# Night time protection



## goatshows (Oct 5, 2007)

Hi all, 
I want to make sure my goats are safe at night when I move them home. I don't have an Livestock gardian dog and I want to protect my goats from dogs and other predators at night. I want to lock the up in the barn so I know that they are safe but I am also terrified of a barn fire. What are your night time pens? I live next to conservation land and people walk there dogs there at all times of the night. What are your thoughts and Ideas??


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I'd try to find the electrical source of the barn and turn the power off...then ...put them in there..... if you have nothing else.....to protect them....

If you feel you cannot trust the wiring... and if you aren't sure how to do that...get a electrician...to cut it off for you....


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## goatshows (Oct 5, 2007)

My barn dosent have power at the moment we are just building it and haven't but power down there. But it is in the middle of a field so I am worried about a lightning strike.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I seem to remember my dad installing some kind of metal post or something around his barn at a farm he once owned, and asked him why and he said it would help deter lightning strikes....I bet some info could be dug up on google...

We don't have power in our barn either, as it's small, we have one of the big lights the power company installed next to our house that shines the front of the barn area at night. I am comfortable not having power there, but if your barn is in the middle of a field, it's not like you can just run an extension chord.... so IMO once power is installed, just keep it off unless you really need to have it on. 

Good Luck!


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## kikocross (Apr 3, 2011)

Is there a reason u dont or cant have a LGD?.I have a solar fence charger around my pasture but theres no way i would own goats with out a dog.I have a male and female and seperate them at will as i wean or seperate goat and there only six months old,guy behind me sees coyotes all the time behind my house but no problems with them.My dogs sit out in the middle of pasture around dark and bark for about 30 min every night.look into a solar charger if u go with the fence idea.good luck.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

When you do instal power to the barn have a shut off switch installed so you can just flip it all off at the source when not in use. 

My house has those lightning rods on it. Maybe look into getting those for it. 

I agree that you need to do something for their safety at night especially if you live by conservation land.


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## goatshows (Oct 5, 2007)

I would like a dog but I think they would bark constantly because of people next door playing soccer and walking dogs. I live close to neighbors and one dosent seam to like goats. Dose anyone else lock there goats up at night????


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## Burns Branch Boers (Apr 11, 2011)

We have a paddock (a fenced enclosure) that encircles one side of our barn. I leave 2 of the stall doors open so the goats can go in the stalls if they choose, but they always sleep in the paddocks. 

We make our paddock area like the "living room" for the goats. We visit the goats there--we have their feeder there. The paddocks are where we interact with them and they know the routine so they always come willingly into the paddock. 

At night they come from the pasture up to the paddock and we do evening feed. I close and lock the gate so they can not go back into the pasture. In the morning I feed them and then open the gate so they can go into the pasture if they like. 

If you build a paddock to keep them in at night, I think that is a good idea. However, I have an LGD that still protects them (before getting our pyrenees I still worried about predators getting under or over the paddock fence). But there are other things you can do----be sure to line the bottom of the fence w/rocks and straw packed tightly (this will deter predators from digging in and goats from getting out  ) Also you could line the top of the paddock fence with a strip of hot wire to keep predators from climbing over. 

This should help! :greengrin:


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## goatshows (Oct 5, 2007)

i would love to build a small pen outside of the barn that is even covered on the top to keep them in at night just havent fully come up with the plan


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## Chantilly871 (Apr 26, 2011)

I was thinking about getting some of these....nitegaurd.com.....they are inexpensive plus my fence is high....I am also working on converting part of my garage into stalls so I have a barn to lock them up at night. I am more worried about predators in the winter as right now the wildlife has lots to eat out in the woods. Most homes do have grounding rods at the electrical boxes to ward off lightning strikes....I am kind of new to goatkeeping myself...hope this helps a little!


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## LaZyAcres (Aug 25, 2010)

I lock my goats up every night in the winter, due mostly to my fear of hungrier coyotes then and in part due to the weather. During spring/summer/fall, I don't since there are a ton of domestic dogs between my place and my two boardering neighbors. But coyotes are brave and make me nervous so I might check out the nite-guard too.


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## KaleysDream (Aug 30, 2011)

If you worry about the LGDs you can try a LLama or a donkey(s). There are LLama rescues that may have guardian llamas. Llamas should protect against predator and humans. Donkeys should protect against predators. Just make sure they are good around the goats before you leave them alone. Most donkeys HATE dogs and some can confuse goats for dogs. Only issues with a donkey vs llama is donkeys shouldn't eat goat feed. Hope this helps.


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