Hill billy capers

[Outlaw Yogi]

This is Ratchet. I was going to call him Victa, 'coz he's my latest 2nd hand cloven hoof 4 stomach lawn mower, but at 3 years old he already has a name. Which I suspect is due to being able to catch his chain on something every 10 minutes or so.

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As it turns out, he's more of a weed whacker than a lawn mower, but he should save me some money on glycosphate/weed killer anyway.

Mar17#15@25%.jpg

[Neferti]

What's with the chain?

[Outlaw Yogi]

Goats are notorious escape artists and my fences are inadequate.
The 2m/6ft long chain is on a high tensile wire about 30m/100ft long, staked to the ground with 5 large tent pegs at either end, tied off on large trees, and log butts with the wire through centre holes to prevent him pulling the pegs out of the ground and rapping the chain around trees.

[Neferti]

Goats are notorious escape artists and my fences are inadequate.
The 2m/6ft long chain is on a high tensile wire about 30m/100ft long, staked to the ground with 5 large tent pegs at either end, tied off on large trees, and log butts with the wire through centre holes to prevent him pulling the pegs out of the ground and rapping the chain around trees.

Ah. OK. So why/how have you acquired "him"? I know nothing about goats. Can they be tamed?

[skippy]

Goats are notorious escape artists and my fences are inadequate.
The 2m/6ft long chain is on a high tensile wire about 30m/100ft long, staked to the ground with 5 large tent pegs at either end, tied off on large trees, and log butts with the wire through centre holes to prevent him pulling the pegs out of the ground and rapping the chain around trees.

Ah. OK. So why/how have you acquired "him"? I know nothing about goats. Can they be tamed?

Females can definitely be tamed but males are a different story,unless they have had their nuts removed.
I've had lots of great females that are like pets but the Billys are a different story.
They are really strong if they are large and I've had ones that are much larger than that photo.
I was looking after a couple of Billy's for a mate that was working in the mines in Qld and we used to tether them.
I used to move them regularly and one time I got my foot tangled in the chain when I was moving one after it bolted and dragged me along behind it water ski style.
I nearly broke my foot as it got stuck under me.
But the funniest time with that goat was when I had a tradesman here doing some work for me and I was talking to him at his ute.
We were both leaning on his ute and he looked down at his leg and it was getting wet, we looked over at horny, the goat, and it was pissing on him.
That goat was huge and he was a filthy bastard. He used to love to drink his own piss.

[Bobby]

You need to put many swivels on his chain as it will get twisted.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Goats are notorious escape artists and my fences are inadequate.

Would a goat wander off completely? I knew a man who had a herd of goats and once I was on his property alone during the winter where a summer camp for children was located. I kept hearing a goat cry, in fact, it went on for hours so I finally made my way in the direction of the noise and what had happened was that the billy goat ran into a soccer goal net and got completely tangled up and couldn't escape and the entire herd was standing there watching him struggle and wouldn't leave him. I took out a knife and cut him free, which was a task in itself because the goat was thrashing around, and once he was free he ran off and the herd followed him.


Some time later a man with a trailer came by with a sweet offer to buy the entire herd. My friend almost said "yes" but first asked him what he was going to do with a herd of goats. The answer was he was taking them to south Florida where members of the Santeria religion would sacrifice them. He said "no" to that offer.

[Neferti]

I remember in Sydney we had a Coko vine/tree. I hate the tasteless things and wondered what to do with them and a neighbour told me to feed them to the goat on the vacant land down the street. Goats will eat anything, apparently .... and the Billy goats stink!

Coko.jpeg

[AiA in Atlanta]

Goats are hired out here to clear out kudzu, that pernicious Japanese vine that somebody brought over in the late 19th century.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Ah. OK. So why/how have you acquired "him"? I know nothing about goats. Can they be tamed?

I bought him as a would be lawn mower (line in previous post was supposed to go > "cloven hoof series 4 stomach lawn mower") for $50 off a neighbour who breeds goats. AFAIK captive bred goats are reasonably tame, but want to be wild.

Females can definitely be tamed but males are a different story,unless they have had their nuts removed.
I've had lots of great females that are like pets but the Billys are a different story.
They are really strong if they are large and I've had ones that are much larger than that photo.
I was looking after a couple of Billy's for a mate that was working in the mines in Qld and we used to tether them.
I used to move them regularly and one time I got my foot tangled in the chain when I was moving one after it bolted and dragged me along behind it water ski style.
I nearly broke my foot as it got stuck under me.
But the funniest time with that goat was when I had a tradesman here doing some work for me and I was talking to him at his ute.
We were both leaning on his ute and he looked down at his leg and it was getting wet, we looked over at horny, the goat, and it was pissing on him.
That goat was huge and he was a filthy bastard. He used to love to drink his own piss.

Ratchet's about 45kg and reasonably strong. When moving him to a new spot I stand on the chain, initially fasten with a sprung clip so he can't bolt while I do the D shackle up, and he tries to take off nearly every time.
AFAIK it's normal for billies to piss on them selves like cats and foxes during mating season, but I'm of the impression that any animal that drinks its own urine is sick. .... theory behind 'Urine therapy' is that when sick your body makes its own medicine, which is in the urine, and animals retain the self healing instink.