[langdon]

milly and molly once again mastered the lock of their shed door, naughty girls but i do love them
lucky they didnt get far, funny enough before i seen them out i was on my way home from
walking my dog shep, as i got closer to the house i said to myself, i just wonder if the pigs are out!
and to my surprise milly and molly were out, the pigs were well behaved for once.
would you agree as smallholders we develope a six sense as such? you just know when something is up on the place?
anyway the question i have is this, if you are out somewhere and in the meantime your goats get out and
go for a long walk somewhere is there a chance that they might come baqck home themselves,
of course you would go looking as soon as you realised, but im on about if you cant find them.
hope i explained myself clearly

[Roxy]

Well, funny enough, my pygmy goats somehow let themselves out of the barn tonight, so thats both of us with escaping goats!!

I had been feeding the livestock, and admittedly was a little late giving the pygmy goats their tea, but not that late!!  I think it was Bobby, the billy who rammed the big heavy barn door, until he dislodged the chain hooked on the outside.  I got to the house and standing there by the house door bleating like mad was little Barney the kid - his mum Molly, Charlie the other nanny, and Bobby all appeared out of the darkness.  My OH was in the house, and said he had heard bleating a few minutes before, but if we are in the kitchen, we can sometimes hear the goats, so he did not take any notice.

Anyway, all followed me back to the barn for their tea.

As to whether they would find their way back, it depends on how far they went, and if they knew their surroundings.  My goats know their own field, and the barns.......as to whether they would actually come back, I don't know.  Probably not if  they found a garden!!

[doganjo]

I think most animals have a homing instinct, but what would worry me is not so much them being able to find their way back as what danger they might come across on the way. Preadtors, traffic, water for instance.  My dogs can unlock their cages so they are locked in at night with they key on the outside so I can get in quick if I need to.