# Hobble



## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

I ordered a hobble for Nana and it came in the mail today. I just tried it out on her and I have determined that that little goat is STRONG! :eek After two tries (and a lot of struggling) I got it on her but it wasn't tight enough and she slipped one leg out of it. When I let her get off the milking stand she ran from me. I stayed in her area until she came up to me and lick me and I gave her neck a good scratch. I have a bruised hand from all her struggling for my troubles. lol

Does anyone have any advice on how to make this easier? Not that I'm against simply muscling it on her and dealing with whatever bruises she can dish out but I don't want her to run from me when she knows it's milking time. I don't want to traumatize her! :/


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Are Nana's kids still with her? If so, she's probably just defending 'their' milk. We bottlefeed all our kids and I've never had to hobble a goat to be able to milk. Had some that are a bit of a challenge for 2 or 3 milkings, but they all adjust after that. Which is a good thing, since I milk in a flat barn, where the does have quite a bit of space to get into trouble if they wanted to..... I'm pretty sure Nana won't be traumatized if you stick with it for a while, unless you'd use cruel methods and lost your patience with her. Stay calm, but don't let her win! Good luck (she looks like a cute goat on the picture!


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

Hi Marion, yes her kids are still with her. I'm trying out a suggestion I found on a website that says to allow the kids access to her during the day, separate them at night, and then milk first thing in the morning. Maybe she struggled so much because I tried this before I put her kids in their stall. Makes sense and makes me wonder why I such a dummy. lol

I'll try again tomorrow morning, with her kids locked in their stall, to see if it makes a difference. Thanks!


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## Horsehair Braider (Mar 11, 2011)

I'm working with a real be-otch right now so I feel your pain. Your Nana may just not understand what you want. Mine too has her kids on her, in my case at night, and in the day I put bandaids on her teats and then take the night milking, that way I don't have to separate them. Mine was a known witch and would fight like mad, but once I restrained her properly she is coming around.

Don't fall for the "it's not tight enough" thing. It HAS to be tight or she will kick right out of it. Put it above her hock. That will make it harder for her to fight it. You might just need to put it on one leg if you can tie her leg right to a post or something. Tie it TIGHT at first. Also, I let them stand in it for a minute while I fool around, get my stuff together, wash the udder etc. because they have time to fight and kick to their heart's content and find out it does not work. Once they understand that it will not work they will quit. Animals won't do stuff if it doesn't work. Unlike people... 

Consistency is the key. If that is always her experience, that kicking is a waste of time, she will give it up. Mine is now cooperating and moving into position so that I can put the hobble on her one leg, and honestly - after 3 months working with her after her lifetime of fighting she has given up and probably I could milk her without it. However she is getting the full treatment: not till I am totally SURE will I go without the hobble. Pigheadedness like that needs to be carefully trained out and I am not falling down on the job here.

And you know, if this goat had been trained by her former owners, she would not be having such a hard time now, poor thing. I am taking her daughters out twice a day when I milk the mother, tying them up, letting them eat (meat grower pellets) and handling them. They already crouch when I handle where their udders will be one day. These two girls will be no problem to milk, and it is not at all hard for me to teach them when they are young. Once it becomes a habit to stand still and be handled they will have a hard time breaking that habit.


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

Horsehair Braider said:


> Once they understand that it will not work they will quit. Animals won't do stuff if it doesn't work. Unlike people...


HAHAHA! Love it!

Thank you for your excellent advice! Wish me luck this morning. lol


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

I tried again just now and put the hobble above her hock and I thought I had it on pretty tight. But she slipped out! Maybe the hobble I'm using is too big for her, she is a miniature after all. This is the one I bought:
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/details/Goat-Hobble/511-6100.html

What do you think? Too big? I found one at Caprine Supply that is supposedly for miniature goats. This one: http://www.caprinesupply.com/shop/?...d&ps_session=2939334dd1b3a63f361ca5ec1badfd65

Should I buy that one instead?


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## Horsehair Braider (Mar 11, 2011)

It's possible you just can't get that one tight enough, so you might need another... but what you might do instead is go buy something like a cat collar (a solid one, not one that has a stretchy breaking part) or very small dog collar (these are usually solid) that can go down small enough, and use the little ring where you're supposed to attach the leash, to attach the leg to a fence, the side of your milking stand or whatever. My guess is that after even a week she will have toned down quite a bit, especially if you handle her twice a day. For my goat, at this point, the hobble I'm using is just a reminder. If she really went ballistic she might be able to get out of it, but these days she has concluded it's a waste of time and does not bother. 

I don't know how handy you are, but I made my hobbles myself. I used some straps from a leather miniature horse foal halter, added a good solid D ring, re-sewed the buckle on with the D ring and punched holes where I thought I'd need them. I've also bought some velcro strapping, and that might work in a pinch too, it depends on the goat. Hobbles are just two straps that go around the feet or legs, with some way of hooking them in between. Mine have a clip in between, so I can use them together or separately. In case you are wondering I made them to train miniature horses to stand still for harnessing and hitching, not for goats! It just so happens they are the perfect size.


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

Aren't those kids a bit young to be separating already? I usually wait until they are at
least a couple of weeks old before doing that.

