Grand kids who have been training their rescued goats to do tricks

[clanter]

Well this is surely an off topic item. Last spring our grand kids took in a rejected goat to raise, after all with Cov19 stuff they were (and are) home schooling. So the goat was a good diversion.

Goat was raised and taken back to its farm and was released into the herd, the herd rejected it so the owner offered the goat to the kids. So goat came to live in the city.

We have the room here for the goat as we just took over the long disused kid’s play house. Fenced it with goat proof fencing (if there is such a thing).

Then our neighbor who had gotten some goats to mow their pasture gave the girls two more goats so their goat would not be lonely, so they have three.

What do you do with three goats? Clicker train them.

So far the girls (who are twins) have taught the goats some ten or fifteen tricks which some were videoed

Now, it only the big yellow cat could do something worthwhile other than meow for food after all our daughter’s dog was Volunteer of the Year for a local city

But the foundation always has been to use the horses and now other animals to be a tool to raise the kids. (The twins have Bonnie but their mother has claimed Bonnie as hers so they have the others to work with)

[Spudsmyguy]

That is so cool! I love that show so will probably see them. We also have a cat that does nothing but meow for food and sleep.

[clanter]

This just another one of those things for them to build on, they have taught themselves how to crochet animals over the summer, our daughter in law is going to market those with her custom made things…the twins and DIL are conversing in Norwegian by email … she is shocked that they have picked up the written language rapidly but told them they are leaning the least worthwhile language in the world

Edited to remove some content that was not supposed to be disclosed as I was unaware a confidentiality agreement had already been entered into

[Bluey]

How neat!
Let us know what else happens, how things develop, where to watch if it comes to that?

Bet kids and goats will be stars at it.

[candyappy]

How fun. Goats are wicked smart and as food( reward) motivated as they come.

[clanter]

@candyappy

How fun. Goats are wicked smart and as food( reward) motivated as they come.

the twins have done a good job with these goats,

There is Clover who was the rejected twin that was never accepted by her herd so she was bottle feed and kept in the twins bedroom for about six or eight weeks. Clover was the first then Cupcake and Chip are the goats from next door that were given to the girls to keep Clover company.

Chip is a male who was “saved” as the day after the girls got him all the other male goats disappeared, I guess were sold as a meat goat.

A recent purchase was some 250 gallon square plastic tanks that are used for cooking oils and such which they cleaned and then cut a door for the goats…these are now goat condos for their paddock to keep them out of the wind.

The girls found the goats were easy to train, the goats as you noted are Food driven big-time.

Fencing had to be fortified to keep the goats in their paddocks and backyard if turned out there otherwise the goats are running to the pony’s pen to eat his food.

Later there will be an update as to just what is happening

[shiloh]

People forget how smart goats are. Sounds like your grand kids are trying to harness goats’ power for good.

ahemwhere are the pics?

[clanter]

regarding photos, I am not sure what can be released as daughter has signed a do not disclose agreement

I know this sounds odd, but we have had to deal with such before… I just stopped asking my son what he was doing as everything was restricted until released

What’s going will be fun but we need to wait to tell

[Bluey]

We can wait, I am sure it will be very good.

[Hippolyta]

I am goat obsessed. I have two pet Nigerians. You can see one in my photo (that’s not my horse!)

Their trick is to come when I shake the plastic container of popped corn.

I can’t wait to see what these three can do!

[Bluey]

When you live in the country, people tend to dump their pets they can’t live with any more in the country, goats also.
We had a goat dairy and someone dumped this little cute billy goat on us.
He was really sweet, but didn’t have any manners, so we installed some right off.
Unlike our other larger nubian milk goats, he had the run of the place, the race horse training barn his favorite.
One time this good client of ours, we trained several horses over many years for him, one that tied a track record, he was now older and retired and came by most days to look at his horses and visit some, had just traded cars.
He drove up in his brand new shiny cadillac, parked by the barn and started walking in there, when here came Billy to inspect who that was.

The owner saw Billy approaching his new shiny car, turned and started yelling “No, Billy, get away from my car, Billyyyyy!”
That startled Billy, now being chased and did what goats do, jumped on the back of the car and skidded all the way to the top.
The menace getting closer, Billy jumped on the hood and scrambled down and ran off.
The new car now had some extra decoration, a line of divots and multiple scratches from stern to bow.

Fellow looked his car over, got in and left.
A while later here he drove, in a different, new, shiny cadillac and acted like nothing happened.

After some time had passed, he would admit that he, that grew up on a farm with all kinds of critters, goats too, knew better than chasing Billy right on top of his car and graciously pardoned Billy.

Moral of the story, don’t chase goats, as I am sure the goat training kids here well know already.

[Jarpur]

@clanter

Fencing had to be fortified to keep the goats in their paddocks and backyard

@clanter

Fenced it with goat proof fencing (if there is such a thing).

You know what they say about fencing and goats: Q: "how do you tell if the fence will hold goats? A: “throw a bucket of water at it - if it holds the water, it’ll keep the goats in.”

[candyappy]

@clanter

Fencing had to be fortified to keep the goats in their paddocks and backyard if turned out there otherwise the goats are running to the pony’s pen to eat his food.

We have raised Boer goats since 2007 and I have been extremely lucky that I have easily contained mine. I did have a problem with 1 young buck ( I bought to breed my does). After he was in with the girls no amount of fence could keep him out after, so I couldn’t keep him. My current buck is fine being right next door.

Some are jumpers and some squeezers so we make our fences to discourage both and feed them well.

[trubandloki]

Looking forward to the cute kids with trained goats photos (when you can post them). It sounds adorable.

[Hippolyta]

I know someone who had their brand new farm pickup declared as a full loss by insurance due to goat party.

As a kid, my dad said we wouldn’t have goats as a kid bc they trashed cars. It seems like something he should have been able to control.

we had every creature growing up, except goats. Now that I have them, I consider that I was a victim of childhood neglect.

[Hippolyta]

@candyappy

We have raised Boer goats since 2007

I am in awe of the size of these things. At some point they are like small ponies.

[Jenerationx]

I love the adorable little Pygmy goats at the petting zoos. Unfortunately, I seem to be a goat magnet and end up with one or two in my lap and plenty of bruises. I thought I liked all goats, until I saw an adult Damascus… those things are ummmm… just no. lol

I’ve never lived with one. What are their personalities like, aside from climbing on things?

[clanter]

aside from climbing on things?

trash cans had to be relocated as Cupcake was using them as a stepping stone to get over the six foot stockade fence

The cats outdoor catodominium had to be moved as Clover was getting on its roof

and now the garage has been converted into sound stage for animal productions …I think that is what’s happening, really not sure

[Bluey]

@clanter

trash cans had to be relocated as Cupcake was using them as a stepping stone to get over the six foot stockade fence

The cats outdoor catodominium had to be moved as Clover was getting on its roof

and now the garage has been converted into sound stage for animal productions …I think that is what’s happening, really not sure

Hmmmmm, this is getting more and more interesting.

[clanter]

Hmmmmm, this is getting more and more interesting.

I really think the animals here wake up each wondering just what the humans are up to