A climbing goat is a happy goat

Boer goats are not known for their agility and climbing ability as most goats are, but they still like to climb things.  Before we started rotating them into different pasture every day they lived in a paddock attached to our small barn.  I found an old concrete collar, one that appeared to be part of a utility "man-hole" below the street.  Anyway, it was only about 32 inches high and 36 inches in diameter, but I mounted a piece of plywood on one end and it made a perfect little platform for them to climb on.  Once we took them out of the barn and started moving them daily, they lost their climbing toy.  I if tipped it over I could roll it, but it has got to weight over a hundred pounds and I had no desire to push it around my fields.

I had been looking around for an old wooden spool (used for holding large cables), but have not been able to find any.  I figured one of the spools would be perfect for climbing, but light enough to move around with the shelter.  I happened to be talking to the former owner of our home who happens to be building a new home just down the road from us.  He also happens to own a large construction company which focuses on underground utility work - using large cable on wooden spools.  I asked him if he had any lying around that I could buy and he said "No, but I have a few you can have for free if you want."  As it turns out, they simply scrap the spools once they have used the cable.  I went by his office a couple days ago and picked up two different spools: one very large wooden one and a smaller one made of plastic and cardboard.

Needless to say it didn't take very long for the goats to become accustomed to their new toys.  They frequently sleep on them or just stand there looking around at the world.  Rudy (the rooster) also seems to enjoy being up higher as do my children when they go down to play with... I mean take care of the animals.