[Rex]

Hi Rift, welcome to the forum. Your breeder is 100% wrong in the fact that you just have to deal with it. Goats are very intelligent and easily trained to stand back and give you room, even when feeding them. Here is a link to another post with photo's showing our goats waiting patiently while I feed them. viewtopic.php?f=32&t=110

You need to start with some basics. Don't let them stand on the fence when you walk up to them. Tell them to get "DOWN" and squirt them in the nose and eyes with the squirt bottle until they get down. Stand there for 30 minutes if you have to until they are standing with all four feet on the ground. Walk away and then back to the fence and repeat as often as necessary until they quit standing on the fence. If the squirt bottle isn't enough get out the water hose. I guarantee they won't stand there while a full blast of water from the hose is shooting up their nose.

Use the same method to teach them to back away from the gates when you enter and the feeders when you feed. Any goats that charge in need to be sprayed clear out of the Barn and held out until you are completely done feeding and tell them "OK". It'll take a few weeks but if you are consistent they will stay "down" and move "back" when you tell them. These two commands alone are ones you'll use for the rest of their lives.

As far as the noise..... thats mostly a Nubian trait. Many Nubians are noisy and thats just the way they are. If your goats are not Nubian then its probably because they are still young. Perry gave some good advice on how to deal with it. If they are bawling they may actually be hungry. If they are getting plenty to eat then its probably just them wanting your attention and hoping for a treat. Feeding them after they bawl will only teach them it worked to get your attention. If I have a youngster who is noisy I never feed it after it bawls. I'll stand around the barn for 15 or 20 minutes after it quites and then feed it. I have used the water hose on noisy goats as well as dogs in the kennel. They quickly learn that "quiet" means to zip it or get blasted with the hose. Once they get it, things will settle down quickly.

 

[Rex]

There is a difference between a correction and abuse. Squirting them with water doesn't hurt them so they aren't afraid of you. I don't recommend smacking them because they WILL become afraid of you. I'd suggest sticking with the squirt of water for now.

 

[Rex]

Re: Barnyard behavior (jumping fences)

Start with no feet on the fences. That will mostly eliminate the problem. I have found that people with low saggy fences have trouble keeping goats in no matter how well they build the fences later. Once the goat learns it can jump out, you are going to have problems. Put up some cattle panels or something similar that they can not get over when they are young and you'll be half way there to teaching them to stay in the pen later.

I only have 4ft woven wire around our goat pasture and have never had one of our goats jump out. They have all been raised inside a cattle panel enclosure till they are two and taught not to stand on the fence.

Compare that to some goats belonging to our friend, who we watch when they are gone for extended trips. Their goats were raised in a saggy fence enclosure and jump out all the time. When we bring them to our place they jump our 4ft fence before we get the gate closed. When they are here I have to string an electric wire on the top of the posts and use the water hose on them to make then stay off the fence. After a couple of weeks they are getting in the grove of things and the problem starts to go away.

 

[Rex]

Pretty soon they will be in the horse stall permanately with the horse that is coming next fall.

Hopefully you aren't penning the goats in an enclosed area with a horse. Our horses chase the goats on occasion and one time we had to intervene to prevent the horse from causing serious injury to a goat. We now keep them penned separately. I know there are people who have successfully kept horses and goats together but I think it really depends on the individual horse and how much area they have to avoid each other if necessary.