# How long do you usally play with your goats?



## Gary_and_Ash (Aug 9, 2013)

how long do you play with your goats? I play with mine most of the time for about an 1 hour


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Well, I dont _play_ with mine, but they are handled or observed for about 1-2 hours a day (not individual goats, but all together)


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## Gary_and_Ash (Aug 9, 2013)

That's sort of what I do


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## audrey (Jul 17, 2012)

It depends on the day for sure, but I probably spend about a half hour in the buck pen (spread out over 2-3 times a day) and a half hour in the doe pen. Up until 2 weeks ago when I had to separate my bucklings from the does, I used to let the herd run loose on my property, and they would spend a LOT Of time with me while I was doing stuff outside. I really really enjoyed it, and its been a big adjustment for us all now that they all have to stay penned. My mom and sister HATED it, because despite having a ton of brush for them to eat, they would make the rounds and destroy a few of their special plants, and I would get in a ton of trouble. I am hoping that the timing will work out that I will have at least a couple months this winter after everyone is bred, where I can let everyone out together again. 

Now the new schedule is that I feed breakfast and visit with them for a few minutes, then later I clean their pen and feed a snack and spend a few more minutes with them, and maybe another visit and snack, and then dinner at like 8 pm. I am really busy in the evening so I don't really visit with them much then. My barn kids visit with them though out the day too.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I go spend time with them, it varies though.


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## Sylvie (Feb 18, 2013)

Mine are _handled_ for mmm maybe 5-10 min each day....if I sit down and really play, then maybe I'll be around for half an hour.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

It just varies by how busy we are and the weather. We don't 'play' all the time but we spend a lot of time with them when we can. My husband & kids will go back in the woods to work and spend time with them. We'll let the young goats out to play on the back deck, they are pretty hilarious and love playing together especially since we let the 2 wethers out with the 3 young does.

Now we have a buck here, so I told the kids to kind of let the big goats alone a bit, so they can be with the buck, once they are all bred, then we'll go back to our 'regularly scheduled program' LOL

School starts for the kids on Wednesday, so they have to get back into that routine as well. Which means I'll have to go give the girls the TLC while they are gone during the day lol Especially the 3 young does, they are not liking the lack of attention this week


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## OakHollowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

During school, a quick feeding and milking with a scratch on the back is all I have time for, sadly. On the weekednds and during breaks, I spend anywhere from 45 min. to an hour petting them and feeding them acorns. When we clean pens I sometimes take up to two hours, petting any goat who won't let me scoop and begs for attention.  I used to love taking them all out into the larger part of the pasture to eat oak leaves and acorns, but I can't anymore since my Alpine tries to kill our doeling everytime we put them together.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

I take a few of mine on walks when I can, and enjoy sitting with them for snuggles, sometimes playing chase. I try to observe them moving around and eating every day to make sure everyone's all right.


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

Play is a very important part of my goats' daily routine. I can't personally play with my two outside goats because I'm extremely allergic to the dust and pollen they are always covered in, but during feeding time and every afternoon after school I send my children out to play with the kids for a while. Maybe they get a bit over an hour of actual play and lots of petting in between. 

My inside goat gets regular baths and my husband and I play with her many times a day. She also hangs out in whatever room of the house I'm in when she's inside and she snuggles by me on the couch and watches tv in the evening.

My goats are like really smart dogs that eat hay.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Mine too, Axykatt, I just adore them.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I generally go out every morning with my morning coffee and say hello. We go on "walkies" through my three acre orchard. I leave certain goats in the orchard and the ones in "camp" like hoof camp or weight gain camp stay nearer the house. I feed them extra treats, tend hooves, etc. I'm usually out there for about an hour.

Then after I come and get my second cup of coffee, I let the chickens out of their pens, and spend more time with the goats.

I usually sit in a chair and enjoy my coffee and gives pets to the goats. The bucks really like this time, I use a bottle brush to give them lots of scratches.

So all in all, I personally spend hours each day with my goats, chickens, rabbits and parrots. lol It's my job.


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## MollyLue9 (Oct 14, 2012)

Every afternoon I take my girls out to the woods and they graze out there. Sometimes I put 'em on a leash and walk them up and down the road lol. And tag is their favorite game and I usually join in which makes them really happy haha. They also load up on our golfcart with the Great Dane / Lab and the Lab and we go to the horse barn. They love the browse that's out there best, I think


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I don't play with the goats. I spend time caring for them, cleaning, milking, feeding and routine maintenance on the barn and animals. I need to be supreme queen doe. If I play, they start seeing me as an equal. If I am an equal, they do not repsect me as the leader and problems will result. 

All totalled, I spend on an average of 5 hours a day working with or around the goats on my work days and about 8 hours on my days off.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

That depends entirely on how bad the bugs are!!! (The mosquitoes and black flies here in Maine can be positivelt maddening.) That said, we do more trainng than "playing", but the goats seem to think it's fun!


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

lottsagoats said:


> I don't play with the goats. I spend time caring for them, cleaning, milking, feeding and routine maintenance on the barn and animals. I need to be supreme queen doe. If I play, they start seeing me as an equal. If I am an equal, they do not repsect me as the leader and problems will result.
> 
> All totalled, I spend on an average of 5 hours a day working with or around the goats on my work days and about 8 hours on my days off.


