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are sheep smarter than goats?


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When I had my crazy goats, they liked to wreak havoc any time of the day or night, even though they knew I would turn the border collies on them if I caught them raiding the henhouse.

I've come home from work recently and noticed little footyprints in the driveway. Yesterday, the lids were off the grain bins in the cabin and a telltale trail of sheep poop in the cabin.

Very little grain was missing but these little sneaks are waiting til the vehicles are gone to plot their attacks. I've haven't caught them sneaking out of their pasture yet.

Guess I'll be tightening up the fences this weekend.

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are sheep smarter than goats? Yes! NO! Maybe? It depends on the breed and the individual. I have Icelandic sheep. Most are dumb. But I have one "leader" ewe. This "leader gene" has been documented for centries in Iceland. Some may be more intelligent than a border collie. My brother considers his registered milking Nubians to be smarter. It is defintity according to your perspective. Is the glass half full or half empty?

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Never knew a sheep to do that.
I think it depends upon how they're raised and to a certain extent upon their individual personalities (like Jim, I have several leader-like sheep). Bottle lambs that are raised in the house (with lots of human contact) seem to be much "smarter" than those raised in the flock. We have one now that knows his name, and is highly interactive. They can also problem solve - for example, if we leave a gate to the paddock open, several sheep invariably figure out how to enter the barn and get grain (and they never forget this either). And I'm always amazed by how well they "read" dogs that they've never met before . . . I also had a ewe that from time to time would come up and gently butt me in the hip to get my attention and then stare into my eyes as if trying to tell me something . . .

 

Kim

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I have a sheep that opens gates if they are not chained shut (ie, latch gates). Her daughters all do it, too. Before you think, "They watch her do it and learn from her," I raised two bottle lambs out of her this years - pulled them off hours after they were born. Guess what problem we had with them?

 

I really, really don't get into "which species is smarter" questions because every species has its own standard of useful smarts. You can't say a sheep is smarter than a goat because the sheep won't come up to you and be petted - in Sheepland, that would be a remarkably dumb thing to do, as they are so very vulnerable to predators.

 

Animals in Translation is a great book by Temple Grandin, shoudl be required reading for anyone who works with livestock.

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We have a pet goat named Biscuit, who does tricks. She stands on tables on cue, puts her front feet on a basketball, hops on command, etc. She also hollers for my mom when she is lonely, and will come running to hide between her legs when something scares her. And when you raise your voice at her, she'll butt at you in rebellion then run off and hide under our barn deck and "baaa" like her feelings are hurt. She almost acts like a dog (a dumb dog, but a dog no less)

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