Guy Hawkins

Alison Thomas wrote:Guy, sounds like you've thought it all through and that they've got what they need. Lucky you to have a stream. Have a good holiday.

Thanks Alison, but it won't stop us worrying!! My son is already in tears every time he thinks about leaving them.

Because we've banned hunting and dogs on our land we have a bit of a menagerie of wild animals in residence, including a herd of deer, rabbits, hares, badgers, and what looks like a pine martin, though I didn't think they lived this far south. We've seen a few foxes as well, but don't seem to have a permanent resident. The goats are pretty wary of the wild animals, and pay attention when they wander by, but generally the wild stuff stays away from the buildings most of the time. I keep telling myself that if the deer can survive without any help, then the goats should be OK with their own house and a ready supply of treats. They have bales of hay and straw in their shed as well, so if they are snowed in for a day or so, they won't starve.

Alison Thomas wrote:
Hello Guy and welcome from another France-based person.

No you're definitely not panicking over nothing - if you have animals you have a responsibility to ensure that all their daily needs are taken care of and that they are safe.

In my experience goats are creatures of habit and they seem to like routine. Ours (we have 9 currently) know us well and are looking out to see us at certain times of the day. Yours may well do the same and will definitely miss you. However, you say "we will be going away" so there doesn't seem much flexibility in the arrangement there. So, things you might want to think of...
Do your goats have a house/shed? A cold wet goat is a dead goat.
If they do, can your neighbour put in fresh bedding? If the weather is wet then goats spend a LOT of time in their house.
What about La Chasse? Do they cross your land? It may be as well to contact the local leader of La Chasse and tell them that you'll be away.
Tell any neighbours that have land bordering yours in case your goats wander off looking for you.
Can your neighbour pop in each day? Goats MUST have clean drinking water every day.
What if it turns icy? Their water will need to be defrosted. In Le Grand Froid last February we had to defrost their water 3 times a day!!!

I realise that the list looks long but keeping animals is a serious undertaking.

Hi Alison, Many thanks for coming back to me.

We are forced to travel for work fairly regularly, so we have to make some permanent arrangement.

La chasse already knows about our land and our goats, and they keep well away from both. We let them park on our land when they use the neighbouring areas, and they check for the goats.

The neighbour can only come every other day, but the goats can drink from the stream, which is direct from a source and has never frozen (we're in Brittany so it is never really cold). We provide them with water buckets as well, but I've never seen them drink from the buckets. The goats have a shed where they spend the night, but they also have the run of the land, which includes two huge barns, a stables, a granary (their favorite) and a longere. They never go back to their shed unless we tempt them back there with some pellets, so we are moving the shed into the granary, which is their preferred spot in any case.

We have to leave the house every day in any case, and the goats have never tried to follow us or leave the property, but that doesn't mean they won't in the future. The idea of the auto pellet feeder is it will encourage them to return regularly for a snack.

The alternative is to take them to another farm whilst we are away, but in this case they will be stuck in a field with some sheep, and a shed, with nowhere to climb and play, whereas now they spend their days running around the place chasing each other up onto the window ledges and other perches, and generally having fun.

Apologies for jumping into this thread, but seems a shame to start a new one. We have two dwarf goats, around 6 months old. They are completely tame and have the run of our property (9 acres). We don't have any fencing or gates but they never stray away. The edges of our property are effectively fenced by deep brambles all round (it's a blackberry heaven) and we are surrounded by miles of farm land. There is tons of natural food and fresh water for them, and we give them a few goat pellets, more for training purposes than anything else. The property has lots of stones that they jump up and down on, and so far we've never had to clip their hooves.

Anyway, the problem is that we will be going away for Christmas for a couple of weeks, and want to leave the goats here. We have a neighbour who will look in on them every two days, but since we've never left them before, and they are the first animals we have kept, we are getting a bit nervous. We are in Northern France, so no predators that we are aware of. I'm fitting a gate onto the entrance so they can't just wonder away, and we have an automatic feeder so they will get their pellets twice a day. What else should we be doing, or are we panicing over nothing?

All advice gratefully received.