Gabby
Chillin' with the herd
I just joined this site yesterday and have a herd-related emergency today, what luck!
One of my best friends is an elderly man who lives on a farm with hogs, turkeys, chickens, and goats. He's currently in the hospital and has been for over two weeks now, and I assumed someone was taking care of his house. I drove out to see if I could find anyone to ask about how he's doing, but when I got there, his animals were everywhere! His turkeys and chickens are out of their building and running amok, his pigs are nowhere to be seen, his dog's running free, and most importantly, his goats are running around in a herd in the neighbor's field!
I'm not going to try looking for the hogs just yet and I think I can catch the feathery pets on my own, but my major concern is the goats. They're not very well socialized since he's the only one to ever spend time with them (I've actually never been around his animals before!) so I can't get them to come to me! I spent 20 minutes following them around the field calling them and trying to treat them like they were dogs, but that obviously did not work! Does anyone have any ideas? Is it possible to round them back up and herd them into the barn, or do I have to accept Mr. Bob's goats are gone for good? It's worth noting he has a great Pyrenees that followed me around and watched the goats, but was no help when it came to catching them. I'm open to carrying around food, ringing a bell, anything at all that you think would work! I've never worked with goats in my life so this is a first for me.
One of my best friends is an elderly man who lives on a farm with hogs, turkeys, chickens, and goats. He's currently in the hospital and has been for over two weeks now, and I assumed someone was taking care of his house. I drove out to see if I could find anyone to ask about how he's doing, but when I got there, his animals were everywhere! His turkeys and chickens are out of their building and running amok, his pigs are nowhere to be seen, his dog's running free, and most importantly, his goats are running around in a herd in the neighbor's field!
I'm not going to try looking for the hogs just yet and I think I can catch the feathery pets on my own, but my major concern is the goats. They're not very well socialized since he's the only one to ever spend time with them (I've actually never been around his animals before!) so I can't get them to come to me! I spent 20 minutes following them around the field calling them and trying to treat them like they were dogs, but that obviously did not work! Does anyone have any ideas? Is it possible to round them back up and herd them into the barn, or do I have to accept Mr. Bob's goats are gone for good? It's worth noting he has a great Pyrenees that followed me around and watched the goats, but was no help when it came to catching them. I'm open to carrying around food, ringing a bell, anything at all that you think would work! I've never worked with goats in my life so this is a first for me.