# Goats and water



## Rod Meyer (Jun 1, 2009)

I'm turning into a crazy goat guy. Just got into these dang buggers about two months ago. First I bought a two week old baby Alpine, bottle feeding, lots of fun. Then I got a three month old Lamancha. Two weeks latter I got a three month old French Alpine. And last but not least I'm sure, is a three month old 1/2 Lamancha 3/8 Saanan and 1/8 alpine. She is going to be a big doe! My plan is to breed up to someones big buck, maybe Caroline's.

Now to my question,
I've read tons on pack goats the last two months and all the dairy goats except maybe the nubian sound good for pack goats. So I'm not planing on getting a nubian but I do like the looks of the Oberhasli and what they say about them. People say they like water better than the other breeds. Is this true or not so? I've been taking my goats on walks around my place every day. We have little creeks they cross no problem. Its only knee deep though. So no swiming yet.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Hi Rod, I've heard the same thing but in reality I've never seen much difference between breeds on the water issue. Seems to depend more on the individual goat. Some don't mind it and some hate it. All of them eventually learn to cross with a little trail experience. Sounds like yours are already old pros!


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## Rod Meyer (Jun 1, 2009)

I don't know about old pros, they just don't want to be left behind.

I started all my horses as babies too. Seems to work good. Lead them on walks over logs, mud, creeks, snow. By the time I'm ready to ride them no worries. Well ok, not all no worries. There still horses.

I got two of my brothers into pack goats too! Younger bro has four and my older bro is on his way!

Eagle Cap Wilderness elk hunts hear we come!!


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## clint (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi Rod,
I'm new to goats also. I started with two alpines,an ober, and a half alpine/half togg about 3 months ago(all were newborns).
My ober is very noticeably more tolerant of water than the other three. Both following me into or across water(his feet and belly) and also being dripped on(like rain or water off the roof of the house.
One time they got loose in my wifes flower bed and the quickest way I could see to get all four out was too squirt the hose at them. The ober was the last one to leave and it took a pretty good blast of water to change his mind about eating the flowers.

I'm a believer.


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

Hi Rod. Welcome to the crazy goat guy forum. I have an Oberhasli, and Ober X Saanen, and a Saanen. None of them "LIKE" water. They will cross it ok, just to keep up with me, but they prefer to avoid it. Here's my Oberhasli, Moose, risking his life to jump over the water, rather than wade thru it.


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## Sbell (Dec 13, 2008)

jross said:


> Hi Rod. Welcome to the crazy goat guy forum. I have an Oberhasli, and Ober X Saanen, and a Saanen. None of them "LIKE" water. They will cross it ok, just to keep up with me, but they prefer to avoid it. Here's my Oberhasli, Moose, risking his life to jump over the water, rather than wade thru it.


 Thats a good pic, I have an Ober named "moose" also


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## Rod Meyer (Jun 1, 2009)

jrose, that is a cool picture!

Goats not liking the water thing. We have a few bunnies in the barn and our goats love to jump up and eat there food. I tried spraying water on them no good, so I took the one gallon water jug and just started dumping water on the 1/2 saanan and 1/2 lamancha's head. The darn thing just stood there eating the rabbit food until I dump the whole jug on its head. I yelled at it and it jumped down.

Next time I guess I'll have to use the fire hose or the pressure washer.


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

My best water crossing goats tend to be the does. And either saanen or alpine/saanen cross. Go figure.


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## ashkelon (Jul 25, 2009)

I have the 8 mo Saanen out with me while I'm hand-walking the 4 yo QH I'm starting. I believe in a lot of trail walking with my young horses, it gives them a lot of time to experience things and think them through without the pressure of me on their backs as well.

Gunnar, the QH, thinks he's an old pro, and loves "real" water, but a puddle sets him snorting. Carbra followed willingly until we got to the creek yesterday. It is chest deep on him in the middle, and pretty cold, but still. Gunnar splashed through. Cabra ran the bank, calling in his sweet voice.

I coaxed for awhile, and then decided to walk on. Cabra took a tremendous leap from bank to bank, and made it quite neatly.

Will he eventually learn the water is not evil? I don't want him to get hurt (or much less dump my goods) by trying to cross like "super goat". 

I'm planning a hike with just me and him that involves crossing many small, quiet streams. I'm hoping that familiarity and a lot of praise, and smaller challenges, will help.

He was very cocky and proud of himself after crossing both times. I praised his courage to the skies. He is such a bright, happy soul.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Younger inexperienced goats will almost always jump the water if they can. Older experienced goats carrying weight will simply wade across. Its all in the trail experience. I've found that wide shallow streams are best for teaching creek crossings. The goat can't jump over and its shallow enough to help them build confidence when they walk across. Deep water is much more frightening for a novice goat.


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## ashkelon (Jul 25, 2009)

I took him on a hike that involved about 14 water crossings.

The way I handle horses is to bring them to the water and then if they won't cross, we wait. I bring a book. We won't go back, or in circles, we wait. Eventually they decide that boredom is the better part of valor and will cross.

I did choose the kind of crossings you've recommended. They were all slow to moderately fast, level and not much more than ankle deep on me. They are all pretty warm by this time of year, but they felt good to me.

Cabra balked the first two pretty bad. They were 15' wide, and there was no incline or valley to make him feel easy about "flying" over. We waited. I crossed with the long line. We waited. I chased away dogs. We waited.

Finally he crossed, like it was all his idea.

After that, there was just a little stop for inspection, to see if he could get around them, and he would come through. There were a couple places where he could hop from stone to stone, and he was pretty smug about it.

The home stream has gone down, and he's crossing it oK without a fuss now.

I hope everything is as easy as this. He's such a smart, willing, little beast.


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