Goats are said to anything and everything, but couldn't be further from the truth. The thing is, they eat everything you don't want them to eat, such as your roses and flowers, shrubs, berry canes and bushes, well, if it is pretty and you like it, most likely they do too.
For a little while the goats were very very happy because they were in the shrubs in the bush. There were also lots of caragana bushes growing alongside their pen, which they had access to finally. It took no time at all for them demolish the readily available tree leaves and shrubs and when the plentiful food ran out, they did not want to work hard and eat where it was not as plentiful. So they jumped the fence. Granted the fence was not as high as it needed to be for goats and even with barbed wire above it, they still went through. At first they stayed right on the other side eating the abundant brush, but soon curiosity got the best of them and they meandered down the driveway right to the highway. I found them there when I came home from the feed store and thanked my lucky stars none had wanted to cross the road, yet!
So I herded them back down the driveway and into the yard and into the pen. They have a very large area that had a few shrubs at one time and a few trees, but they have long since eaten them. They also have the grassy pasture next door, but they will only eat grass if there is nothing else to eat. They are now forbidden in the bush. I just cannot take the chance that they could get onto the highway. And they think they are starving. Most are quite thin and are nursing twins and triplets, so, felling sorry for the mothers with incessant hungry kids, I broke down and made them a trough feeder into which I put some delicious alfalfa pellets and a little oats. It is against my grain to feed grain to ruminants, but I will do what needs to be done to keep the animals healthy. Now they only want the pellets and grain and do not want to go out and eat any grass. Oy. See, goats are not easy to feed at all.
For a little while the goats were very very happy because they were in the shrubs in the bush. There were also lots of caragana bushes growing alongside their pen, which they had access to finally. It took no time at all for them demolish the readily available tree leaves and shrubs and when the plentiful food ran out, they did not want to work hard and eat where it was not as plentiful. So they jumped the fence. Granted the fence was not as high as it needed to be for goats and even with barbed wire above it, they still went through. At first they stayed right on the other side eating the abundant brush, but soon curiosity got the best of them and they meandered down the driveway right to the highway. I found them there when I came home from the feed store and thanked my lucky stars none had wanted to cross the road, yet!
So I herded them back down the driveway and into the yard and into the pen. They have a very large area that had a few shrubs at one time and a few trees, but they have long since eaten them. They also have the grassy pasture next door, but they will only eat grass if there is nothing else to eat. They are now forbidden in the bush. I just cannot take the chance that they could get onto the highway. And they think they are starving. Most are quite thin and are nursing twins and triplets, so, felling sorry for the mothers with incessant hungry kids, I broke down and made them a trough feeder into which I put some delicious alfalfa pellets and a little oats. It is against my grain to feed grain to ruminants, but I will do what needs to be done to keep the animals healthy. Now they only want the pellets and grain and do not want to go out and eat any grass. Oy. See, goats are not easy to feed at all.
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