Goats and Power cords

There is a particularly pernicious goat in our pasture that has a knack for trouble. She won't breed (not can't, Won't) after 5 years of trying, she is the most clever escape artist you've ever met, she persistently attacks any child that comes near her fence line, and she has a talent for locating and destroying even well hidden extension cords within her enclosure. I'd eat her, honestly, if she wasn't my elderly grandmother's dearest pet. Most of it I can work around, but when it's below freezing outside and our nearest unfrozen water source is my kitchen sink more than an acre away, I could use those nice water heaters I've got. So my question is this; How do YOU protect your power cords from goats like this holy terror? Or am I doomed to pack water all winter, one 2gal bucket at a time, half a dozen times each day, to keep my chickens watered?

While I have no firsthand goat experience, I would probably just go for brute force: run the cord through heavy steel pipe where it's inside the enclosure, with said pipe continuing right into the water at the heater. Not terribly low effort, and requires a good score of salvaged pipe to be cheap...

Hello use 1 or two inch pvc pipes.

Run a crappy extension cord through her paddock.
Keep it live.
She'll either learn, or die trying! Then eat her. LOL

PVC or wrap in steel wire so that she can't bite in, like it is covered in spring.....

You'd think that John's idea would work... but I've known several people with cord-eating pets, cats, chinchillas, etc... None of them ever died, or stopped eating cords... and I know for a fact some of those cords were live when destroyed.

How good are goats at digging? Buried wire might be an alternative to armor...

Problem might be hormone linked.
Won't breed, eats plastic cords, ornery. Estrogen levels are low maybe. Plastic is said to leach estrogen(like) chemicals.
Research goat food that raises estrogen levels in goats. Just a thought.

Warning: due to my intolerance and propensity to offend, I recommend serious consideration be given before reading my complete response!





If I had a goat that caused that much aggravation if wasn't going to eat her, I would give serious thought to putting it in the far back pasture----you know the one where the coyotes like to visit.😇

Tracy Kuykendall wrote:
If I had a goat that caused that much aggravation if wasn't going to eat her, I would give serious thought to putting it in the far back pasture----you know the one where the coyotes like to visit.😇

Believe me I've considered it. That stupid goat has caused more problems than I can document here. Yesterday she let out my chickens, to which grandma's equally awful cattledog began killing for pleasure. Those two deserve each other.

Alfrun Unndis wrote:Problem might be hormone linked.
Won't breed, eats plastic cords, ornery. Estrogen levels are low maybe. Plastic is said to leach estrogen(like) chemicals.
Research goat food that raises estrogen levels in goats. Just a thought.

Now that's something I hadn't considered.

John Polk wrote:Run a crappy extension cord through her paddock.
Keep it live.
She'll either learn, or die trying! Then eat her. LOL

She has chewed through 2 live cords. They were still live when I found them. It scares the pants off me, since my kids go into those pastures everyday to feed them.