You know your goats are a special kind of spoiled ...

[Cygnet]

... When you release them onto a brand new pasture and they turn their noses up at it.

Sigh.

We planted a 1/4 acre buck plot mix -- a mini pasture for four very spoiled mini goats. The mix is meant for deer, but lots of good stuff in it for goats. Lots of broad leaf (including radishes, and these goats think radishes are candy when they come from the garden) brassicas, clover, and tall fescue. The pasture also has quite a bit of bindweed (because bindweed is indestructible and plowing the ground up only encourages it to grow faster) and volunteer scrub oak. It's nice and green and lush.

The goats won't even walk on it, much less eat it. They tiptoe around the edges, or occasionally dart madly from one side to the other. And then they eat dry pine needles under the trees or stand by the gate wanting back into the barn.

See, there's FLIES in the grass. And MOSQUITOES. And the ground is a little damp.

Spoiled, spoiled, goats. Every time I've coaxed them out into the grass they look like they're having seizures over the flies, and that's WITH fly spray on. These are not biting flies, they're just ordinary house flies.

(They're going to be significantly less spoiled very shortly when we gradually start cutting their hay back and kicking them out on the pasture for longer and longer periods. It'll be eat the pasture or starve. Oh, they're going to be in for such a shock. I'm going to be so very mean to them.)

[gunsmithgirl]

Sounds like something my goats would do. I rotationally graze them so they are in new pasture every 2 weeks. They think the grass is always greener on the other side.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I take my goats for browse walks, so I see their PICKY PICKY PICKY behavior every afternoon. Sigh.

[Cygnet]

Alice, I had to laugh at that. Yes, they are picky, and moreso when they're hiking and there are so many choices! It's like an all-you-can-eat buffet for goats.

I really think the issue with the pasture is the flies. These guys are just so spoiled. We've been keeping the barn really dry and sweeping it out daily. It has a cement floor and we have fly traps in the barn. Because of this, there are very few flies in the barn. So when they go out in the pasture, they are suddenly bombarded by flies and even if they're not biting flies, they're still a sensory shock.

The goats have a choice between a dry barn with alfalfa pellets in it or a damp pasture with flies.

The alfalfa pellets and/or hay are going to get cut way back, though, so they'll HAVE to eat the pasture or starve. They'll get just enough in the evening to coax them into the barn for the night. Mwahahahaahaa. I'm so mean, I'm just a terrible goat owner ... sadistic, aren't I?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Spray those babies!

Also, anything new is suspect. If I walk my goats to a new section of the forest, they are too busy exploring to eat!

[wintrrwolf]

I sorta did what you did got a seed mix for goats and reseeded the 2 pasture areas for them. Am so glad to know that mine are not that spoiled. I opened up the area that I had had the horses in (horses ate the grass left the weeds and tree shrubs) first day I had to stay out there with them and walked them around, second day I just peeked out at them from time to time. But I had already cut their hay and grain back sooo they were running from one end to the other trying to eat all the goodies and came in last night with full bellies (made sure they had plenty of baking soda in the dish).
Today it is storming so they got some hay not even going to try to take them out there...
Whenever I do take them to a new area I have to stay with them at least for first day or they freak.

[GoatGirl123]

Goats picky about pasture on walks? Not ours. They gobble up every blade of grass in reach of their pasture, then when going on walks they gobble up wayyyyy more than usual -- whatever is in reach, even thistles. Do we have really good pasture or what?