Are all goats this dumb, or just Cletis?

In My Humble Opinion
1

(Summary: Complaint with question on habits of goats. Cute animal and plant pictures!)

I spent this weekend house-sitting for my aunt and uncle, who raise cattle and pigs (luckily none of the latter live at the house) and have a pet/weed control goat named Cletis. (He is a bit rounder and his horns are a bit longer now than in that picture, which is a few years old.)

Most of the animals on that bit of property are smart, or at least not actively stupid.

I spent a good part of the weekend playing with the new kittens, who are a month old and clever. Their motheris of the “If I keep following you, I’ll totally be fed!” school of thought, but a good hunter and excellent barn cat- even if she had the babies in the master bedroom and stays inside at night- and she gets counted on the smart animal side as well for her skills. The heifers in the field by the vegetable/dahliagarden were not as stupid as some cows- they knew I’d feed them, but didn’t push it when I was obviously dealing with sprinklers. And the cattle up on the hill were pretty damn smart. They didn’t start asking to be let down into the lower field until they heard a car in the driveway.

But the goat? Oh goodness, he is dumb.

A fence that holds cattle is not enough for goats. Since there is the vegetable and dahlia garden, not to mention the normal flower beds and herbs around the house, the goat is on a leash. It’s cheaper than building new fence, right?

This weekend I had to untangle Cletis at least 5 times- and I was only at the house from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, and in bed 12 hours of that! He wrapped his lead around almost everything he could, including tall stands of weeds, a stump, and trees- sometimes several of those at once. He couldn’t figure out that he needed to go the opposite way, and at one point his habits of walking over things he needed to walk under and vice versa got him tangled up so extremely that I just had to grab his collar, unhook his leash, and untie the knot he’d tied around two trees.

I don’t expect a goat or even a dog to never get their runs wrapped up. My smart dog Griz(Rubyis the dumb dog) used to get his dog run wrapped up on a fence support all the time- but only once around generally, and he almost always could figure it out. But this goat will not learn! He’s at least 4 years old and should know better by now.

Does anyone else out there have experiences with goats? Are they all this stupid?

(If it’s relevant, Cletis is whatever the goat equivalent of a mutt is called, and he’s a neutered male.)

2

I got nothing to say except - they named the goat Cletis? Awesome.

I don’t know really what goats do. I thought they were a little smarter.

3

Can’t say much about the intelligence of goats either, but I enjoyed the story and loved the pictures!

4

My vote is dumb, ginger the resident goat does the same with her lead, especially in the poison ivy. These is no reason for both of us to suffer, I sugest you come pick up ginger and bring her to live with Cletis.

5

Anaamika, my aunt is wonderful at naming animals. We used to have a bull named Jimmy because his ear tattoo was 007 and he wasn’t dignified enough to be a James.

FalconFinder, most of the photo credits go to my mom. I only took the picture of Griz, and my dad took the picture of Ruby. I’m not sure who took the picture of Cletis, but I put the words on.

robz- If only! We don’t even have much (any?) poison ivy around the farms, so the worst tangle would be the blackberries.

6

Cletis is a wether. A neutered male goat.

If he is routinely tied up, he might ultimately get the hint. I have one goat that can get herself tied in a knot in about 3 seconds. Then again, for all I have heard about goat-proofing fencing, my yard is barely considered fenced, since it really wouldn’t keep in anything smaller than a horse, and yet, my goats stay in my yard. If they get near the road and a car comes by, they run back towards the house.

One trick I’ve heard is to tie the goat to a tire it can barely pull. It allows the goat some mobility but without the fear of it wandering very far.

Don’t ask what it is like walking around the yard with 1 toddler, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 goats and 2 chickens following along behind me.

If Cletus is a long term project, I’d think walking him on a lead first would probably get him a bit more used to how they work, then try tying him out. Or, you could just do something like this: http://goats-on-the-roof.com/
Yes, I live near there. Yes, I have a T-shirt. Yes, I’m insanely jealous.

7

AuntBeast, Cletis has been on a lead pretty much his whole time my aunt has had him, which is at least four years now, and has not yet gotten the hint. (He gets moved every two or three days, so he sees plenty of the farm- just in 20 to 30 foot circles at a time.)

As awesome as those roof goats are, putting Cletis on the roof would ruin his main purpose for us: weed control. He loves to eat very young blackberry bushes, and since our Depression-era relatives listened to the ag-extension office and planted Himalayas, it’s a darn good thing too.

8

Goats are about as dumb as farm animals come (I am talking about mammals; don’t get me started on turkeys) but they have lots of charm. We had them when I was little and I loved them. They are basically like a brain-damaged, drunk and stoned frat brother who is still great fun to hang out with. However, sheep make goats look like Mensa material but sheep usually behave themselves. Goats have two extra brain cells that make them a threat to themselves.

I want some goats now.

9

My goats are for weed control also. I convinced my husband of that so I could get them. Of course, I got pymies and we have an acre of land.

What does my husband say to them every time he sees them? “Eat Faster!”

Shagnasty: My neighbor enjoyed my goofy goats so much she got two more. Now our goats call each other across the mountain. It is neato. I absolutely adore watching them and interacting with them. Your description is pretty apt. However, you forgot the word “persistent.” Lord they are stubborn and determined!

As for the OP, it sounds to me like Cletus was appropriately named.

10

Everything I know about goats I’ve learned on the Dope. If somehow I ever end up living rural I gotta get one.

11

The title made me chuckle. It’s like: “Are all horses genocidal maniacs, or just Pol Pot?”

12

Cletis is pretty dumb, for a goat. Most respectable goats would have eaten the leash by now.