# A Goat That Chews on Shingles...



## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

I would love to know how to get Miracle to stop chewing her roof off!!! Her house is wooden with shingles on top. Well, the crazy goat can climb the fence and turn her head and chews the shingles off. She doesn't eat it, she just rips it off. She had stopped after she couldn't reach anymore of it. But today she discovered she could climb higher and chewed even more of it off! How do I go about getting her to stop? All we've really done is slapped her and screamed at her and the neighbors think we're crazy! Help, please.


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## Arkie (Sep 25, 2012)

Since the damaged roof will have to be replaced anyway, go back with 1X4" pine lathe and metal roofing.

Bob


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

I would remove the shingles..... I don't think you can discourage a goat from doing something that it really wants to do other than to remove the temptation.


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## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

Well, we plan to get some sheet metal and cover it, but I would love to be able to get her to stop until then.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm sorry, I got a chuckle out of picturing one of _my_ goats doing this! Has to be real pain for you but one way you can get her to stop is to paint the shingles she can reach with poopy water...goats won't put their mouths on anything "dirty" so plopping some wet poop there might just stop her.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Good idea Liz.  Also, make sure she's got plenty of good quality loose minerals available. She may just be playing...or she may be lacking in some sort of mineral and trying to get something from the roof. Also, does she have a buddy? It would be healthier for her if she had a companion...may keep her busier and she'll definately be happier.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

We built our shelter 8 feet high which means we don't have to stoop to get in and they can't jump on the roof. Though when a storm blew our first shelter apart, the goats found the metal roof lying on the ground a joy to jump on.


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## sunshinegoat (Feb 7, 2012)

You could probably get something from the feed store to paint on it..like "Chew Stop" or something else used to discourage horses from chewing on their stalls and fences..A barn I worked at used to paint the fences w used motor oil but that stuff is so gross!!! Check to see what the ingredients are and that they are not toxic...just icky tasting


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## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

Miracle will not eat loose minerals nor a mineral block. We've tried and tried, but she just doesn't like them. We're getting BoSe soon and have thought about copper bolusing. Liz, that sounds like a wonderful idea! I will have to try that. And KW, Miracle HATES other goats. She refuses to get along with them. I don't know why but I'm thinking it's because she sees it as a threat to me and mom. For saftey reasons and considering her house isn't big enough for another goat to live with her, well getting another goat isn't an option.


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## KarmakeeFarm (Jun 3, 2012)

we just repaired the roof on my milk house which is right next to the goat enclousure-mine were tearing the old shingles and the tar paper to pieces! I think they liked the mouth feel! can you put a spare piece of fence in front of the other fence so she cant get at it? I like the poop idea that Liz had! makes me giigle


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## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

I would but then she couldn't get into her house! Great thinking though! I guess I could take a picture, so you guys can see what I'm talking about.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I agree with nasty tasting stuff. I would not use motor oil or cresote (sp?). The store brands can get spendy. You can try mixing some cayenne pepper in a spray bottle or vinegar. I didn't use shingles for that reason just painted wood. Sneaky goats still try to eat it or eat the wood on the sides! I can't afford to do metal until next year and only the low sloping sides are at 4 1/1' feet. As for her hating other goats, if she's with others she just may be the herd queen. Mine doesn't hate them but she will butt them out of her way when she eats. You can try wooden spools to play on, my neighbor had some wooden steps that he replaced on his house now they're in the goat yard for them to play on. You could even try toys, like those hard rubber balls that horses play with.


