Just curious if anyone has suggestions for feeding grain without being trampled. I can’t even get thru the fence without them going thru my legs pushing me over etc and I would like to fix this now they’re 30lbs I can’t imagine when they’re 90lbs even putting them to bed at night to close the door is a very complicated thing. I would love any suggestions, advice. It is making me extremely frustrated. In the morning it’s fine because they are in the pen I get the grain in the trough and then open the door and they’re jumping over each other pushing me out of the way to get to the food it’s the nighttime.
A small water gun that fits in your pocket. Start squirting before you open the gate and say “No!“ or “Move!” or whatever is your word. Soon they know the word means getting wet.
I actually shut the gate and keep everyone outside the pen until I have feed placed around.
Then I open the flood gates and stand back 😂
If you tie each to a specific spot and feed them individually, they will learn better manners. And it won’t take too long to get used to the routine… they’ll learn no feed until they are in their spots.
I'm extremely new to goats but I will say squirt bottles have worked very well for us, we keep them by each gate or door. Pair it with a command (ours is "back up!") and a noise (a hissing noise like "tsst"). After only a month mine know not to crowd the gate when I come in with feed, and if they do I just have to make the "tsst" noise and they turn away, I rarely use the actual bottle anymore.
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