) and my daughters pony. Adding height to the fence is not a option, she is in a large pasture, it is heavily treed.

I totally understand why her pervious owner tied her up! I think steaking her out may be one option, but it defeats the purpose of having her for a companion for the other goat. Rehoming her is not a option, we will put her down rather than passing her on. I know she is a pain in the rear, but I do not want someone else to mistreat her (even though I have had some evil thoughts, she will be not be mistreated) Because she has had a problem with chronic mastitis and the vets have told us to never breed her I would not want someone to think they would try.

20 years!!!! OMG I am not sure we can handle another 8 years of fighting with her!

garyh141 · #7 04/19/10, 11:57 PM

Patience is a virtue!

Truly, just keep trying. You will find an answer. Just have to be smarter than she is!

Ya got to think like a goat!

Sandra

steff bugielski · #8 04/20/10, 05:49 AM

What is it on the other side that she is after? I have a problem when there is nothing to eat in the pasture. I cut some branches and weeds to feed them. Of course they always have hay but they want the goodies. A good sized limb with buds , leaves or bark is a wonderful way to keep them busy. Just be sure it is not cherry tree.

jil101ca · #9 04/20/10, 05:51 AM

If you just let her loose would she stay around? It's not a big deal when my goats get loose, they never go far from the barn.

Oakshire_Farm · #10 04/20/10, 09:45 AM

There is lots of green shoots coming up everywhere in her pasture, as well as free choice of hay. She wants my apple trees on outside, as well as tulips. I think she just gets out to hang out! I gave up on fencing her in a few years ago and let her have free run of the yard, but I run home based business and she jumped on the hood of 2 of my customers cars. I could have killed her that day too!

Most of the time she gets out it is just to sleep on my patio, grrrrrr, or the hot tub cover! I want to hobble her! But my hubby is worried about her getting tangled up on branches and small trees. We are at our wits end!

jBlaze · #11 04/20/10, 01:40 PM

My suggestion is to offer her to someone with a better fence. I am sure someone would appreciate her.

Oakshire_Farm · #12 04/20/10, 03:31 PM

All of our fences are newly strung 4 foot tightly strung page wire, with a electric strand about 4 inches overt the top! The unless someone has deer fencing, 5ft+ fencing I would not rehome her. Because she has been so badly treated in the past I would rather have her put down than passing her on to become someone else's problem. She also has the chronic mastitis problem, so she could only go to some one that is familiar with how to treat her. As much as I hate this goat I love her to bits. I do not want her to suffer, she has been through enough.

shiandpete.1 · #13 04/20/10, 03:37 PM

How about and invisible fence like you use for dogs? Unfortunately that is A LOT of digging for you to do, just another thought....

jBlaze · #14 04/20/10, 06:40 PM

All of our fencing is 6 foot tall, I thought that was common?
You could just say that she can only go to someone with adequate fencing and experience with goats. Her chronic mastitis is likely because she comes into milk from the clover, then needs to be milked more? what have you treated it with? (unless there is something I am missing, sorry.)

freedomfrom4 · #15 04/20/10, 08:10 PM

How is she getting out over the hot wire on top? Does she not touch it? Is the electric hot enough so she is zapped good? I like the invisable fence idea. If you ran it inside your exixting fence everytime she came close enough to your fence to get over it would give her a jolt.

My pygmy goat climbs over so she is tied out in the yard along with the dog everyday now. She can touch noses with the other goats but not get herself tangled in the fence. Between cars and the horses running loose was a death sentence for her, so we risk putting her on a leash. Of course we are here, but you never know what can happen. She is tied to a tire and in the middle of the tire is her water. She is moved to a new spot everyday so she has the best eatin around.

Good Luck

LaManchaPaul · #16 04/20/10, 08:46 PM

I had a horned LaMancha buck that would scoot his way beneth the electric wire. It touched his horns then the thick hair on his neck/back. It didn't seem to shock him. I weaved heavy electric wire in his horns down to his collar and weaved it in and out of his plastic collar. It zapped him enough to stop. THEN he decided that he could out jump the wire. With a thin string of wire, I weaved it into his collar and let it dangle down to his front feet, but not long enough to trip. When he cleared the wire, this collar adornment didn't and he got zapped. That only took one jumping shock to fix.

Good luck.

steff bugielski · #17 04/21/10, 05:28 AM

I would move the hot wire in a bit so she has to touch it . Like a foot in from the fence. Also have you tested it to be sure it is giving off enough of a shock. They make a little tested that you stick one end in the ground and the other to the fence. Also have you havd enough rain. My electric fence does not work well without rain but my animals have all had the full force experience and I do not need to turn it on until thing start to green up or the new kids try to go under.

Apryl in ND · #18 04/21/10, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiandpete.1

How about and invisible fence like you use for dogs? Unfortunately that is A LOT of digging for you to do, just another thought....

Haha. I have also wondered if this could work.

GBov · #19 04/21/10, 09:52 AM

I have read of a few people using shock collars for livestock. Seems to work pretty well.

You dont have to DIG it in though, just run it on the fence posts like hot wire. Its MUCH EASIER to find breaks that way!

I know it might sound heartless but have you thought of eating her?

jBlaze · #20 04/21/10, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaManchaPaul

I had a horned LaMancha buck that would scoot his way beneth the electric wire. It touched his horns then the thick hair on his neck/back. It didn't seem to shock him. I weaved heavy electric wire in his horns down to his collar and weaved it in and out of his plastic collar. It zapped him enough to stop. THEN he decided that he could out jump the wire. With a thin string of wire, I weaved it into his collar and let it dangle down to his front feet, but not long enough to trip. When he cleared the wire, this collar adornment didn't and he got zapped. That only took one jumping shock to fix.

Good luck.

LOVE this one!!!