Metal Detecting with Goats

[pokyone42]

I didn't know where to post this, so put it here.. explains why I have not been metal-detecting in a while. lol

Metal Detecting with Goats

01/2008
Well, last Spring we bought a metal-detector, thinking that it might be fun to see what is buried here on our property... little did we know how difficult this seemingly simple hobby could be!...

Our original plan was..., to go metal-detecting when we take all of our goats hiking, as we take them walking daily when the weather is nice...(simple plan, right?????? Well, although that plan sounds simple enough, it proved to be anything BUT simple.)
When we are hiking with our goats, they eat ALOT of bark, leaves, branches and weeds, butt each other some, come over to us for hugs and snuggles, and then suddenly jump around like anorexic gymnasts, (though our goats all tend to be on the chubby side, and so they look like anorexic FAT gymnasts, or maybe even bulimic.. take your pic, though I have never seen ANY of our goats refuse food OR throw it up later.........) and they spin around in circles like fat figure-skaters on steroids...for no apparent reason, doing triple and quadruple axles, and they usually NAIL the landings perfectly,, but not always..... as we have seen more than one very pregnant goat do an unintentional somersault down a hill.. not a pretty sight, ...and we would just hold our breath, but.. luckily, they were fine...PHEW! and so, when we take them hiking, they pretty much act like they are totally insane with boundless joy and happiness! They just LOVE being alive, and celebrate it randomly, like.. if they feel good, they just let the whole world know it, I think.. (~We dopey humans could use a few lessons from them, in MY humble opinion!)
.....Anyway, our goats generally have an absolute blast when we are all out hiking, but we, every now and then, after doing this with them day in and day out, tend to get a little bored, as we are NOT goats, and all of the leaves, brush, and trees that we could POSSIBLY dream of, do not keep us as busy and/or as happy, as they do the goats. Although our goats are ALOT of fun to watch and play with, there are times that we wished we had something else to do, while they are out in the woods (with us) stuffing their greedy little faces like there is no tomorrow, and jumping and spinning and butting each other, and just being high on life. Of course we pet them, talk to them, hug them, sit on fallen logs and watch them and laugh, and say lot's of "Awwwww's", and we (and when I say WE, I mean I, here...) kiss them on the nose alot, and though they make us laugh most of the time, it STILL would be nice, to have something else to do, while they are having their dream of eating trees and brush and all of the greenery in the world, come true. SO, we bought a metal detector, thinking that it would be fun to go treasure-hunting, while we are out in the woods with our spoiled herd of entertaining pets every day..."Yeah! Right!"
Well, that WAS the plan, anyways....so we did some research, and then we bought a metal detector... IT WAS FUN!!!!!! We were SO EXCITED! We played in the yard with it alot, (without the goats) and dug lots of holes, and completely ruined the lawn, but we found LOTS of cool CRAP!!!!! We found TONS of old beer cans, pull-tops from old beer cans, aluminum foil, bottle caps, nails.. you name it, we found it!!!! IT WAS FUN!!!!!!!!! (Well, we found everything other than valuable old coins, anyways!) We DID find about fifteen cents, tho! (I am thinking that the people who lived here before us were probably just poor old goat farmers like us, who played with and hugged their goats alot and drank beer now and then like we do.......) We DID find an old ox-shoe in the woods, though, and a couple of old matchbox cars from our childhood era, and some very old square nails, so THAT was neat!
So, anyway, we decided to take our herd of goats metal-detecting one morning.. Well, I MUST explain something here.. Goats...(ESPECIALLY bottle-raised goats, like ours,) are VERY nosey and personable creatures... Picture a dozen lab puppies, only each weighs between 150-200 pounds, with cloven hooves, beards, and udders. Our goats all come when called, and they ALSO come even when we DON'T call them...Our herd of goats, (spoiled rotten BRAT overgrown but adorable "lab-puppies") feel that they MUST be involved in whatever it is, we are doing..... (in alot of ways, well, in ONE, anyways.......... our goats are like HUMAN babies, in the fact that they think it is necessary that they taste, EVERYTHING!!.......)
When we are re-building the pasture fences...... they are RIGHT there to assist us, by grabbing the bag of insulators and wandering away to show off their cool new prize to their envious goaty-pals, (who decide that THEY want to play with that bag of insulators, too, and so they chase the goat who HAS the bag of insulators around the pasture, and so the insulators are deposited all around a six-acre area...and we have to go around looking for them afterwards...) or... those silly goats walk all over the electric fence wire getting their pretty little cloven feet tangled in it which kinks and pretty much ruins it while we are trying to hook it to posts........(but we can't get mad.. they are SUCH cute "Lab-pups", and think they are helping, after all...)
When we are building gates... they are right there to grab the paper bag full of nails or screws and run off with it, and then spill THOSE all over the ground alllll around their pasture as well, so that we have to worry about finding EVERY one of them, so that one doesn't get lodged in a dainty little goat-hoof...............
and drilling....OH MY! DRILLING! For some unknown reason known to mankind, goats (at least OUR goats) LOVE power tools...ESPECIALLY the cordless drill!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, I do NOT want to drill a goat's lips when using it to secure gates and hay racks and the like, so I spend more time removing their nosey nimble lips from the drill bit, than actually DRILLING, when trying to fix things with goats around!... (But again! They are SO CUTE and loveable... HOW can ya get mad??? Maybe I should ask my husband that question, as every once in a while, he gets REALLY annoyed at their "lab-ness." aka cute-ness......or ummm, helpful-ness.)
Then they are running off with screwdrivers that they pulled out of our back pockets......etc....Like I said... having a herd of "pet" goats, is like having a GIGANTIC litter of nosey huge Lab pups... My husband keeps telling them that they are NOT a tool-using mammal, but our goats just ignore him and are trying to show us otherwise. They are doing pretty well at it, too!
When we are away from them for five minutes, they greet us like they have not seen us in a week, just like a bunch of silly laborador pups would.. (without the tongue-lashings...) The goats are jumping and hollering, and all wiggly... and some of our goats even wag their tails like lab pups, when we approach! The problem is.. each of our "lab-pups" is really a small MOOSE, with sharp though dainty little hooves, so that when they have not seen us for a little while, a couple of them jump on us and leave cute little cloven-shaped hoof-bruises on our bodies.....along with mud or manure.........but they are "OH! SO CUTE!!!" We just "Love" the little brats!!!!!!!! (It is a VERY good thing that they are sooo cute, or they just might find themselves staring at each other in our freezer...)
Well, anyway... back to our "brilliant" idea of metal detecting with goats...to make a long story even longer, we tried...... and we failed... It was kinda fun the first time, as when the detector finds something, it beeps! Well, when our herd of gigantic lab pups heard that beeping sound for the first 25 times..... they ALL FROZE!!!!!! They STOPPED jumping, spinning, butting, eating, or whatever they were doing, and stood like statues, staring at us, like we were aliens from outer space.......... It was SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!...
But, unfortunately, they soon got over that, and AGAIN, acted like the giant odd-looking Lab puppies that they think they are!!!!!!!! Soon after those first few beeps, the goats noticed the metal detector, and were no longer frightened by it, and being the "tool-using mammals" that they THINK they are, they just HAD to investigate, and play with it, and like a human baby, put it in their very busy mouths........ (I must say here though, that goats TASTE everything, but are very picky about what they will actually eat, contrary to popular belief, they do NOT eat tin cans, or foil...I guess their sense of taste and their nibbling habits is just how they learn about their world, not unlike a nosey human child. ;))
Well, we LIKE how "light-weight" our metal detector is, but those baby goats.....they just HAD to try to balance on the coil on the bottom! UGH!!!!!! And the older girls... (the ADULT Labs) just HAD to nibble on it........NOPE!! That is bad.......... of course they were just investigating......... no fault to them, but all of the explaining in the WORLD would NOT convince them to leave it alone..............(wink)
And so, that is how it has been ever since....... all of the goats either trying to climb onto, or trying to taste the metal detector........ needless to say, we have been hiking with the goats, but not metal detecting with them lately! Our metal detector has been sitting in the corner of the bedroom, and we look longingly at it every morning...........(it sure is a purty yellow!)
I suggest that if you are getting interested in metal detecting, and just HAPPEN to have a herd of unruly overgrown strange-looking Laborador Retriever puppies with cloven hooves, that you get them their own metal detector to play with, so that they leave yours alone. :)