That is a very good point that I frequently forget to make about my relationship with Peggy Sue. I don't ever personally "play" with her. I let her cuddle me, and I pet and scritch her, but I always have my husband or son do the actual playing while I supervise and say encouraging things like, "You get 'im! Show that beasty boy whatfor!" All goat play is centered in dominance behavior and I don't want her to think she can challenge me. This is even true for an indoor pet goat, just like with most working dog breeds. She is gunning for herd queen, and while she loves her mommy, she'd still take me out at the knees if I encouraged that behavior.

I find it's actually EXTRA important to establish clear boundaries with a house goat because she has a human herd and she tests all my visitors. Especially if their body language seems nervous or scared. When around other farm ppl she is sweet and submissive, but around novices she is a nasty bitch and quite dangerous if I'm not present to keep her in check.

I forget that most ppl don't study the psychology of their animals and don't understand the purpose of "play", so I take it for granted that ppl would know where proper herd boundaries are and I forget to stress their importance!


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## Goat_in_Himmel (Jun 24, 2013)

Some mornings are a bit of a rush; I gather a bouquet of greens for my gal to enjoy on the milk stand, send out her kid with some grain so we can have some peace milking, check that there's hay and water aplenty, and rush on to the chickens and then to work--ten minutes maximum with the goats. Sometimes the evening milking is rushed too; but at night, when I tuck the girls in, there's time for extras--cuddles and brushing and praise, while night gathers in. On days off, when I trim weeds away from the outer electric fence and toss them in with the goats, they follow me around and we have a "conversation". Then I might go in and sit with the kid across my lap and do trim her hooves, or make sure the goats have no external parasites, or have the youngster practise walking on a leash. The kid craves human interaction far more than her mother does, although ma does appreciate skritches and weedy treats. "Quality time" can make an hour disappear, no problem!


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## GoatsLive (Jul 1, 2012)

My girls love to play, and we have several games we play every day. Molly LOVES to run up to me, swipe my hat and make me chase her for it. Joy-Joy enjoys pushing against my hand, play fighting. I try to spend at least an hour a day with the goats. It's good for me and it's really good for them.

In Joy-Joy's case, she was very wild when we got her, no manners at all. After a year giving her lots of attention, she's docile, gentle, and compliant with her humans now.


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## Gary_and_Ash (Aug 9, 2013)

I play with my goats by letting them out but only Ash (Wither) Paisley (doe) and Gary (Kid) but not Azul (Buck) because he is hard to get in out of the barn, anyways we really just venture around my house. The reason I trust them to follow me is because Gary and Paisley are my 4-H project, and I got Ash when he was 4 weeks, so I had to bottle-feed him.


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## Mguider (May 27, 2021)

How did you train a goat for inside??



Axykatt said:


> Play is a very important part of my goats' daily routine. I can't personally play with my two outside goats because I'm extremely allergic to the dust and pollen they are always covered in, but during feeding time and every afternoon after school I send my children out to play with the kids for a while. Maybe they get a bit over an hour of actual play and lots of petting in between.
> 
> My inside goat gets regular baths and my husband and I play with her many times a day. She also hangs out in whatever room of the house I'm in when she's inside and she snuggles by me on the couch and watches tv in the evening.
> 
> My goats are like really smart dogs that eat hay.


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Mguider said:


> How did you train a goat for inside??


This is an old thread. I'm not sure if Axykatt is still on here or not. You might try the search feature to find some info on house training, though.


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## Tanya (Mar 31, 2020)

I know this thread is old but today Chevani showed me a video she took of her and Destiny and Gizmo actually playing king of the castle. I wish I could post it here. She spends hours with them.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

We don't really play with them, we are slaves to them though lol! We raise a small herd of Boer goats - over the years my kids have shown them in the summer fairs and some ABGA shows. This year it's just my 14yo. We kid out between Dec & March, and she currently has 4 Dec bucks, 2 March bucks, 2 Dec does, 4 March does and a 2yo that will all eventually see a show ring at some point this summer. It's a lot of work keeping up with everyone. Our enjoyment is visiting with them, and they LOVE scratches and to be brushed. We don't play with the bucks as we don't want them to think it's okay and later on turn aggressive. They do love it when you run the fence line and they chase you, and make a game of running back and forth, but with the new buck pen setup it's so hard to do. These bucks are all goofballs. The does are more quiet and don't play much, they just want love and food lol. 
We spend a lot of time with them though. Between morning feed/water/hay, some of them get a bath 1x a week and others on the stand for some conditioning spray and blow out 2x a week. It not only helps try to keep them from getting stained up/condition their coat, but helps them learn good stand manners. The closer to the first show (next week), the more my daughter tries to pull them out to work with them on show collars. Of course this past week the weather hasn't been cooperating much as it's been very rainy. 
Afternoons we are usually busy doing stuff in the barns and can easily spend 3 hours doing goat related stuff. Currently trying to rig our trailer up for another summer of showing. We're finally building some pens - nothing fancy, but beats tying in dividing panels lol But also going to make rain covers for the open sides like I used to have (dry rotted). We wanted to get a different trailer, but couldn't justify spending $$$ when it normally sits 9 months out of the year. pens just need doors installed, and planning to paint everything, can't wait to get it done!
So that's how we stay busy with our goats. They are a huge part of our lives. But I love that they have kept my kids busy, and now keep my 14yo daughter super busy.


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