Goat Bondage
January 15th, 2014 · 2 Comments · Posted in farming
Does this look like a happy goat?
A number of readers ask whether our boy goat, returned to the farm after an escape back in October, is still chained. The answer is yes. As you can see in the photo, he’s tethered on a 10-foot length of chain that’s attached to the wall of our animal shelter where I built a pen for him with two 10-foot sections of metal gate. So he has the run of a 100-square-foot enclosure, but only at the length of his chain.
I don’t think this is necessarily cruel. He doesn’t get tangled in the chain. In many cases, livestock animals such as goats are kept in pens inside barns. That seems to apply especially to the male of the species, who must be segregated from the females most of the time to avoid untimely breeding. Unfortunately, we have yet to find a way to make baby goats without an adult male. It’s the fate of these bucks to endure confinement for long periods in exchange for brief moments of bliss.
I admit it was clumsy of me to have purchased the boy goat–we call him Tigger–without having offered him better and more secure accommodations from the start. The breeder we brought him from assured us he would be perfectly fine behind portable electric fencing. But when we released him inside the goat enclosure–which is surrounded on three sides by temporary electric fencing–he escaped by darting under the bottom wire of our high-tension perimeter fence.
Since then, we asked our fencing contractor to replace the portable fencing in the goat area with permanent “no-climb” wire fence. But he was unable to start before winter closed in and the ground froze. We won’t be able to erect that fence until the spring thaw.
The next best option was to build a pen inside the three-sided shelter that’s located inside our permanent paddock, where the sheep and Jersey heifer have winter quarters. But I couldn’t be certain the buckling wouldn’t climb or jump over the two gates I installed to form his pen. Thus, he remains on the chain until we feel confident he won’t bolt. Dare we unleash him and set him loose into the paddock with the other animals? Who knows?
For the moment, Tigger seems reasonably content. He’s surrounded by other animals most of the time, although they are on opposite sides of the previously mentioned gates. In fact, he does have some contact, as the sheep like to ram the metal gates and he lowers his head and rams right back. They make quite a racket, and one of the gates has been bent a little from all the head butting. Tigger gets fresh water and hay daily. And at least once each day I bring him special goat treats. I sit in the hay inside his pen and offer him these licorice-scented pellets. I hide the pellets in my closed fists. He climbs into my lap and gropes my hands with his lips, eager to get his treats.
Our other two goats, Dolly and her daughter Tanner, are about 100 yards away in that enclosure I described earlier. They are quite vocal. Long-distance conversations with Tigger can frequently be heard. At one point I introduced all the goats, leading Dolly and Tanner into Tigger’s pen to get acquainted. The two younger goats seemed to get along just fine. But the hair raised up on Dolly’s back. She charged the young buck, swinging her horns and biting him on the back.
Was this Dolly’s way of letting the young male know who’s boss? Was she protecting her daughter? Dolly doesn’t know it yet, but she has a date with this buck later this year.
Note that your breeder said the goat would be fine inside the fence . He did not say the boy goat would stay within the fence. After ten years of goats, I can assure you the only thing that keeps a Billy under control is a Burdizzo. ..
As to the Burdizzo–he wouldn’t be much of a breeder if he were castrated, now would he?