We have several pygmy's, but one inparticular. That is pancake, she was born in August and we got her and her momma in november. Over the past to weeks Pancake has decided she can escape the confines of the fence. :sigh: Not really a big deal in my book other that there are other dogs around(strays not ours) that may get her and we have coyotoes. Anyways, Monday night I had to put her up 3 times in 3 hours. Once she is out she cries to get back in doesn't go anywhere. All this was ok til Last night...I look down there and see Pancake in my garden, she hasn't ate anything yet, but I will not have that. I have walked the fence roll 100 times trying to see where she is escaping. Hubby has checked can't find anything. None of the other goats escape just her. Any ideas on what I can do to stop this. I don't want to have to get rid of her for this, but I don't want her killed or to eat something to kill her. Please help..... ray:
Not sure how big your fenced area is - but they have rolled fencing that is real cheap (kind of like chicken fencing) that you can line your fence so that she can not get out
I agree with Allison. Double up the fence. Unless of course it's a height issue. I spoke to a woman today who has a doe that scales 6 foot fences. Crazy. lol In that case, maybe electric is better.
I am so sorry you are going through this. Any way you can watch from a distance to get an idea of where she is getting out? Maybe she is jumping the fence like others have said? I worry about our youngest doe jumping the fence, she wants the weeds on the other side sooooo bad... But she is such a people goat, that if she did that, and people were at the restaurant next door, I could see her up there checking all the people out and wanting everyone to rub and scratch on her LOL
That is what we did last night as a couple babies kept ending back up in the doe pen with momma's that are supposed to be on bottles - went and put them in the baby pen and watched - found it!!!!!!
Hi, I understand from experience how frustrating this can be. We have a buck who did the same thing. We would watch him very closely, patch up whatever area was causing the problem, and he'd simply find somewhere else to get out. We started nicknaming him Houdini because he could get out of anything. After trying five strand electric tape, six strand electric tape, five strand electric wire, six strand electric wire, chicken wire, hog panels, and cattle panels, we were about ready to sell him. We finally discovered a way to keep him in. We totally re-fenced with cattle panels, and then we cut additional cattle panels in half to add to the top for extra height. So far, it's worked. Goats are really smart. If you have one who likes to get out, she's going to be really hard to keep in unless you totally re-fence her. I know it's terrible, but it's better than the frustration of trying to find ways to patch this and that. Good luck. -Tina
I would put her back in and hide from a distance and watch. Sooner or later she will want out. Good suggestion though on doubling the fence up. Cheap chicken wire on the bottom will defiantely help keep her in. Hope you can figure it out!
We have them in a pen made with the woven wire fencing. Like chicken wire but stronger, There is no place that we can see were she is climbing or if she is she isn't bending the fencing. I can't find anyplace that she is going under. Hubby is gonna try to stake all the fence at the bottom and see. You would think tho if she was climbing she would climb back in. She wants back in as soon as she is out and if I go down and open the barn, she will go in the barn and out to the pasture. If I don't see her quick enough she will start crying them all of them will cry. No breaks in the fence it is all new. No toys anywhere close to the fence. I am gonna try to watch her but if they know we are down there they stay with us and won't leave us and I can't see the entire fence from the house.
If there's a will there's a way The buck I had here this past winter was crawling under the cattle panels we had him contained in. Didn't bend any of the wire so I had to sit and wait....finally caught him in the act. Good luck!
It is indeed VERY frustrating when you have an escape artist. As Tina said above, you have to keep trying until something works. We had the same problem but after putting woven wire up on the inside of our board fence (this was after putting up electric strands) they finally stayed in....until they discovered the brush covered fence...then it was a new saga. Thankfully, we have removed the brush now and we haven't had escapees for over a month or so. WHEW.....good luck! Oh and as the previous poster said-you almost have to catch them in the act to resolve the situation.
