Keren
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- Jan 21, 2006
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Consider this my official application for entry into the "I hate cows" club. Although my story relates to goats (but hey they are still meat!). Sorry its kinda a long story.
Okay, so at work we are still having to feed the breeding herd so we have set up drylots (small yards) to make it easier - they are all in one area near the feed and hay etc. One paddock has yearling and weanling does, and the other has the older does. Now, I don't know if you guys have had much to do with feedlotting goats, but each morning when you put the feed out they full on stampede - its downright scary if you haven't seen it before. I've been knocked over more than once, or had the bag hooked by a horn and stolen, and my legs are black and blue cos all those horns are just at the right height. They are not that starving, thats just goat mentality for you. And then when you put a fresh bale out for them (using the tractor, and dropping it over the fence from the laneway) they are not that bright and they all crowd underneath the bale.
So to make things easier, we have set up a system where in the morning we put the young does out into a big paddock to graze and while they are out we put out feed and hay. Then at lunchtime we bring them in, and put the old does out, so while they are out we put out their feed and then they come in at the end of the day.
So anyway, the other day I put the little does out in the morning like usual and do their feeds. Then I go down to work on the new set of cattle yards. Anyway, not too long after, the dogs were going nuts, so I looked out and the big does are all out of their paddock in the laneway! Went up there and they have pushed under the electric fence - mind you, this is a mob of goats who have never and I mean never got under a fence before in their life, and have a great deal of respect for the electric fence. Anything that doesn't goes straight away - no second chances. So I locked them in the laneway, figuring they could eat down the green there. Then, half an hour later, I hear more barking, and the bl00dy things have pushed under the gate at the top of the laneway! So I got them back in, and would you believe it, they actually stampeded, like they were being chased, and went to the bottom end of the laneway and pushed under that gate! Now at the end of the laneway there is a grassy section where they usually stop and nibble whenever you move them that way, and there is also the driveway. They never go down the driveway, as they have been trained since young to know that the driveway is for people, dogs and horses but definitely not goat or cattle. So what do they do? Head straight down the driveway, and the bloke that had visited the day before, had left the front gate open! So now I had a mob of goats loose in the reserve :shock:
I got them back in, going up the driveway, and the bloody things somehow ended up in the big paddock with the little does!
So I seperate them (sort of) and get everyone where they are supposed to be.
As I'm walking back down to the yards, I find a wether caught up in the electric fence, yelling his head off. I turned the fence off, got him out, and he seemed alright. But, after I got him out I noticed a buck in the next paddock looking really crook. So I got him out and took him down to the sheds, jabbed him a whole lot, then went up to check the wether. Well would you have bl-00dy guessed it - the thing was keeled over dead :shock:
Yeah, really great day!
Okay, so at work we are still having to feed the breeding herd so we have set up drylots (small yards) to make it easier - they are all in one area near the feed and hay etc. One paddock has yearling and weanling does, and the other has the older does. Now, I don't know if you guys have had much to do with feedlotting goats, but each morning when you put the feed out they full on stampede - its downright scary if you haven't seen it before. I've been knocked over more than once, or had the bag hooked by a horn and stolen, and my legs are black and blue cos all those horns are just at the right height. They are not that starving, thats just goat mentality for you. And then when you put a fresh bale out for them (using the tractor, and dropping it over the fence from the laneway) they are not that bright and they all crowd underneath the bale.
So to make things easier, we have set up a system where in the morning we put the young does out into a big paddock to graze and while they are out we put out feed and hay. Then at lunchtime we bring them in, and put the old does out, so while they are out we put out their feed and then they come in at the end of the day.
So anyway, the other day I put the little does out in the morning like usual and do their feeds. Then I go down to work on the new set of cattle yards. Anyway, not too long after, the dogs were going nuts, so I looked out and the big does are all out of their paddock in the laneway! Went up there and they have pushed under the electric fence - mind you, this is a mob of goats who have never and I mean never got under a fence before in their life, and have a great deal of respect for the electric fence. Anything that doesn't goes straight away - no second chances. So I locked them in the laneway, figuring they could eat down the green there. Then, half an hour later, I hear more barking, and the bl00dy things have pushed under the gate at the top of the laneway! So I got them back in, and would you believe it, they actually stampeded, like they were being chased, and went to the bottom end of the laneway and pushed under that gate! Now at the end of the laneway there is a grassy section where they usually stop and nibble whenever you move them that way, and there is also the driveway. They never go down the driveway, as they have been trained since young to know that the driveway is for people, dogs and horses but definitely not goat or cattle. So what do they do? Head straight down the driveway, and the bloke that had visited the day before, had left the front gate open! So now I had a mob of goats loose in the reserve :shock:
I got them back in, going up the driveway, and the bloody things somehow ended up in the big paddock with the little does!
So I seperate them (sort of) and get everyone where they are supposed to be.
As I'm walking back down to the yards, I find a wether caught up in the electric fence, yelling his head off. I turned the fence off, got him out, and he seemed alright. But, after I got him out I noticed a buck in the next paddock looking really crook. So I got him out and took him down to the sheds, jabbed him a whole lot, then went up to check the wether. Well would you have bl-00dy guessed it - the thing was keeled over dead :shock:
Yeah, really great day!
