@Faye Fox -- I just think Rusty is a cutie; I hadn't given any thought to actually owning him. My grandpa had a small herd of goats on the farm when I was a "kid" ; I don't recall any horrible smells but considering the chicken yard and pig pen who's to say?
My thoughts exactly ! ! One of those things that you will regret doing and can’t be “unsmelled “ after you do it, @Nancy Hart . As Faye says, they smell year around because they always have the dirty habits, but during the breeding season, they also emit a smell from glands on their forehead, which they will happily rub up against any nearby people or goats. The smell is almost impossible to get off, so you have to shower and wash your clothes, and hope for the best. If you can get Rusty into a small space, he should be easy to catch, since goats are such gobblers anyway. What I used to do is get a very small colt halter (you can also get a special goat halter), and then they are MUCH easier to lead around than with just a collar. Good sharp needle nose pliers work great for trimming hooves if you don’t want to use a regular hoof knife.
This is how Rusty's rear hooves are wearing now. They are black and hard as rock when dry. The bottom needs to be straight across, parallel to the hair line. I rigged up a contraption to hold a belt sander upside down on the floor just to flatten hooves, and it would work well for this on MOST goats, but Rusty just jerks his leg continuously. I doubt I'm strong enough to hold his foot against the sander. Yvonne, your (sharp?) needle nose pliers is an interesting idea. Not sure how it would work. . Somewhere in the house are my father's old end-cutting pliers. Like a small version of those nippers they use on horse hooves. Maybe I can sharpen those and nibble around the front edge of the hooves for a first round... IF I can find them. The goat barn has a feeder right in the middle so you can go 'round and 'round chasing a goat inside. I have a 4' high partition I can put up to stop that. Will he try to jump over it? All I know is you'd think I was trying to kill him the way he acts. If I imagine all the things that could possibly go wrong, and put in a lot of extra work beforehand to prevent them, things will go smoothly (yeah, right ). If nothing changes, this is all going down on Monday.
If you go out there with a container of grain, doesn’t he run right up to you , @Nancy Hart ? I enjoyed the video of Rusty eating the cookies, so I don’t see why he would be hard to catch. If you bring a coffee can with grain, and have a lead rope slung over your shoulder, then just grab Rusty around the neck when he shoves his head in the grain can. You should be able to hold him while you get the rope (or dog collar) around his neck. Once you have that done, take a loop of the rope and put it over his nose, making a makeshift halter to lead him with. He will fuss if he has never been lead this way before, but you will have much better control of him. If all else fails, grab him by the ear. It sounds awful, but works great, and they will stop pulling once they see you intend to lead them somewhere. Once you have a good halter on him, tie Rusty so that his head is held up at a high angle and next to a wall. Then lean on him so he is being held between you and the wall while you pick up the hind leg and trim his hoof. He will be a little off-balance, and it will be harder for him to argue about being trimmed. If you can tie him someplace muddy for an hour, that should soften up his hooves, and then just rinse it off when you are ready to trim him.
@Nancy Hart Have you ever tried a horse hoof rasp? This is what I use to use. If too bad, use a knife to remove excess, then rasp to shape. How about a rock pile? Goats love to play king of the mountain and it keeps their hooves trim. I still have my old rasp and use it for wood working.
Nope. I know wonderful goats like you describe exist. Twelve of our 14 were like that, but not Rusty and his sister. Nothing ever worked to bribe them to come within reach. Notice the wire gate between me and him in the video. He knows I'd have to open the gate first to catch him. The only thing that works is to conceal a short rope with a slip knot and try to sneak it over his head while he's not looking. That's where the second person comes in---to act as a distraction while you sneak up behind. If you try this once and fail, he doesn't forget for several months, so you get only one try at it. He's not hard to lead once you get a collar on him compared to some others. He only weighs about 140 lbs. My wrist is not strong enough to hold his leg still with one hand. He kicks and jerks it constantly. I've been able to squeeze his back leg between my knees and hold it more steady sometimes. This is a good idea. Once I get a collar on him. We never kept collars on them because, (1) they would chew them off of each other, and (2) it's a bit dangerous for goats browsing in the woods, reaching up in the trees. Both of those risks are gone now, so I'm leaving a collar on him, if I ever get one on. I can hopefully make a lunge at him and grab the collar as he runs past after that. To say Rusty is difficult, is putting it mildly.
