Escaping Goat!! Any ideas?

[BamaSuzy]

once you see a goat which has hanged itself you will NEVER EVER tie a goat out again....even if you think there is nothing it can get tangled up with or go over or under....I evern know of one which fell down a bank and hanged himself!....also....they have NO protection against predators when they are tied...

for the goat that keeps escaping....is there another goat in there with her? my goats are happy in their fenced areas as long as each has a buddy....but if you put one by themselves they'll jump the fence....and electric wire doesn't help because they can jump across and clear the five feet fences by several feet....they look like deer jumping across! but with a buddy they are completely happy.

[Hank - Narita]

Try 16 ft. long cattle panels wired together. Three of them should do. Ours don't escape. Sure love our alpines!

[bill not in oh]

Originally Posted by Hank - Narita

Try 16 ft. long cattle panels wired together. Three of them should do. Ours don't escape. Sure love our alpines!

Be sure to wire them together along the 16 ft. edge making a 16 ft. high fence LOL!!

Seriously, if the goat is jumping the fence, trade it to someone who has built an appropriate fence (see above). If it was going through your electric fence, and you're willing to try electric again, use the following wire configuration:

Bottom to top

#1 - 8" Ground (from your grounding rodS)
#2 - 8" Hot
#3 - 8" hot
#4 - 8" Ground (same as 1)
#5 - 8" Hot
#6 - 8" Ground (same as 1)
#7 - 8" Hot

Use a low impedence charger that supplies a minimum of 5000 volts. Goats are willing to take a mild shock to get through a fence. Mild shocks are usually a result of improper grounding of the system or the inability of the actual earth to transmit electricity (ie: extended dry weather). By alternating ground and hot wires along the fenceline, they get the full jolt each time they touch ground/hot wires. Couple of times is all it took my goats to keep their distance from the fence.... At the point they were trained, I took some of the wires (top 3 strands) down so I could get across without having to walk to a gate or turn the fence off. Still won't go near it.

[Prinls]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I still don't know what to do though.
I've had her in electric fencing, she;ll take the hit to go through. I'll try
your suggestion Bill, maybe that will work.
Hank-Narita- I've heard alot of people are happy with cattle panels but
this girl is semi-suicidal and WILL try to get through. I've already needed
some serious tools to free her from improbable situations. Good
thing I don't go out much!
Bamasuzi- I agree! It was hell to get her untangled that one time and I
never want to do that again! She is with 7 other girls and a buck. She's
his favorite and when she gets out she moons around the pen wanting
to get back with him.
Mygoat- There are coyotes and lots of free roaming dogs around here so
if I tie her it has to be in a fence and so far the results of that have Not
been good. I don't think I'm dealing with an ordinary goat.
To everyone else thanks for the advice. I'm going to try beefing up the
electric part of the fence but I'd love any more ideas. I don't want to
sell her but I'm at the end of MY rope !!!

[Eveningstar]

How high is your fence. Iv'e known some people who will put up 8' fencing to keep bucks in during breeding season and reinforce that on the inside with cattle panels. She sounds very athletic. I had one like that but once she was bred and had an udder, she lost interest in jumping the fence.

Elizabeth

[MaryNY]

Isn't there some sort of "Y" shaped stick (looks like the stick you rest your fish pole on while fishing) that you secure around the back of the neck, which hangs down under the goat's chin and dangles there somewhere near the knees, that is supposed to stop them from wandering off etc. etc. etc.? I think it is described somewhere in Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living", if you have one handy or can borrow it from your local library. Good luck.

MaryNY

[debitaber]

we usse regular goat fencing we get at TSC, strung extremelt tight, the pygmy's fly over this 4and one half foot fence, so we added several rows of barbed wire, and that has worked, but for the babies, we had to add sheets of plywood, and just mke it a plain board fence, very tall. it has worked nicely. the hot wire electric fence, my goats just didn't care, they scream and run through it.

[Goat Freak]

We had our goats going under the fence and I found out that if you put rocks where they are getting out, and them cover it with dirt, they are less likly to continue to go under.

[GoatsRus]

I don't know if this will help or not, but it's what my dad did when our cows would jump the fence. He got a piece of chain (you can get different weights) that was long enough to put around their neck like a collar but one end hung to the ground and was chained around a piece of 2x4. The chain was long enough so that the 2x4 would drag on the ground and they weren't supporting it with their necks. When the cow would go to jump the fence the 2x4 would hit them in their legs. After he did that, I don't recall ever having to have to chase a loose cow. It's basically a hobble of sorts.

[Cygnet]

60" "no climb" fencing.

Two lines of electric on top, and electric at nose height "standing" and "on two legs" on the inside.

Wire the ground to the "no climb."

Use a cattle charger.

Believe me, if you touch the electric and the fence simultaneously ... it'll knock a grown man on his butt. The goats usually scream and run away when they get into it.

Have a second ground in the GROUND, in a wet spot. Water the fenceline if you've got a dry spell with a soaker hose. (Septic tank leach field works great for a dry spot.) Use a copper ground about 10' long.

Leva

[sheep tamer]

You mention she's two, but has she kidded yet?
Seems like after they develop their udder, those
who were particularly inclined to jump felt more
*weighted down*.