Welcome to Fort Knox…almost

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…….

Doats or Gogs?

We have two pygmy goats. Why? They came with the house of course....but that is another story altogether. Unfortunately if we ever move I don't think we'll be able to sell them with the house and pass them along to the next homeowner as they have become entirely too attached to our dogs. In fact I think they view themselves as dogs. They sleep with the dogs, beg at the back door with the dogs (I can now tell the difference between paws and hooves tapping on glass), eat dog food (they try to anyways), and are even groomed by the dogs. Take the dogs on a walk and the goats stand at the gate hollering as loudly as their little caprine lungs will allow. I'm not sure if they are saying "Bring Them Baaaaack!" or "You forgot to take ME!" I can just imagine the circus act that would be....walking both dogs and both goats.

There are generally two reactions when people find out we have goats. The first is "Hey you have goats! How neat!" This response is generally associated with folks who have little experience in raising animals other than a dog, cat, or bird. They think its unusual and cool, not realizing just how much trouble the little devils can cause. The other response comes from people who were raised or work with livestock. That response is "Why?" I think this is since pygmy goats have no obvious function. They are not generally used as a food source (not that I haven't threatened to make them into goat sausage a time or two), they aren't a normal companion animal, they don't produce a useful byproducts (unless you count the 'fertilizer' that they like to deposit on the patio) , they aren't big enough to pack anything. To be honest their only real usefulness I can find is in entertainment value. They really are hysterical.



Ollie

Case in point Ollie, the larger of the two, decided that he needed to prune my lilac bush the other day. Problem is the lilac is on the other side of the fence. If he were the little goat, Bronco, he could, and would, just roll himself under the fence. However, he is to fat to fit so he settled for jamming his nose through the chain link. Even with this method his nose is too large to fit through a single hole so he had to put it through two holes with the separating wires slid in his mouth like a bit. Only problem was that once he snagged a leaf his 'bit' prevented him from eating his tasty treat. He'd pull back from the fence only to loose his leaf and had to start all over again.

Ollie had little success with the lilac bush though he and Bronco have managed to 'prune' my Maple Tree to death, literally. They have also taken it upon themselves to increase our home ventilation by eating the screen out of one of the window. Goat jaws on screen....that is a sound worse than fingernails on chalkboard. See why I threaten them with goat sausage?



Bronco

I'm not quite sure what their redeeming qualities are. Low maintenance costs perhaps? Still, they are highly entertaining and I don't think I would change that. Besides until we find ourselves with more acreage a pygmy goat is about all the livestock our place can handle. Although a miniature donkey could be fun..........