I actually spent a couple of days trying to do that once, without success. That's when I discovered you need a special rope. Maybe I should buy one and try it again.
It would probably work just fine if I could hold his foot still with only one hand. I wouldn't dare get a sharp knife near his foot with all the jerking he does. There would be lots of blood spilled, from both of us.
Another idea...... once you have captured Rusty and have him securely tied somewhere with his head held high enough that he can’t curl and arch his back, then you can probably tie up the leg that you need to work on. With a front leg, this is pretty easy, since you can just double it back and tie something around it; but not so easy with a hind leg. What we did with horses was to take a longer rope, wrap it around their neck, and make a loose knot to hold it there. Next, take the rope and put it around his back leg after you pick up the leg and tie that back to the rope around his chest/neck, so that the rope is holding his foot up as high as you need it to be. Having some kind of a stand would help, but even just tying up the leg should work and he won’t be able to kick like he can when you are just holding the leg. Here is a picture of this being done with a horse, to give you an idea of what I am trying to describe.
Thanks Yvonne. That looks like a great idea! . If he still insists on kicking I will definitely try that. IF I can catch him. If I have to, I'll sit on the floor and work on him. The slant on the rear hooves is starting to make him tuck his rear end under, so it has to be done. On the other hand, it could be he is tucking his rear under for some other reason, and that's making the hooves wear down at the heels. I sort of suspect the latter. He always had bad conformation in the rear, but it never slowed him down before. He will be 16 in March, so it could be he's developing some age related problem, maybe in his back. OTOH it could just be because he's not getting as much exercise as he used to.
If you can put some feed into the goat barn and get Rusty in there, you should be able to catch him. Rather than trying to chase him around and around, put your riding lawn mower or a 4-wheeler in there first, and then lure the goat inside. You can follow him around with the lawn mower, and if you can get him to trot around, it will also wear him out sooner, and eventually, he will get tired of this and stop going around. Then, go up to him with a treat and see if he stands for you to catch him. If he doesn’t stand there, get back on the mower and follow him around again. Be prepared to spend an hour or more doing this, if necessary. Every time he stops, try to walk up to him, and when he turns and runs away, then make him keep moving some more, and eventually, he will stand there and let you walk up to him. As soon as he does that, give him his treat and put on the collar. I have had to do this with horses in the round pen to teach them to stand still and be caught, and it takes a while, but once they get the idea that they either have to keep moving or stop and be caught, and then they get a reward, they will soon get the idea that nothing bad happens when they get caught.
I used to do this to catch his sister, but just walking and walking, never chasing. She was smaller and slower and would give up eventually. Food never worked with either of them. I think they were part cat.
Will report back Monday or Tuesday on how the attempted hoof trimming goes. Meanwhile, taking a break from goat talk... My favorite R.E.M. song. . Everybody Hurts (1992)
I just hate it when the final episode of the week leaves me hanging. Here I am invested in what trials Nancy will face and what trauma Rusty will endure and then ... enough goat talk. Let's listen to music while we wait till Monday to find out if Rusty was tied up so he couldn't kick while he received his needed pedicure or if he just decided to be nice and stand there and enjoy the sound of a belt sander ripping off his overgrown nails. Will Nancy go too far and get into the hurt? In Rusty's defense, he did lose his cajones to either a sharp instrument or maybe a high powered rubber band, but regardless, they are missing and his status led to the does "nannies" impeaching him and sending him to live a life of exile with Nancy where he is rewarded with ginger snaps if his behavior warrants such. So I wait thinking of Rusty with his airplane wing ears, a real cutie, waiting, perking his ears best he can listening for Nancy's footsteps as she approaches carrying a frightening electric tool, one of deafening noise and grinding power. Is this tool better than a sharp knife or a vicious compression band like the one that robbed him of his buckhood? Rusty's mind wanders back to the time his mother was pen confined for soliciting based on her simple statement as she came running frightened out of the brush .... "I'll never do that for two bucks again!!!" Hey wait, it's Monday so more goat talk! I love it!