# How smart are goats?



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I had always heard that goats were really smart and clever with their mouths, able to undo gate latches and stuff like that. But my Nigerians don't really seem that smart. They don't even try to open their chainlink latch, which would be very easy for them to open if they wanted to. I'm curious, are some breeds smarter than others? Which ones?


----------



## myfainters (Oct 30, 2009)

I don't have nigerians but I know my fainters are WAY too smart! LOL They not only open their gate latches but they will also close it behind them! :scratch: I have to say I'd rather them NOT know how to open gates!  I always have to remember to put locks on them.... and with my memory.... thats not always a sure thing! 

They do all kinds of tricks though and that is a lot of fun.


----------



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Oh, maybe I should be glad they're not smart. That's neat that they do tricks! It must look so cute!


----------



## cdtrum (Aug 25, 2008)

I have 4 wethers....2 are pygmy mixes and 2 are nigerians and all 4 are very smart! They are strickly my pets, hubby is amazed at how smart they are......and yes, I do have to keep locks on my gates! Maybe it depends on how much time you spend with them, I am home all day and spend probably more time with them than I should.....I talked to them like they are children and I swear they understand most of what I say. They each have a different colored feed dish and they know which is theirs.....If I give Jake any dish other than his blue one he will walk away. I know it is not from the smell of each dish because I can have just throughly washed them and he will still do it, I have tested him.


----------



## Oat Bucket Farm (Dec 14, 2009)

My girls are too smart for their own good. We have put a lock on the gate to their pen because they can undo it and one goat twists her head around and tries to bump the latch loose on the milk stand.


----------



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

My girls...nigi and nigi/pygmy crosses are very smart. Bootsie knows how to unlatch gates using her horns and Penny will "shake hands" for cookies.


----------



## pelicanacresMN (Dec 29, 2009)

My nigerians are way too smart for their own good. They have a ton of toys to play with & they still have to cause trouble. When I had daughter Joely in a separate pen for weaning away from mom...somehow, I would come out in the morning to find that 1/2 the time Joely was back in the pen with mom. I caught he in the act of rickoshaying her way up & out of a 5 foot tall pen, so I'm assuming she jumped the other 4 foot pen back to the adults. Then a few days later, I came out to find that the adults gate latch was opened & apparently the goats had a party all night long pulling down their nice big championship ribbons off the wall & trampeling all over them! I figured my kid or husband had forgotten to latch the gate but then this happened again two more nights so now I have to chain that gate shut besides the latch!


----------



## Chi Chi (Mar 7, 2010)

Our barn is elevated about two feet off the ground and at one end we have a dutch door- that is pretty high. Chip our weather who is not that tall has managed to jump thru the door a couple of times. I thought that either the kids or my husband had let him out but I caught him in the act. The goats were screaming- upset that their room service was pushed back by a soccer game. Out of the corner of my eye I see him come over the door- I think it stunned both of us! He was making sure they got fed before the darn sheep or chickens. The door mysteriously was open letting all the goats out a few times after that- now I put a clip thru the latch.


----------



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Sounds like all of you have some pretty smart goats! My dad had an explanation for why ours don't get out. We have a dog that likes to chase them. They're safe in the pen! onder: Might be why.


----------

