Goats and Hives

[babathemba]

Does anyone have a hive in goat pasture (as opposed to a goat pen?)  Goats are intelligent creatures, on a par with dogs, and on the one hand they are inquisitive animals and might want to knock them over, but also once they're stung  they will probably keep well away from the hive (like my dog!)

Anyone have any practical experience?
 :roll:

[Mici]

ummm, my mentor has goats and bees and if i remember correctly it wouldn't be a very good idea to keep them together, he says goats get terrified of buzzing, even though it's at least 10m away from them so keeping them enclosed together would be an accident waiting to happen, plus a male goat smells very bad and bees don't like funny odors so this also might be a potential threat

[poka-bee]

The intact males are awful but the "fixed" ones don't smell at all.  I have one of those (Chevvy).  The problem I see is that he loves to riccochet off things, he can jump on the top of a truck, runs & bounces off the side of the barn...he would knock em from here to China & be half way across the pasture before they even knew what hit em. The little poop climbs up trees & over the fence..  They are very nosy so if it got stung before bouncing off the hive it would stay away...they also like to rub their heads on stuff & could knock it over that way.  Not a good mix but it may depend on the individual...mine is the tazmanian devil with ADHD on speed but we love him anyway!

Jody

[Pond Creek Farm]

I have heard more than once here in the Ozarks that a billy goat is a tool of the devil and will tear up anything it can.  Personally, I have no real issues with goats and love how they clear forest.  They  make great cheese too.  That said, bees and goats do not mix.  The goats may be smart, but they have to learn.  To do this, they will tear up a hive or two before they realize that it is not a good idea.  Moreover, it is not as if goats can communincate this knowledge, so each new goat will have to learn the hard way.  I would not want to be the guy who went to open a hive that has been busy schooling an inquisitive goat.

[Jerrymac]

So do electric fences work on goats?

[poka-bee]

Yes, electric fences are a wonderful thing!!  ;)  They learn very quickly though that sometimes it is on, or off.  But it's always fun to bait (put a goodie on the other side within reach) it when you turn it on again :evil:  that's what we do here in Buckley on Sat. nites!! woo hoo!
Jody

[Pond Creek Farm]

I do not know but Isuspect so. A tall enough fence certainly will

[NCflycaster]

Electric fences works good but the way a goat hooves are made alot of times they wont be grounded good when the hit the fence and then it is worthless. The best thing to do is run your fence but leave the bottom strand seperate from the others and hook your ground up to it and then the hot to the other strands. That way if he leans into the fence and touches the bottom strand he will have a good ground for the other strands to knock the well you get the idea.

[Rocketcaver]

If they are anything like the goats we had they will want to stand on top of the hives, probably knock them over trying.
The never really bothered the beehives, other than to jump on top of them.
Of course the bees took a rather dim view of that.
And, like someone else mentioned, our goats learned that sometimes the fence is off, and they were perfectly willing to get shocked just on the off chance that the fence was off.
They also learned that if they dove under the fence at a run they could sometimes get clear without getting shocked.
We eventually just came to accept the fact that some days the goats would be out.
They could usually be found standing on top of the highest thing they could reach or grazing down by the pond.
Ah, those were the days.
Les

[Sean Kelly]

:evil:  that's what we do here in Buckley on Sat. nites!! woo hoo!
Jody

Jody, you're making us Buckley folk seem like real rednecks!  Just because we have one of the biggest loggers rodeo, more feed stores than grocery stores, more gun shops than schools, and the greatest past time is gettin drunk and paintballing dairy cows, doesnt mean we're hicks.

lol

Sean Kelly

[poka-bee]

Ahhhh, I was wondering where Joe Alberts cows got their pretty colors......I counted 8 alleys today! :-D
Jody

[Brian D. Bray]

Ahhhh, I was wondering where Joe Alberts cows got their pretty colors......I counted 8 alleys today! :-D
Jody

I thought cow bumping was your communities favorite pastime.  Only 8 Alleys?  That was as many as there were 30 years ago when George Pechoes was Chief of Police there.  Surely you've added a few more alleys since then, or have ya'll gone suburbian?  Suburbian = culdesacs and windy streets, with houses so close there isn't room for a fence to seperate them.

BTW, having goats (just had a new doeling born last week), they will climb on your hives, stomp on them, fight over them, knock them to smithereens, and each what's inside.  Best to keep a good fence between you goats and your bees.  Besides the smell of the Billy excites the bees to the point of requiring body armor when inspecting.  A good fence is 5-6 feet of (no-climb) hogwire with a strand of barbwire across the top--think of a prison yard--that will hold the critters.  They are very good at finding and making escape holes.

[Dane Bramage]

Goats are a handful eh?  :lol: Anyone have experience with Icelandic sheep?