goat invading our garden

[Suandpete]

We would appreciate some suggestions on how to deter a very determined female adult goat from jumping on to the top of a six foot wall in order to come in to our garden!  our neighbours have a maison secondaire and are absent for about 50 weeks of the year, they have a property of about 2000 sq metres which includes a small house, extensive outbuildings and a small field. There is a goat which has free range of the whole property and appears to be totally unsupervised, the only food is what it can find and it has a paricular fondness for ivy. There is an old stone wall about two feet thick and six feet high between our properties with ivy growing up to the top of the wall from their side.  The goat has been climbing on to the top of the wall via a pile of roof tiles which came to within 18ins of the top of the wall, standing on the top of the wall to eat the ivy and then jumping down into our garden.  So this afternoon we spent an hour or two having climbed illegally into their garden, moving the tiles away from the wall.  As we walked away, convincd that we had resolved the problem, the goat appeared on the top of the wall, having presumably done it by running and jumping up. It is lonely and very friendly and seems to seek out our company!

So tomoorow we will take all the ivy off of the top of the wall and would appreciate any suggestions on what we can do to further deter the goat from wanting to be our best mate!

PS  Billie is a really lovely friendly animal - but we have two dogs, one of whom is not goat friendly and she ate all the new buds from a favourite small tree in about ten seconds on her last visit....

[Eos]

First let me say that I don't know too much about goats and am open to correction.

However,  you may have identified the problem already as I believe they are quite social animals and are very inclined to subscribe to the theory of "anywhere but here" as I think you're discovering! That said, they usually choose to go through or under fencing and, while I appreciate that this might be a tad difficult with a stone wall, might indicate a bit of loneliness as well as fondness for ivy! They do tend to like brush or scrub more than grass.

Of course, if the owner gets a little companion for the goat, you might then have two little visitors!

The owners, imo, should be taking more responsibility for the goat's welfare as I think their hooves require ongoing care.

 

 

[Scooby]

Is the goat only coming into your garden or is it geting onto the road etc?  The reason I ask is that we had a similar problem but the goat(s) were also wandering in the road and creating a danger / nuisance to others in the hamlet.  We (collectively) contacted the owner (who lived a distance away but used the neighbours land for sheep / goats) and after a failed attempt to repair the fence he removed the animals.  Fortunately our invasion took place in the autumn so we were able to look on the damage to the roses etc as 'seasonal pruning'!  Re the other posters comments on social needs; having kept goats I don't think the existence of a companion would necessarily solve the problem.  A billy may be attracted to a female goat - but that could bring a whole new set of problems for the absent neighbours!  In our situation, the billy had a harem of females to keep him amused but that didn't seem to dampen his enthusiasm for our garden / roses.

[cooperlola]

Although I'm rather fond of goats as characters they are a real nighmare and the Houdinis of the animal world, imo!  The only thing that I've ever found really works is electric fencing - but I have no idea how you'd go about fixing a strand on the top of a stone wall, and what is more, I do not see why this problem should be yours. 

Their owners' insurance should cover any damage they do, so maybe you could make a claim - it might scare them into doing something.  However, anybody who's happy to leave their animals unattended for so long probably would just ignore you also.  Have you spoken to your maire about this? - you could complain that they weren't being looked after properly.  I know for a fact that some maires are happy to get into animal welfare issues as my own paid us a visit shortly after our ponies arrived to tell us somebody had suggested they didn't have enough grass (the fact that they looked like a pair of barrels and hence were confined to a tiny paddock, nothwithstanding!)  She went away perfectly satisfied, in case anybody thinks I neglect them.