Missing pygmys

jdoss · #1 04/11/05, 07:43 AM

Well, it has happened! I just purchased 3 pygmy nanny's 2 weeks ago, and had them in a pen waiting to build a second fenced in area to let them out into. Me and my brother built it this past Saturday out of electric fence. We put 7 strands approximately 6 inches apart with the top and second wire from the bottom as grounds, all the others "hot". We let them out at about 6 o'clock that evening, and they immediately ran right through the wire. We managed to get them to go back through the wire, but they just about destroyed the bottom three wires. One they were back in, they would go up to the wire, touch it with their nose, get shocked and then take off and run through it again. We stayed up until 3:30 Sunday morning trying to get them back in the shed. We haven't seen them since! I live in a wooded area in the mountains of Virginia, so they can just about run forever. What could I have done differently to get them used to the wire? Should I have taken them out and touched their nose to the wire several times? I don't know if this would have helped or not since they touched it several times on their own. So now instead of having 10 pygmys, we have 7. I would like to know if there is anyone in the Virginia-North Carolina area with any newly weened Pygmy nannies for sale. Maybe they will be easier to keep in the electric fence like the first three we bought. They walked up to the fence, touched it a couple times and haven't touched it since. Please e-mail me at jdoss@tcrh.org with any nannies for sale.

Jen H · #2 04/11/05, 10:33 AM

My experience has been that goats usually come back home. Leave their old pen open for them with some really tasty grain and alfalfa, after a day or so you'll probably come out and find them munching away acting like nothing ever happened.

If you chase the buggers, they'll turn it into a game and just keep running.

My guys really respect the hot wire, but I also have woven wire up so there's something solid to block them in. Also, had the goats started to shed yet? That thick winter coat insulates them pretty well. On my electric fence around the orchard (for deer) the wires from the bottom go hot, ground, hot, then ground again. Maybe that set up would work for your goats - it sure works for the deer around here.

jdoss · #3 04/11/05, 11:42 AM

Thanks, Jen. They hadn't started shedding yet as far as I could tell. After this happened, I started thinking about their feet. Their feet didn't really look that bad and we were going to trim them in the next week or so, but I think maybe they were long enough that the soft part of their foot didn't make contact with the ground and they didn't get as strong a shock as they would have gotten if their feet had been trimmed. Of course they touched the fence with their nose first and reacted to it but when it came down to it, they went right through. The fence had 4000 volts on it and I thought that was pretty good. I don't know if I want them back if they are going to destroy my electric fence. I may have to go with a woven fence around all my land and just use the electric fence around the bottom. Again, thanks for your help.

Freeholder · #4 04/11/05, 03:59 PM

I know some people use electric fence for goats and have no problems (or none they admit to), but I've tried it several times in several different forms and had nothing but problems. There really needs to be a physical barrier in addition to the electric wires. I'm using cattle panels now, and am very happy with them.

If you do get your goats back, be careful, because one goat that's getting out can teach all the rest how to do it.

Kathleen

4rnubians · #5 04/11/05, 09:13 PM

Sorry to hear about your goats.
Hope they come home soon.
Karen

Milking Mom · #6 04/11/05, 09:22 PM

From what I have heard and read and experienced electric fences alone just won't work with goats or sheep. Actually, the ones I have talked to say the electric fence is to keep predators out, not keep the goats in, the woven wire or cattle panels are to keep the goats in. I had electric fence many years ago and the sheep we had then paid absolutely no attention to it. They walked right through it. Hope your girls find their way back home.