# Do you lock your goats up at night?



## ollie_and_rosie (Aug 21, 2014)

Ever since we got our goats, we've locked them up at night to keep predators out, but for the past 3 nights they have been refusing to go in their house to get locked in. Their house is in a fenced-in yard so there is some protection. It feels really weird not closing their little door, but they have been quite insistent on us leaving it open. What's the consensus here? How do you all close up your sweet little buddies at night?


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## 4seasonsfarm (Jan 22, 2014)

I would consider getting a donkey then you know they have protection I used to leave my goats out but was worried half to death about predators but ever since I got my donkey I have been relieved


Sent from Malory who is awesome!! 14 yo, has goats and a donkey


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I lock my does in, but my bucks have a calf hut for shelter so go in and out as they please.. They also have 6ft fencing. 
I know plenty of people who have run ins for their goats


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

ollie_and_rosie said:


> Ever since we got our goats, we've locked them up at night to keep predators out, but for the past 3 nights they have been refusing to go in their house to get locked in. Their house is in a fenced-in yard so there is some protection. It feels really weird not closing their little door, but they have been quite insistent on us leaving it open. What's the consensus here? How do you all close up your sweet little buddies at night?


 How high is the fence? And what does it consist of? If there are coyotes stray dogs or big cats they can jump it easily.
We have a pair of LGDs.


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## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

I lock mine up, even though there are very few predators here....I would feel terrible if something happened and I didn't do what I could.

My son does not want to go to bed but I make him too!


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## Goat_in_Himmel (Jun 24, 2013)

I lost too many chickens to predators prior to beefing up the defences, which is bad enough, and I would not be able to sleep, knowing that I had not done my best to also protect the goats. So I lock 'em up for the night--goats, chooks, and dogs.


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## GreenMountainNigerians (Jul 3, 2013)

I lock my bucks and does up every night. And if we are not going to be home. We have electric netting but also live in timbered property with coyotes,cougar and bear. Bobcat too,I guess. I feed them their grain when I put them to bed and they gladly go in at night. 


Sent from my iPad using Goat Forum


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

GreenMountain has the right idea, give them their grain in the barn & shut the door, problem solved.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I don't lock mine in a shelter but I do let them out during the day then in their pen at night. Here the coyotes don't like anything that looks like a trap so will not go over or threw the fence......but that's here 
Mine were really stubborn at going in at night and I started to do the grain in the pen (your case house) when it was time to get locked up and it never failed. If you are graining the goats during the day change it to night. If your not wanting to grain them then all they need is enough to con them into going in.


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## Buckleberry Woods Farm (Dec 20, 2013)

Food is a great motivator for goats. Mine go in willingly because they know there is hay in there. Usually when I go to put them in they are lined up at the door waiting for me to open it. We have cougars and bears around here. The goats also live with two donkeys.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

While we do have feral dogs here and wild pigs, I do not lock up my goats. Nor do I lock up my sheep, chickens, or ducks. The poultry is 100% free range 100% of the time. The goats have shelters in the pasture.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

I do lock my goats in at night. They are used to it now and the goats come to the fence at bedtime as if they are saying...."time for bed, Mom".... it is cute.


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## gwith (Aug 12, 2014)

Mine are in 3-5 acre pastures with a shelter in each of them. I do not put them away at night. I run a donkey with each herd of goats, but a donkey does not always work. Sometimes the donkey would rather just hang out near the fence and watch the other donkey. I use to have two donkeys in the same pen. They would periodically walk to the other end and leave the goats by themselves. If you have a donkey they need think they are one of the goats so they spend all their time with the goats. Recently I caught my best donkey sleeping about 100 yards away from the goats. 

I have 6' chain link exterior fencing and I have lost goats to coyotes with two donkeys in the pen. 

If you get a donkey, DO NOT get an intact male donkey. He will hurt your goats eventually.


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## Capegoat (Feb 3, 2014)

We lock ours in at night, as well as the chickens. The goats are usually pretty good about it. We give them their grain right at dusk, and after that they usually go in the house on their own. We do have a small hay rack in the barn which seems to help encourage them to go in. 

We only had one night so far that we had trouble getting them to go in, they were wild and wanted to play! It was a particularly nice evening and a full moon, so I assume that had something to do with it. Our doe Ebony is particularly lovey and loves her hugs, sometimes we have trouble getting her HEAD to stay in the barn so we can close the door. :laugh:

The chickens always line up and file into their coop at dusk, all on their own!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

We don't lock ours up at night. We have coyotes and the occassional mountain lion and bobcat. Never lost a goat to those yet. Ours are in a bout a 5 acre "pasture" that doesn't keep THEM in let alone anything out. We even had a den of fox living in there until we burned them out (an old silage pit that we had been shoving tree branches into to burn). They don't like being locked up and I can't blame them. If you truly think they need locked up....you can try a little grain to coax them into the barn. Feed their hay in the barn.

We do lock the chickens up for 2 reasons: 1. we have been losing them to something that will come right into the open coop and take them. and 2. So they lay their darn eggs in the coop and it's not an easter egg hunt daily to find eggs. LOL


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## SwissCharms (Apr 9, 2013)

I lock all my outside animals (goats, ducks, and chickens) up at night. I don't think I would have predation issues with the goats, but I have had problems with the birds. Like others have mentioned, I give them some feed at night and their stall is where I keep their water, minerals, and hay. Each goat has a plastic link collar with a breakaway link so when they are being stubborn, I can just grab them and walk them in. If I had a good LGD in their pen, I probably wouldn't lock them up at all.


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## tsmith1499 (Sep 9, 2014)

We just got our goats 3 weeks ago so reading all of this has been very interesting. Right now all we have is a calf hutch for them to go into. But they don't go in it unless it's raining. They sleep side by side outside on a bed of hay. I have 32" cattle panels that a wild dog or coyote could easily get over. I should also say that I have Myotonic "fainting" goats, hence the short fence height. We also don't have any real problems with predators or my neighbor wouldn't have anything in his field. He has about 15 goats and chickens and 3 horses. Everyone around where I live generally let's their goats go in and out as they please. I would prefer some taller fencing, but it was free and for my breed it works.


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## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

With all things like this it is all about finding what works for you and your herd. A lot of that is the environment and what dangers are out there.


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