[gordiesgirl]

First I want to welcome you to TQ, I hope you choose to Retry with your detector, If you take time to read many threads here you will see that it is a great hobby. Thanks for your story, I love goats. Happy hunting.

[Buster]

Good story. Have always liked goats. When we build our next house/farm we will have a few to go along with a horse. We have a mini horse that stays at my friends farm. It's also like a big dog and follows you everywhere. I would say also to try hunting again, but leave the goats at home. Try some schools or playgrounds Happy Hunting...Buster.....

[Lt1stone]

Welcome to TQ! My Great Uncle raised several goats when I was very young. Treated them like children untill a male named Happy climbed on the roof of dads new car (less than 1000 miles on it).

[PAPPY]

WELCOME to the TQ FAMILY. Yep, I used to raise toggenburgs and neubeians...Just like Children...Lot's of fun...sometimes.

[JCWhite]

Welcome to Treasure Quest. Wonderful story and it reminds me that when you go detecting you hafta stick to that. JC

['E']

I absolutely love goats, my friends think I'm nuts, every time I go to the zoo I get a bunch of food & feed them & pet them, keep at it with your detector, it will pay off.

[The TINMAN]

Hey Pokyone42 WELCOME to TQ ! Great Story. Don't give up on the detecting as there is alot of fun to be had and some great things to find. I guess fiinding time is one thing Ya need to find. There is tons of info here and all kinds of great folks to answer any questions Ya may have. WOW it must be like havin 6 sets of Triplets . Glad Ya posted and hope to here from Ya again. What kind of detector are Ya using ?

Good Luck & HH & HH... thats Happy Herding & Happy Hunting
Th TINMN

[KellycoChick]

Am I the only one who thought that story was hilarious? Oh mi goodness I couldn't stop laughing... the office thinks I'm nuts!! lol!!! Welcome to TQ!! It sounds like you folks really enjoy life!! Good for you!! And good for you for raising such a healthy, albeit rambunctious, heard of goats!! Goodluck metal detecting tho!! It really is a fun hobby and I think you should give it a go without a goat around (or at the very least, a few less goats?) and see what you dig up! But starting with your own front yard is the way to go. Goodluck! Keep us posted on how it all works out!!

[EPC Guy]

Welcomr to TQ - Pokeyone! I don't believe I've ever heard anyone else ever mention walking their goats before! I enjoyed the post - and wish you many happy hunts!