[Goatstopack]

Hello all!

My goats (now 3 1/2 years old) have started eating the siding on our barn. We will need to retreat the wood on it very soon anyway - so two questions. 1.) Any way to make them stop or will the newly treated wood stop it. 2.) Will newly treated (stained and coated) wood hurt them.
I guess 3 questions - They have not done this in the past - Is this a sign that they are lacking something in their diet - or are they just bored? Thanks!!! Brian

 

[Rex]

Hi Brian,

I would suspect your goats are in need of salt or minerals. We use a loose salt / mineral mix called Cattle 6:12 which is specially ordered from the feed store. It contains the proper calcium to phosphorous ratio. If that doesn't stop them then it may be that they are hungry or simply bored. If its the feed or minerals then they should quit chewing when you get it figured out. I doubt coating the wood will help in that situation. If its boredom there are a couple of things you can do. The simplest thing is to make a goat berry tea from their dropping and spray it on the wood to discourage them from chewing. As a last case scenario you may have to tack a wire screen over the wood.

 

[sanhestar]

Hi Brian,

do you provide your goats with enough roughage and/or branches, younger trees that they can chew on/strip?

 

[Goatstopack]

Thanks for the responses & Merry Christmas!

Yes - we give them free choice access to salt and a balanced Calcium - Phosphorous mineral mix. I believe it is the same one you use Rex - as I remember looking at yours when we were up there a while back. During this cold snap we have been giving them extra feed and they are plenty heavy right now. They are usually turned loose on our property for a short hike a couple of times a week to feed on trees, brush, etc. Right now they have a few extra X-mas trees to feed on and I see one of them right now sniffing at the barn. I have tried rubbing fresh goat berries on the barn and this works for awhile (couple of days) and then they are back at it.
Maybe the tea theory will work as it might soak into the wood.

Sounds like it could just be boredom???

Thanks again! Brian

 

[Rex]

Sounds like you have all the bases covered so it must just be boredom as you said. I'd coat the board heavily every couple of days with goat tea till they get out of the habit of chewing.

 

[sweetgoatmama]

I use used motor oil on the wood where they chew. They won't poison themselves as they won't touch it. But it needs to be put on in the summer when it is hot enough to soak in.

There are non toxic treatments but this one works the best, as the non-toxics tend to wear off after awhile. Make sure boredom,mineral imbalances ,etc are covered first.