# HIghline advice



## elkhunter (Jan 15, 2011)

Hi all, I am planning my first overnight hike with my boys this weekend. I am still trying to figure the highline out. I will have 6 goats with me. What do you all do that take that many do for a highline? Do you put them all on one line or do you split them up and do two? How about heavily timbered areas. Do you try to keep them away from trees so they don't get tangled, or not worry about it to much? Trying to find 2 trees the right distance apart with no trees in the middle seems impossible. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. I would love to see some pics of some highlines if anybody has any.


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## feederseaters (Nov 8, 2009)

I don't have a pic, but I have highlined four of my boys to ONE rope that stretched close to 100 feet across a slight clearing. I had them about 10 feet apart from each other and well away from the trees. They had to remain on this highline for a good part of the day and have had to do this on several occations.

I don't tie my goats at night because I worry about preditors. I typically have them close enough that they all snooze by the fire unless its foul weather. They have never left camp or caused mischeif in the night.


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## cryptobrian (Apr 26, 2012)

Definitely try to keep your goats spaced enough from the trees so they can't reach the trunks and cause damage. It can get tricky in more dense areas, but I've never failed to find a spot to put the highline. When we travel with our 4-H group we may have 6 or more goats and that will often require multiple highlines. I usually have the gear for two complete lines but I've also used a single rope with middle anchor points when I couldn't get a single long line placed (imagine the highline as a broad "V" or "Z"). This is tricky to do without damaging the trees or abrading your rope ... I use tree savers, but you can also put a saddle pad around a tree to let the rope slide over that while pulling tension.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I low line in my garden area. I run it across the ground. All but Mikey do fine without getting tangled. Mikey gets tangled in an 2ft lead line.

You can tie to rocks and around the base of bushes with a low line.


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## elkhunter (Jan 15, 2011)

I tried the lowline thing here in the pasture just to see how it would go.I streched the line really tight but they still got under it and got tangled up within a couple minutes. So I gave up that idea real quick. Maybe I should try it again and let them hash it out for a while. I think a lowline would be way better for me if the goats would cooperate.Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming!


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

elkhunter said:


> I tried the lowline thing here in the pasture just to see how it would go.I streched the line really tight but they still got under it and got tangled up within a couple minutes. So I gave up that idea real quick. Maybe I should try it again and let them hash it out for a while. I think a lowline would be way better for me if the goats would cooperate.Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming!


I picked up some strapping... It is really stuff they use to sew edges on stuff. It is about 2" wide. It is not very thick. It is strong enough to use for hanging my hammock. But as a strap to hook the goats to the lowline it works well. If they do get tangled, it doesn't cut off circulation as quickly as small diameter chord line. I use them as my lead lines and I put snaps on each end. They are about 12 feet long but I tie a knot in them to reduce their length when using them as lead lines.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

I use 50ft high lines and put two to three goats per line. Each goat is tied so it can touch noses with its neighbor and lay down. That keeps them from getting tangled.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Rex said:


> I use 50ft high lines and put two to three goats per line. Each goat is tied so it can touch noses with its neighbor and lay down. That keeps them from getting tangled.


How do you tie a line 50 ft high? ;-)


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Bob Jones said:


> How do you tie a line 50 ft high? ;-)


Didn't you know? Rex rides giraffes. Tall ones.


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## feederseaters (Nov 8, 2009)

Nanno said:


> Bob Jones said:
> 
> 
> > How do you tie a line 50 ft high? ;-)
> ...


And he names them Rhino and Wildebeast just to avoid confusion.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

feederseaters said:


> Nanno said:
> 
> 
> > Bob Jones said:
> ...


LOL.... ditto


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Rex said:


> LOL.... ditto


Well, if you weren't married, I'd set you up with this woman...of course she's 50 years older than in the picture now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051380/

It's OK that she died in 1977 cause she's also here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051226/

and here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051128/


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

"The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" was such a let-down compared to the awesome cover. I wish I'd just stared at the poster for an hour and a half and used my imagination instead.

