# How to catch a stray goat?



## delphinium (Feb 4, 2006)

Any suggestions on ways to catch a stray goat? One has been hanging around my yard for a few days, but takes off whenever we get near. She (note the optimism) had been seen in the area for a couple of days before she found my goats, reportedly in the company of a kid. No sign of the kid now, perhaps she thought one of our kids was hers.

Anyway, I called around and no one has reported her missing. She has been close enough to my goats that I would like to know her health status.

Any advice?


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

delphinium said:


> Any suggestions on ways to catch a stray goat? One has been hanging around my yard for a few days, but takes off whenever we get near. She (note the optimism) had been seen in the area for a couple of days before she found my goats, reportedly in the company of a kid. No sign of the kid now, perhaps she thought one of our kids was hers.
> 
> Anyway, I called around and no one has reported her missing. She has been close enough to my goats that I would like to know her health status.
> 
> Any advice?


She'll probably keep hanging around as long as your goats are there. Goats always want to be with other goats. You may want put out feed where she can get to it and find it near a pen that you can herd her into.

Honestly, if she's that wild that you can't get near her, she may be more hassle then she's worth. In our experience, goats that wild are hard to handle and are very good at clearing fences to get away from you.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

If you can build some kind of temporary pen you might be able to bait her into it. Mine would walk over fire to get some corn. 

Where's she getting her water? That might be another bait to try.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

How about a horse and lasso! :hobbyhors:cowboy:


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## delphinium (Feb 4, 2006)

We got her!!

She was beginning to look thin so we started putting out alfalfa pellets, hay, minerals, baking soda and water. She use to come around at 7:00 PM, then started coming an hour earlier each day until she was just here 24/7. Monday night I stacked hay bales just outside my goat pen, Tuesday morning I found her asleep on top of the stack ... sometime during the day she hopped in the pen... the buck pen, not the doe pen! <sigh>
I wanted to catch her before deer season starts here as she is similarly sized and colored.
She is HUGE next to me my nigies - I am pretty sure she is a Toggenburg. Can anyone give me some helpful info about this breed? So far she is quiet, has a great appetite and - now that she is penned - will almost walk up to our outstretched hands.


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

I vote for a well trained Border Collie.


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## picklespickles (Nov 3, 2007)

wow. i love that she slept on top of the bales and then that she jumped in the cage. lol. animals know where they are loved and well treated.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Congrats on finally getting her! Sounds like she found a good home


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

if she is a Togg then she will be a great milk goat more than likely, take some pics of her and post, 

if she is a Togg then she is a european breed and will be fairly quiet and relaxed, not loud and demanding like Nubians can be, not a bad goat to have really,


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## XCricketX (Jun 7, 2006)

You might want to find out if she belongs to someone as well... I know we had a hard-to-catch goat, a boer... when we first got her, we tried to catch her and she wandered about 1/2 mile away to a neighbors.
If we hadn't of driven around to find her, the neighbor said he was just going to eat her!!! 
O_O

Cricket


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## sungirl (Jan 23, 2008)

Post a picture. Also check her ears for any tattoos. I doubt she has any, but she could have been some ones 4H goat or prize doe who got out!

Patty.


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## delphinium (Feb 4, 2006)

I called the SPCA back in July and again yesterday - no one has reported losing her. Lots of reports of sighting her, running the wrong way down a major highway, cutting through people's gardens, eating their trees and shrubbery, trying to get into pastures with horses. With deer season approaching I was determined to get her to keep her safe - she is the same size and color of our local white tails. With the state of the economy there have been some foreclosures in the area, my neighbor and I were speculating she may have been a victim of something like that, and perhaps the farmer just opened the gate and let them loose. She had been sighted with another goat initially, but no one has seen the other one for weeks.  Or, the meat processor down the road from me might have lost her ... I'm not sure I want to check with them, though.

She is still a bit skittish but is coming a bit closer to us, as soon as she will let me, I'll check for a tattoo. She doesn't have an ear tag nor a collar. She is very quiet (woo hoo) and seems sweet. She appears joyful to be in the company of other goats again, nibbling on ears, and being playful.

We are in for a lot of rain this weekend, at least I won't be worrying about her not having shelter.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

glad you got her! I am always a softie for strays of any kind....

hoping you post a picture of her soon.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

Well, one of my neighbors called me one morning about 2 months ago. He had a stray goat in his yard, and even though I told him it was not one of mine, he pretty much insisted I come and get it. He lives on the hiway and was afraid it'd get hit. So I went over. Couldn't get near it. Told him to call me if he got ahold of it. About 4 hours later, another neighbor called, still worrying over that stray goat, so I went back, this time with my Gidget, and my trailer. After just a bit, Gidget and it got aquainted and they both got in the trailer. 
I posted a sign in the nearest small town diner/convenience store. Everyone knows everyone around here. I used to work there, so all the regulars know me well. Two days later I got a call, claiming the goat and asked where I live. Then she said they'd call back before they came over. 
I still have the goat.

Gidget, by the way, has been cristened the "Judas Goat" by my uncle. I had his animals here due to worries about the flood very close to him. When it was time to go home, Gidget got most of them to load right up!


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## delphinium (Feb 4, 2006)

"She" turns out to be a wether. Must have been wethered really young because he doesn't have many very bucky features ... except for the obvious ornament on his belly. So now I think he must be an escapee from the slaughter house down the road. Still haven't gotten close enough to see a tattoo.

I am hoping he will turn out to be a good brush goat and companion for my two bucks ... they seem to like him and his greater size seems to make up for his lack of testosterone.


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## DixyDoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

> She appears joyful to be in the company of other goats again, nibbling on ears, and being playful.


Did I read that correctly, that you are keeping him in with your other goats? This is just me, I'm probably being too cautious, but since you don't know the goat's history, I wouldn't be just putting him in with my other goats like that. He may be carrying something contagious, like CL, or have lice or worms. I would put him in a separate pen for a couple of weeks. You could infect your entire herd with something if you don't.


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## delphinium (Feb 4, 2006)

Thank you for your concern. Yes, I am fully aware of that; he has been in the vicinity for about 6 or 7 weeks now, closer to my goats than I would have preferred, sleeping up against the fence of their pen, side by side with just the wire separating him from the rest ... seemed a moot point, any potential harm already done.

In the nearly two months we have been watching him he has been very robust, alert, clear eyed, no sign of lumps or bumps, healthy appetite, inquisitive, knees are not swollen, walks normally, hooves (from a short distance) look good, etc.

There are very few goats in my area, sheep are a considerable distance away and my goats are a variety of rescues. No papers, no champions, just much loved companions.

If you read my first post you would know that health status was my primary concern. My concern of late, after the obvious exposure to my goats, was to prevent him becoming road pizza, or a hunter's mistaken kill.


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