My Sky Color

A forty something Dad, Husband, Engineer guy living in Western Oregon. Reflections on all things in life. A few technical things and whatever else comes along.

Monday, January 30, 2006

The Miracle of Electricity
and Training Your Goat
The big goat, Spike, is the leader of the herd. He pushes around the little goats and jumps the fence and visits the neighbors when he gets irritated. With the bully thing he gets the best food by chasing off the little guys. About 6 week ago he figured out that the rabbits had some good victuals. He figured out he could put his front feet up on the barn wall and thrash the rabbit cages to get some grain pellets. Today the carnage to the rabbit cages is major. I tried to take the teaching approach by telling him NO!, catching him doing it, locking him out of the barn, punching and kicking the s**t out of him to no avail. You can see the calm approach escalated into a brawl.
So I put up electric fence. I established a perimeter with posts and strung 3 electrified wires up high. I tried to keep it so the little goats won't get zapped because they can't reach the cages. The fence charger I have is an antique that I have been hauling around since we bought our first house. In the process of getting everything all setup I found a service date in the 1950's on the inside of the charger. I'm thinking this one has a bite!
The boys wanted to see him get zapped so we hid for a bit but didn't get to see the fireworks. My wife reports that the rabbits have food this morning and Spike is giving the rabbits a wide berth. It feels good to win. It is frustrating that the teaching method didn't work. Maybe not... DMP

1 Comments:

At 8:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You cannot use logic on a goat, (or young humans for that matter!). You did use the teaching method - swift punishment for bad behavior. Remember, this is a goat! Sounds like there is never a dull moment out in the barn.

 

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