Since the 50 foot woman didn't live up to the hype, I'd say Rex will be better off if he keeps his giraffe. Just make sure you train yours better than this guy did...
[youtube:3li02by2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayHOkZAaT-k[/youtube:3li02by2]
He's sticking with low lines from now on.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Haha.... that was my cousin. He refused Giraffe riding lessons.


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## Saltlick (Jun 12, 2011)

I new to all this and I've used the high line a couple of times now for my two goats. It works great except the adult goat gets the rope tangled around his horns a lot (he has huge horns that turn outward). At first I was coming to his rescue, then I decided to just watch him. He's pretty darn smart and when he tries hard enough can get himself untangled. In fact he's so smart he looks at the highline and rope, then pulls on it, takes it in his mouth, tries to chew through it, and even tries to twist his horns around it and use his horns as leverage to try to break the rope. It was incredible! He is so smart (which can be a good and bad thing). I've also noticed he has a good trail memory and if he's been on a trail once or twice, he will go ahead of me and lead me back "home". He's also very stubborn (hello, goat) and tries to get away with stuff too.

I've been tying him by his halter, but I think maybe I should try with a collar like I have for the little guy. Not sure, but maybe he'll tangle less with a collar. Maybe not, we'll see.

I slept out a night without tying them on a friend's remote 150 acres, and they stuck right by me like a dog (better than my dog actually). The only problem was they kept waking me up getting into things and messing with stuff (especially the 4 month old). So now I prefer to tie them so I can actually get some sleep!

We're heading for the Sisters wilderness in Oregon tomorrow. This will be the real trial.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Not a good idea to tie with the halter. If the goat is properly tied and lies down they can't get their heads down to rest if tied with the halter. Also they can twist their neck pretty good if they get spooked by something.


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## Saltlick (Jun 12, 2011)

I tried the collar last night, much much better! Thanks for the advice. Not sure how to keep the 4 month old from climbing up on the tarp (playing with it) and the adult guy is afraid of it. He's packed before but from the looks of it maybe never experienced a tarp. I think with enough exposure he'll get used to it. I may have to bring extra rope and put the tarp up high, if I can that is depending on trees (not the lean-to way off the high line) in the future if it looks like it may rain. They're both very good otherwise at being highlined and just bedding down for the night.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

You can run an extra line just above the highline rope and then put the tarp over that, so you can suspend both sides of the tarp up in the air, if you have the right set up for trees. THis makes it less likely to get played with. Also, after they have to stay out in a few rain storms they get less likely to mess with the tarp as they start figuring out what it's for.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

Saltlick, you could try putting a swivel snap on the other end of the rope where it hooks to the high line. I've done this before with horses who liked to twirl around a lot. Sometimes one swivel snap where it hooks to the collar just isn't enough for one that is determined to mess with the rope. 

And you're right about goats being smart about twisted ropes! I've found that Cuzco has rarely tangled himself so badly he can't untwist himself. He'll look at me like he needs me to rescue him, but if I leave him alone he figures it out eventually. For four years, Cuzco lived on a 30' - 60' chain 24/7, and sometimes he would wrap himself around the telephone pole or the yucca plants, but he would usually figure out how to undo the mess he'd gotten into (and a goat can make a LOT of mess out of a 60' chain, a telephone pole, and a few bushes!). It was amazing to watch him, when he found himself running out of chain, to go back and retrace his steps, twirl the opposite way around the telephone pole exactly as many times as he'd done it the first time, back around the yucca plant, and around the electric meter. It was only when a stray branch caught the chain and kept it from feeding back around the way it came that he would get confused and need help.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

The other day Pig and Mikey were facing off with a fence between them. Pig was low lined. Mikey walked him back and forth while Pig's line was getting tangled inextricably from a branch from which they were snacking. Watching them I was sure Mikey was intentionally getting Pig tangled.
He would walk him just far enough in each direction for the lead to hook over or under the branch.


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## Saltlick (Jun 12, 2011)

I do use a swivel on the high line end too, it works great. I just spent a week camping and hiking with them, and ever since I started tying him by the collar (and not the halter) he rarely gets tangled. They did great on the whole trip, other than being overly co-dependent and crying every time I walked away from them for the bushes to take a pee! lol~


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