Do your goats wear collars?

[Doug Hodges]

This topic came from another thread. I have 11 goats. They all have collars. I just recently bought them all and 8 of them came with collars on. The other three were kids. I know the risks involved with collars getting hung. It sure makes it easier to put them in different pens when it comes time to put them up and at milking time. I think most of the people around me use collars on their milk goats. Do you? I made it multiple choice.

[Doug Hodges]

Comments. I am one that is currently using collars on all my goats.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I told the story on the other thread, but I'll go on record here, too. No solid collars on my goats. No collars AT ALL on the bucks. Does get plastic breakaway collars.

[coso]

Same as Alice here. Bucks and kids don't have collars. Milkers have break away. http://www.caprinesupply.com/product...n-collars.html

[Doug Hodges]

Alice,
Will you show your plastic breakaway collars and why not collars on any bucks?

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

I told the story on the other thread, but I'll go on record here, too. No solid collars on my goats. No collars AT ALL on the bucks. Does get plastic breakaway collars.

Originally Posted by coso

Same as Alice here. Bucks and kids don't have collars. Milkers have break away. http://www.caprinesupply.com/product...n-collars.html

How strong are those. Are they strong enough to turn a goat from the feed?

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Yes, mine have collars or in the case of the kids dog harnesses. I live in a neighborhood and if my goats get out they would be automatically sent to the stockyard and quartered with auction animals if they don't have a dog tag with my address. The animal shelter will only take cats and dogs.

I suppose I could get big enough dog harnesses for the adults since they're Nigerians. Thoughts on whether that might be safer?

[coso]

I don't put collars on the bucks, because I don't handle them on a daily basis so if I need to trim hooves, vaccinate, whatever, I just take a collar with me to go catch them. Also full grown bucks will end up breaking the break away collars and losing them. I have never had one break while I was leading a goat, and I am a pretty big boy !!

[mammabooh]

I have one collar that I use on whichever goat I need to move at the time. It goes on the first girl I milk, I remove it when I put her back in the pasture, and then I put it on the next girl and take her to the stand to be milked. No one has a collar on if I am not there with them. I also put the collar on the herd queen when we go out for walks. I hold on to the collar until we get out into the woods. Once we are out there, everyone follows me.

[Clovers_Clan]

Originally Posted by mammabooh

I have one collar that I use on whichever goat I need to move at the time. It goes on the first girl I milk, I remove it when I put her back in the pasture, and then I put it on the next girl and take her to the stand to be milked. No one has a collar on if I am not there with them. I also put the collar on the herd queen when we go out for walks. I hold on to the collar until we get out into the woods. Once we are out there, everyone follows me.

Ditto here. For daily handling I just use a strap, no buckle/latch. Lead them where I need them to go and let go. My only current milker goes straight to the stand. She's a slow eater so I don't even have to clip her in. She knows the drill. If you have them trained to come to you when they see you there's not much need to keep a collar on! And fortunately most goats are anything but aloof!

I only use a collar to medicate, trim, etc. And I NEVER tie them. I'm sure it can be done. But its a risk so easily avoided.

[mygoat]

Not here, I have horned and disbudded and pastures with way too many things to get stuck on. My dairies run into the milkroom at milking time and my dairy kids are bottle babies. I have zero issues catching the goats I need to catch every day. Many of the boers are friendly, too - but they only need handled 3-4x per year as a group, so no point to having collars on them. I use collars after I catch them, but not to wear all the time.

[Cannon_Farms]

Originally Posted by Clovers_Clan

Ditto here. For daily handling I just use a strap, no buckle/latch. Lead them where I need them to go and let go. My only current milker goes straight to the stand. She's a slow eater so I don't even have to clip her in. She knows the drill. If you have them trained to come to you when they see you there's not much need to keep a collar on! And fortunately most goats are anything but aloof!

I only use a collar to medicate, trim, etc. And I NEVER tie them. I'm sure it can be done. But its a risk so easily avoided.

Thats because I trained her so well . I already told the story about the doe I sold, heard enough horror stories and dont really have much of a need for them since I only have bottle bratts. Down side is icky sticky stinky bucks have no idea why you dont want their stank or other random fluids all over you.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Ditto on what Coso said about the bucks. You just don't need a collar on them. Mine also have forest access, so I don't want to risk them getting hung up on something.

The link posed for the collars is correct.

You can see Jubilee's green plastic breakaway collar in this pic. The visiting trolls wanted their picture taken with the goats.

[Doug Hodges]

Lol. I ordered 12 today.

[dozedotz]

You made a really good decision, Doug!! We use them and love them...

[kasilofhome]

I went with collars as with out it I would have to staple or sew on each goat their bells. I need the bells on them as I can find them and we have bears.

We make our own with carabiners and parashot cord. I just braid them --one color is the mother code color and one is the daddy's code color and one color is for the year born. I take 15 lenghts of the cords and five of each color.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I put bells on the breakaway plastic collars with a small zip tie.

[Pony]

I do like MammaBooh does: One collar, use it when I have to move a stubborn goat, take it off immediately afterward.

[BlueRose]

Jubilee looks like she wants to give the trolls a good push.

When you order the collars can you order 1 each a each color or do they all have to be the same color?

[Doug Hodges]

5 colors. Red. White. Yellow. Blue. Black.