A Goat Fiasco

Last weekend, we sold our giant oak media unit that came with our house, on Craigslist. A woman and her husband came to pick up the unit and Steve offered to help load the unit and also suggested that we follow them back to their house to help unload it. So, I drove with the woman in her truck and Steve and the husband followed. The woman asked if we had any pets and I told her that we're looking into getting some goats. She burst out, "we have 11 goats!!!! I love goats!" and the rest of the drive was all goat-talk. Which was great! So we get to their house and the woman tells me I can go ahead and check out their barn and goats (and llama and dogs, and cats, and chickens, and rabbits, and horses!!) while they unload the unit.

I frollicked over to the barn and went to the stall where the llama and goats were. I wanted go inside the goat pen to play with the goats but to do that, I had to open the stall gate, and get by the llama. So I tried opening the gate and the llama came right up to my face. This startled me so I shut the gate and went around the barn looking for another entrance to the goat pen. While I was looking around the barn, the stall gate opens and out run two large goats!!!! I ran over and shut the gate so that no other animals could escape. Apparently, I hadn't locked the gate completely! Not only have the goats ran out of their stall, now they run out of the barn and start munching on a tree!! I was panicking now. What do I do? How do I get these goats back in the barn, and in their stall? What if the woman comes in here and finds her goats loose?! What if they escape the yard and run away?? How do I get them to stop chomping on this tree!? So I pulled at their collars and tried to get them back in the barn and surprisingly it worked! I closed the barn door this time so they couldn't get out again. I tried luring them back to the stall door and opened it up to get them to run back through. They wanted nothing to do with that goat pen, and all of the other goats wanted nothing more than to come out of the goat pen! So of course, just my luck, another little goat squeezes by me and now I am dealing with three loose goats!

Now that I know I cannot open the stall door or else the other goats will escape, I try the stall next door, thinking they all connect outside. I open the stall, and all of the goats run in! YAY! I did it! They're safe! So as I'm calming down, the goats start freaking out and jumping up on the stall door that I just put them in. Finally, I realize that the stall areas don't connect outside, so they still can't get back to the goat pen. I think I put them into the horses pen!! So, I let them back out into the barn and try to figure out another approach to getting them back into their stall. These goats are TOUGH! I cannot move them, I cannot drag them, I cannot push them. They are like 500 pound solid bricks! And while I'm pushing and nudging and yanking, they're in heaven running all around the barn eating everything in site.

I decide to focus on the little goat. I get him to come close to the stall gate and open it up a crack and stand inside the opening. I grab his collar and with all of my might, nudge him through the opening, while at the same time trying to stand in the way of the other goats wanting to come out!! But, the little goat wiggled through and I shut the gate quickly behind me and no other goats escaped!!

The other two goats were still looking for food and trying to find a way out of the barn. I noticed they were eating hay out of a bucket, so I grabbed the bucket and brought it near the stall. They followed! Then, I cracked open the stall door, and with their noses completely inside the bucket they started coming through the gate, but as soon as they touched one foot into the stall, they ignored the food and ran back into the barn. GRR!!! I tried this several times, and it never worked. Just as I was looking for another lure, Steve and the woman come walking into the barn! I shriek, "the goats got out!!!!" By this time I am completely sweaty, panicked, and horrified that I have been caught in this stranger's barn, letting her goats out!!

The woman laughed when she saw the goats wandering around the barn but she said it was OK. Thank God! I asked her, "how on earth do you get these goats to go anywhere?" She said, "its quite a challenge!! I have to hook a rope up to them and pull them in!"

After that fiasco, we managed to get into the goat pen and play with the goats. They were so cute and loved to be pet! They had a little black pygmy goat that was my favorite. And apparently the llama is their keeper! How cool!

We left the barn and thanked her for showing us her animals. I never thought a Craigslist sale would turn into such an adventure!