Head stuck in fence!!

[Vonny]

Fran gets her head stuck in the fence constantly!! All our fencing is new and we can’t afford to supplement with electric fencing or chicken wire .. we have tried removing all vegetation within reach on the other side of the fence but she just keeps doing it! We sometimes have to get her head out of the fence a dozen times a day!! Yesterday we tried to attach poly pipe across under her horns but she had it off within the hour!! Help!! Her previous owners shaved her horns so they are just the right size to squeeze through the fence with some effort on her part but impossible for her to get herself out!!

 

[Mini Horses]

How did you attach the pipe? Lotta duck tape helps. The field fence you have is a problem with the top openings, as you see. BTDT appreciate the problem.

 

[Vonny]

How did you attach the pipe? Lotta duck tape helps. The field fence you have is a problem with the top openings, as you see. BTDT appreciate the problem.

Hello and thanks for your reply!! We attached with a cross cross of cable ties on both sides. We had thought of duck tape but had read that goats use their horns for heat exchange and here in the tropics we have very hot summers so went with the cable ties.

She is very small and so far she is always stuck in the three lowest rows of the fence (second from bottom is usual one). This photo is just after her first attempt to dislodge it!

 

[Vonny]

Hello and thanks for your reply!! We attached with a cross cross of cable ties on both sides. We had thought of duck tape but had read that goats use their horns for heat exchange and here in the tropics we have very hot summers so went with the cable ties.

She is very small and so far she is always stuck in the three lowest rows of the fence (second from bottom is usual one). This photo is just after her first attempt to dislodge it!

View attachment 93486

Although I see on the photo I posted she was 4th from bottom row!!! 😂.. she is usually kneeling when we find her!

 

[Baymule]

Yokes I have seen are in a v shape, a cross bar in front of and behind the horns, then side bars that form a V, they over lap and hang down a little.

 

[farmerjan]

My friends had over 100 nannies at one time and I used to take care of them when they went away. They used a stick 3/4 of the way to the end of the horn away from their head... DUCT TAPED......as @Mini Horses said... LOTS of duct tape. They called them stick heads and the sticks would stay for days or more.
I just realized you are going into summer as opposed to us... but I still think it is worth the duct tape... she will get just as hot standing out there for an hour when she gets stuck before you might get to her, so the duct tape on the horns should not be a big deal. I'd rather that, and she can still get to water if she is not stuck... so the heat exchange in the horns should not be a big deal....

 

[farmerjan]

Make the stick longer than the pipe you were using so there is no way she can turn her head and get it through... she has a narrow face so I would put it closer to her head than the ends of the horns but you can experiment and see what might work. And if I remember they put it on the top of the horns so it hit resistance when their goats tried to put their heads through.....It will "hit" much sooner than when it is on the underside of her horns.
They can be persistent pains in the butt !!!!!

 

[Vonny]

Yokes I have seen are in a v shape, a cross bar in front of and behind the horns, then side bars that form a V, they over lap and hang down a little.

Trying to picture the V! do you mean with V hanging down under their neck?

 

[Vonny]

My friends had over 100 nannies at one time and I used to take care of them when they went away. They used a stick 3/4 of the way to the end of the horn away from their head... DUCT TAPED......as @Mini Horses said... LOTS of duct tape. They called them stick heads and the sticks would stay for days or more.
I just realized you are going into summer as opposed to us... but I still think it is worth the duct tape... she will get just as hot standing out there for an hour when she gets stuck before you might get to her, so the duct tape on the horns should not be a big deal. I'd rather that, and she can still get to water if she is not stuck... so the heat exchange in the horns should not be a big deal....

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense re heat exchange i.e. that she will ultimately be better if she can get to water or shade rather than being stuck in the fence! I think it is definitely worth a try. That's the brilliant thing about these forums .. you are not only getting theory but the practicalities of trying to apply them.

 

[Vonny]

Make the stick longer than the pipe you were using so there is no way she can turn her head and get it through... she has a narrow face so I would put it closer to her head than the ends of the horns but you can experiment and see what might work. And if I remember they put it on the top of the horns so it hit resistance when their goats tried to put their heads through.....It will "hit" much sooner than when it is on the underside of her horns.
They can be persistent pains in the butt !!!!!

Again, that makes perfect sense. As you can see we went low near her head but on the underside. And yes ... VERY persistent pains in the butt!!! lol

She is also a bully with the other animals so we were trying to make her look a little less scary to them by putting underside but that doesn't help if it doesn't work!

We bought 2 x wethers in April to keep our lovely doe company but when we picked them up they threw in mum for free (Fran)!!!! She is a very troublesome goat and I have no doubt the sellers spotted newbie goat parents and thought 'come in you galah' (Australian slang for fool!!!)