Our backyard is starting to resemble a maximum security prison! The smaller of our two pygmy goats, Bronco, is the master of escape. From all I can tell he goes under the chain link fence then wanders over to the neighbors place to nibble tender shoots of grass with the six mini-horses that he pastures for a friend (and it saves him from having to mow his lawn…but that is a different subject entirely.)
The neighbor also has a garden, as do we, so we’d all really like the darn goat to stay in his own yard, eat his own grass, and not get into any trouble. Bronco does not agree and so our fence has become increasingly fortified over the past year.
We started with adding tension bars between the fence posts. That reduced him number of escape routes but did not stop him. Next we did some heavy observing to determine his preferred exit/return spots and cut those off (he was sliding in where the cats have created a low spot in the dirt). He stayed in the yard for about a day. Next we ran a hot wire around the perimeter of the fence about six inches off the ground. No go! Yesterday we wove a strand of smooth 12.5 gauge wire through the bottom portion of the fence and pulled it tight with the fence stretcher. He was in the neighbor’s yard about 30 minutes later! I think this goat has wings or he is subtly telling us he wants to audition for Prison Break the Movie…….
No comments:
Post a Comment