That said, has she ever been hand milked before? If not, it will take a lot of patience
for you to get her to settle down for you. Especially since you haven't had her that long.
Did you try without the hobbles first? Have you had her up on the milkstand previously,
and have you ever messed with her udder prior to this? 

If it were me, I would give her a few more days with her kids. But, keep putting her up
on that stand and touching her udder. Go through the motions of milking. Put some grain
in her feeder, wipe her udder off and get her used to it. It is much easier to get them
used to that without a bucket. 

Every one of my blasted goats has been a FF, and some of them took a little more
patience than others. Pretty much all of them were settled down to milking within
a week or so. (But they were raised here and used to me, so that made it a bit
easier.) Not once have I ever had to use hobbles. (Tempted to, but didn't.)

Some won't agree with me, but in my experience, if a goat has bad experiences
on the stand, they DO remember. And it makes it that much harder next time.
Be firm, but gentle. And keep at it, she will come around.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I have used a hobble like that but had better results with a dog leash contraption. Here is a picture of Melee. She fought me pretty good last year but after her kids left, she adopted me and now this year I was able to milk, no problem. She only got grain on the milkstand though and for a couple of weeks she just got on the stand and got grain and got brushed before I worked up to touching her udder and then finally milking her. When her kids were three months old I took them away and took all her milk without trouble. Some does have no problem with getting the hang of it but some. like Melee need some time to adjust.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

If Melee tried to kick, the loop end of the leash got tighter preventing any fighting.


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

Thank you, Michelle. I'll see if my husband can rig up something like that. It does seem easier than the hobble I have.


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

Well, I got the hobble on her. I strapped it down tight and she struggled for a few seconds then gave up and went back to eating her grain. I brushed her and massaged her utter and she tried to fight a little but sure enough as soon as she realized she wasn't going anywhere she'd go back to eating. I'm going to keep doing this until next Thursday when the kids are two weeks old and then I'll start milking her properly. Hopefully by then she'll get used to the routine and I can stop acquiring bruises.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Awesome! I think you'll have good results with that plan.


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## chell20013 (Feb 7, 2011)

Michelle--your's is almost exactly like mine. Mine's made of nylon rope and since the floor of my milk stand has spaces between the slats, it is tied to the floor. That way I can tie her foot down tighter. My girl is a big boer/saanan cross who is at least 4 years old and was never handled. It took 3 weeks of hobbling her (just one leg) to get her to quit kicking. I don't think she will ever be tame, but she does come to the gate for milking, walk with me on a lead, and jump up on the milk stand. She occasionally raises her foot, and I just set it back down. I've only had to use it again on one occasion when the flies first came out real bad and she was a nervous wreck.


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## emeraldcowgirl (May 19, 2011)

So if you hobble just one leg the goat won't use the other one to kick?


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I tied that one back leg so far back that if she had tried to raise the other one, she would have lost her balance. If need be, you can tie the leg back where the foot doesn't touch the ground. Then they for sure can't raise the other legs to kick.


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## Horsehair Braider (Mar 11, 2011)

Once they are used to the idea that they can't kick, you can change to only one hobble just to remind them. The goat I'm currently milking started out by not just kicking with both hind legs but stamping her front feet and trying to bite me as well. Back when she was still stamping her front feet I had both legs hobbled and milked with one hand, and held the bucket with the other... she's come a long way in 3 months. It just takes time and patience!


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

She sounds like a challenge! Some of them can be such a pain.
I learned my ninja milking skills by milking a goat like that. She kicked, I blocked. The milk bucket got tipped over and I would do a somersault and catch it before any milk got spilled.
(Maybe the part about the bucket is not true)


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

But the bucket-part was the coolest part! Here's a good one: we lost electricity in a storm last Sunday and my son, who is an unexperienced goat milker (but in his defense: a very good cow-milker-by-milking-machine) was helping me milk the herd by hand. His doe shifted while he was milking, he pushed her back, she bumped into her neighbor, who was being milked by my husband, the neighbor stepped just on the edge of her milk bowl and the entire contents of that bowl flew straight into my husbands face. Good times in the parlor!!! (for everyone except my husband, that is....)


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

LOL--that would've been the perfect time to suggest maybe looking into getting a generator. 

My first year milking, I had a FF that was a BEAR on the stand. The more I fought her, the more she fought back.  I finally figured out that *I* was making HER nervous. She was jittery and anxious and worried. She was a heavy milker (9-10#/day) with very small orafices, so it was an unpleasantly looooong time for both of us. When I finally settled down and the more worked at easing her fears and calming her, the more she settled down and relaxed during milking. She hated having the inside of her legs touched, which was very difficult with her udder. I learned to block her legs from kicking the milk bucket with my forearms and if I leaned my shoulder into her side or layed my head on her side while milking it seemed to relax her also.

Milkstand training kids is key for me.  My yearlings happily hop on the stand for hoof trimmings, being clipped, vacs, etc. My only first freshener this year has been a dream since day one of milking. Never lifts a leg, squats her behind nicely and the only way I know she's done eating her grain while I'm still milking is that I can feel her breath on my back. I wish she'd teach my 2 and 4 yr olds that, cuz when they're done eating, they think that I should be done milking! LOL


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

"cuz when they're done eating, they think that I should be done milking! "
Lol!


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