Goats are liars!

I got up at 6 am and saw 4 goats on my back deck.   I grabbed coffee and toast, and I went  out to feed the livestock.  I went to the goat pen, and
4 goats came out of the shelter to be fed.  Of course, I asked them if they were the goats that were on the back deck. They insisted it must have been the neighbors goats.  Of course I knew better … none of my neighbors have goats.

The human brain evolved due to attempting to contain goats, we still have a ways to go…

Giving them some credit, they did show me where they were getting out. It appears that something butted a board in the fence and it broke in half.  The goats suggested that the dog may have butted the board.

My wife and I went out shopping and as soon we were gone my dogs went to the goats.

The Dogs:
"OMG!!! Mom and Dad are gone, who will feed us in future? They will never return!! ooooh we poor dogs will starve without them!!"

The Goats:
"Who??"

John F Dean wrote:Giving them some credit, they did show me where they were getting out. It appears that something butted a board in the fence and it broke in half.  The goats suggested that the dog may have butted the board.

Yeah, dogs are always butting those boards down!.....lol!

Goats were in a corral, but we cut a 12" X 14" hole in the fence for geese to be able to wander through.  Still, we would come home and there was 'Goober', the Angora ram with his beautiful curled horns munching on our apple tree in the front yard.  Finally, we got wise.....parked the car just out of sight at top of driveway and snuck back down to see how he was getting out.  He had figured out how to get down on his knees, put one horn through the hole,  shimmee forward on his knees through the hole a bit, then carefully maneuver the other horn through the hole, before shimmeeing the remaining way through the hole.  Darn clever, that one!....

When I worked on a Pinnacles National Monument trail crew with stock animals, we would often go visit them on days they were not put to work. A mule named Pocket would always run ahead of the horses to get his treat. He’d then trot back to the back of the group while eating it, and nonchalantly act like he hadn’t gotten his turn yet with the rest. It always worked with me, as I was impressed and he was a charming if difficult fellow. He could untie almost any knot and open many types of gate latch, and while he would then just eat outside the fence and go home, the loose horses following him would get themselves in trouble. If he would have only learned to close the gate behind him.

Hi John,

Yes, the 12 x14 hole.  My wife has wanted me to put in a pet door that size.   I have tried to convince her that every animal on our farm and in the woods would be able to …and would…get into our house.

John F Dean wrote:Hi John,

Yes, the 12 x14 hole.  My wife has wanted me to put in a pet door that size.   I have tried to convince her that every animal on our farm and in the woods would be able to …and would…get into our house.

Buddy sent me over to his house to pick something up.  He said, “Just use the dog door”, lol…

Some are great planners -watched me planting trees, fencing them off, and still got to them.  They have at least one spy in the group - look out Food's coming, or it's OK, she's gone now!  And there's always the non-obvious extendable neck - a very handy asset, and they can climb trees...
Gotta love 'em though - all those different personalities.

Well, it has been a couple of months without new escapees. So, I seem to have the issue addressed.  I am very frustrated with the time it took to hunt down all the various escape routes they were working on.

There was strong evidence they were working on a spot to crawl under a fence.  I partially excavated the area and installed concrete block.

There was another spot where they were stretching the wire fence. I watched from a distance as they took turns pushing their head through the opening in the welded wire. They had not gotten through…but eventually they would.  I patched the spot. They watched my work …inspected it…and told me I was baaad.