Can you teach your goats to follow you?

Most goats are food motivated so if you have a bucket of grain or their favorite treat there is a good chance they will follow you. But can you really teach a goat to follow you and why would you want them to learn to follow you? There are times that you will not want them to follow you (like over a fence or through a gate). So how do you make them understand when to follow and when not to follow you?

Here are a few reasons of why you should teach your goats to follow you. Sometimes they get out of their pens and if they do not follow you then you have to catch them and drag them back to their pen. If you move them from pasture to pasture or to different pens frequently it will make it easier if they're trained to follow.

If you have a super large herd it might be wise to have herd dogs to help you move them. We only have about 20 does (not including kids) and we do not want to have a dog so we have taught our goats to follow us. Now there are sometimes they do not follow correctly. They are still goats and have a mind of their own but in general they will follow us to where we need them to go. If you only have a few goats it might be worth teaching them to lead with a halter or collar.

Here is what we do. We have a special call for when we want them to come and follow. We call "Here goats, here goats" and cluck, and they will follow us. That sounds way too easy! Yeah, your right. If we are moving them to a fresh pasture that is normally all we have to do because they know they will get fresh grass.

However, that is not where we started. We started with two people with red buckets with grain in them. I normally am the leader so I would call them, give the cluck, shake the bucket of grain, and get the lead goats (top goats) a taste of the grain. My sister would have the other bucket hidden until I got the lead goats moving and most of the others would follow. Goats are a herd animal so they will normally follow their leader. My sister would then get the attention of the slower goats and give them a taste of the grain and get them moving. Make sure that your two people with the buckets of grain are close enough together but far enough away from each other so that the lead goats do not turn around. Keep them moving and keep giving your call to them as you move them. Goats can get distracted very easily so it is important to keep them moving quickly. You might need to give a bit of grain to some as you go to keep their attention. Once you reach your desired location for the goats make sure you praise them (tone of voice matters) give head scratches and a little bit of grain.

If we are moving them outside of the fence (like from side pasture to the front pasture) we make sure we have a few extra people standing by the driveway and the poisonous bush to help guide them.

Also, do not tease them with your call. Keep that noise/call sacred so that they respect that call and follow you. This special call will also make it possible for you to check on them daily without them expecting something from you every time they see you.

Short video of us moving goats.