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## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

We're going to paint the part that is bare for now until we can get some metal. Miracle does that too! She will chew the sides of her house and rip little pieces of the wood off. The bad thing is is that she actually eats that stuff and its painted so we really have to watch her. She hasn't been doing that lately. (Please don't jinx it!) We don't have any other goats. We had a baby goat that we were bottle feeding and when we would take it out to potty we would let Miracle see it. She was fine with it as long as it wasn't in her pen. We put it in her pen and OMG I thought she was going to kill the poor thing! We ended giving the baby goat away to someone else because she had real bad diahrea and we had did all we knew to do (at the time). It ended up dying at the other person's house. 
We used to have a ball in her pen at one time, but she had nothing to do with it. Sometime next year, I think we are getting a new back deck and we thought about throwing the old one out in her pen for her to lay on. But we are also afraid she'd be able to jump the fence too so I don't know. It's just one thing after another with goats!


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

caprine, funny I just came inside from, yep shingling a roof on the boer pen. This year I had to use cheap wood, so I painted it and shingled it so we'll see. If they eat the wood and it's painted I guess my thing would be hopefully its acrylic out door paint rather than oil based. 
Sorry about the little baby. they can go down fast, I'm not sure what you did for her but sometimes it's just hard.
As for her jumping on things you can bet they will! Anything my guys can jump on is far from any fence lines.


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## caprine crazy (Jun 12, 2012)

I wonder if it's breed thing because Miracle is a Boer as well. LOL! Uh-oh...I think the paint we used was oil based. We keep pretty close eye on her and give her a little tap on the nose when we catch her. And if she hadn't swallowed the piece yet we make her spit it out. But like I said, it's been awhile since shes done that. 

Thanks.  It's not that she was really going down hill, we were just tired of all the messes in the house. We didn't have another pen made her to stay in so she lived in our house. I thought she had Johnes because we tried Scour Halt (it's something used in pigs but safe for baby goats) and mixing her bottle differently and it did nothing. The diarrhea went away when she was at the new persons house. They were feeding her actual goats milk, not formula. She died after a week of living with them. Now, that I've heard how quickly cocci can kill a kid, I'm thinking that's what she had, but we just didn't know it. 

I know! She still might be able to jump the sides if we satit in the middle of her pen. I haven't decided what we should do with it.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

caprine crazy said:


> We don't have any other goats. We had a baby goat that we were bottle feeding and when we would take it out to potty we would let Miracle see it. She was fine with it as long as it wasn't in her pen. We put it in her pen and OMG I thought she was going to kill the poor thing!


My oldest is a boer doe who just showed up one day. Since then I have been given 5 babies their mom's refused to take care of. No question Lawn Mower is the queen around here. First, she was the first one here and 2nd, she is at least a year older which means much bigger then everyone else. She butted everyone from the start but over time everyone has gotten use to each other and life goes on. The only time I have a problem is introducting a new member to the herd or feeding time. Lawn Mower currently shares space with another doe and buck. I have to feed them in seperate stations and chain the buck to the fence or my diary doe doesn't get anything to eat. Lawn Mower tried to chase the buck away from the food but he is to quick and still gets some. My dairy doe is a little petite and the other two will not let her eat period (chases her away) so I just seperate them all. That is working fine. The younger 3 are seperated from the older 3 for a variety of reasons. The twins are only 6 weeks old and the 3 oldes do butt them. I am sure that will change when they are bigger and have to be moved in with the herd. That is just goat behavior. You bottle baby was probably just to young to defend itself and also, your Boer just wanted to let that new interloper to know who is the boss around here. After a few days everyone works things out and they become friends.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

caprine, my little guy got so sick about 2-3 wks after weaning. We weren't sure and there was only one goat vet, who of course was out of town that week. The other vets wouldn't even do a goat fecal, and charge $45 (if I remember correctly), AND the neighbors chickens kept flying over the fence and pooping all over their feed even in the feeder. We went through the worming, cocci treatment, electrolytes in the water, vitamins, probios several times daily and he was crashing hard. With the help here we finally tried sulmet which worked, thank god.
Texas you are very good to lawn mower.  I'd have to have a VERY special goat to put up with multiple times of her not taking her kids or she'd be out of my herd. My guys are all separate, ND bucks, ND does, Boer does, right now the buck is in with them for breeding and while I finish a new pen for him.


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