# Baby goat getting head in fence. Any tips?



## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

I have one female baby boar goat that is giving me problems. She has got her head stuck in the fence twice. Two me that's two times too many. SHe is barely small enough to get her head stuck in there with her baby horns. But I'm really nervous she will do it again when I'm gone. 
Any tips?
I have 4x4 goat fence all around, an too many acres to put electric fence around for one girl. 
Her horns are way too small to tape a stick on it. 
My friend says put some jb weld on the tips of the horns to make them just big enough not to fit her head in there. While she grows out. 
I feel like in a few weeks when she grows out she will be too big for the tiny fence holes. Just need a tip to get me through these few weeks.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

What is jb weld?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Put chicken wire over the fencing where she tends to be.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

JB Weld is an adhesive. I can't quite picture how that would help... My goats tend to pick a few spots to be trouble spots. If you notice your little girl hanging in the same areas, then I agree with the chicken wire suggestion.


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## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

She's been caught in a different area each time an her and her buddies have about 6 acres to run around so that's a lot of chicken wire. I also forgot to mention I killed all the grass along the fence line a few weeks back before this even started. Ugh...


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## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

Oh. Jb weld is like a puddy that hardens. He said maybe it could make her horn just a tad bit bigger so she won't fit through the fence hole.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

4x4 IS pretty small. I'm thinking, if you can't find just a few places she likes to be troublesome, you are just going to have to be diligent for a bit until she is big enough to not do this to you. I've been watching someone's farm while they've been away. 2 mornings ago I arrived to find that one of their newer LaMancha doelings (not young-young, just young) had been caught in the fencing. There was no browse (as in nothing) in front of her, and gorgeous stuff behind her. So why did she do it? I have no clue... Good luck.


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## BEGOATEY (May 16, 2017)

if everytime she does it feed the rest of the herd while she has to watch and she will catch on after missing a meal or two::smile::smile:she`s vying for your attention because everytime she gets her head stuck in that fence you are sure to come and get her out


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Goats don't learn subjectively. She would be more likely to freak out and break her neck.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Leaving her caught makes her extremely vulnerable. Other goats can beat up on her and predators would find her truly "easy prey". And that is not considering dehydration and sunstroke. Please don't leave her caught if you have any choice at all...


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I agree, do not leave her there. They won't learn a lesson that way, she will just do it again.

Get a small PVC pipe cut it to approximately 12 inches, then duct tape it to the horns. Here is a good example.
http://keepingthefarm.blogspot.com/2010/12/sheep-in-dunce-cap.html

It may have to be re taped from time to time. 
With kids, they grow, so she may not need the dunce hat after she gets big enough so her horns don't get caught.


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## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

Your right mariarose there is no food on the other side since I killed all the grass on the fence line. An even have tiny 4x4 sheep/goat fence. She just needs to grow a tiny bit. 
Toth boer. Her horns were almost1inch so no way I could get a pvc pipe on it. 
I ended up putting a bit of jb weld puddy on the tips to make her horns almost 3 inches. After two days. It stayed an she hasn't got stuck. Here is a pic of her now...you can see I extended her horns. And her scar from the fence on her neck from the first time she got stuck. I need to look for a before pic. 
I was desperate an had to try something I'm leaving in a few days an worry being gone she would do it again.


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## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

Really bad pic that shows her horns but this is a before she started exploring my fence. But tiny horns.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

If the horns are that small, can you disbud her, or is that some kind of no no?

I have dairy goats and everyone gets disbudded. Sure saves on stuck heads!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

The JB weld stuff, hopefully it is breathable and will come off. Her horns cannot shed and grow if it doesn't not come off within a reasonable time.

If you cannot fit a small Pvc pipe on there, get a firm stick that is small enough to go onto her horns. To me it looks possible.
Make sure the stick has no sharp edges on it and can withstand her trying to push through a fence. Having something there even if thin, will detour her. That is if you want to try it.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

She's so beautiful!. You are correct, you can count on her using your absence to try to commit suicide. Good luck with everything you decide on, be it PVC, disbudding, etc.


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## steeplechaser (Sep 21, 2013)

I guess I could of disbudded but never thought of that. When I first got goats I figured if I got the expensive sheep/goat fence I wouldn't have to ever get this problem. 
Right now after a few days this is working. And yes I'll take it off in a few weeks or I'm sure she will. Just need her to behave for a few days while I'm out this weekend.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Her head will be bigger than the openings, soon. Hopefully she doesn't get stuck before that!


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

steeplechaser said:


> When I first got goats I figured if I got the expensive sheep/goat fence I wouldn't have to ever get this problem.


 I would have thought this as well. You've been very responsible.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Yep, she will grow and she shouldn't be able to get her head stuck after that. They grow fast.


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## Madgoat (Jan 8, 2017)

I don't understand the driving force that some goats have to put their heads through fences! The only goat I have with horns kept getting caught in my field fence, so this is what I did. First: Tennis balls- nope. Second: Ping Pong balls, worked better but still got her head through. Finally I got a wooden paint stirrer, you know the kind you get when you buy paint? I drilled 2 small holes about the width of her horns and fed 2 hair scrunchy through the holes and then looped them back on themselves, I then put the stirrer on her horns, like a pony tail. If she got one side or the other off, I would just loop the scrunchy one more loop around her horn. I wish I could draw what I did cause I don't think I'm explaining it well. But it worked!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I don't know either, but the grass is always greener on the other side, LOL


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