Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Every day at the same time 5 goats appear and they are alone and destroying everything. I am fed up with chasing them away.The management company are aware but say they cant do much as they dont know who they belong to. Any ideas? I am in Bufavento Village Catalkoy. I normally love animals but this week I wish I had a gun.

Whilst I sympathise with you, thank yourself lucky you have only 5 goats to deal with. For the last 8 years we have had up to 200 goats to deal with on our development almost daily. They have cost us thousands of pounds in lost plants, as they eat everything in sight. We know who these goats belong to and the police have been informed of the damage they are doing but they seem powerless to do anything about them. They often come in the middle of the night and we are out chasing them at 2 am or early morning in our pyjamas. If anybody has any suggestions of what can be done, please let us know.



The butlers wife

Someone told me once that its an old law, that goats are allowed free access in anyone's garden, really don't know if it is still true nowadays, but wouldn't be surprised if it is.

Deniz - We live on Buffavento phase 2 and like you have had goat visits. Normally don't mind them but they have twice devastated the garden - that's the annoying part. We were told that maybe it would be worth a discussion with the mukhtar in Catalkoy village to see if any help or advice could be offered.

Looks like we will need to prepare to see a very trimmed garden next time we come out. If so then no more plants for us!

I think the owner is the person that lives down my road as he takes a big heard of goats up the mountains every day and when i used to live near buffavento to the side were the bungalows are i used to see the boy running down from the mountains with the goats so could have strayed from his heard

Many people have complained I was told yesterday by someone at the Beledeye they know who it is and yesterday they were out again but accompanied by a young lad. I think he is supposed to walk with them but just lets them run alone. Ok its only 5 but if I was not home in the afternoon to chase them off they do a lot of damage. I used to live on phase 2 and had a very large garden planted with young fruit trees when I came home one day it was a garden full of sticks. I know they were here before the houses but times change sadly.

From the comments on this thread it does seem like the same herd of goats who come over the hills normally each day towards the phase 2 complex then wander thro and off towards phase 1.

Sometimes they miss us altogether and other times they seem to take a liking to the gardens.

Not sure what can be done about it, goats were here first of course! Maybe we will have to just accept them and forget planting.

Who were there first, goats proble for hundreds of years its part of life in Cyprus live with it lol.

I kent - exactly what I said. Goats were there first so guess we just live with it. No problem for me. Just no more buying of plants.

can you goat proof your garden ?. i know it is not easy , but i remember my lovely garden in England. Over here things are a little different . I don't think the goats are too partial to cactus plants !. Just a thought ,.

I'm a goat keeper(just two) but I observe them. I take them around the garden on a lead every morning. We walk past the oleander and the lantana, no problem, but as soon as we are near something they like, they move, with me flying behind. They have a very good memory. I had a leak in my watering system and it created a green patch. , they never forget that!!
Oleander, Lantana they don't like at all and it is poisonous. Grow them where they want to come in. Once they sniff that, the stop being interested. Also both these plants do not need a lot of water.

Unfortunately all we incomers are to blame for this perceived problem. The farmers and their goats have roamed over the empty lands of Cyprus, and many other countries, then us lot have arrived and built on that ancient grazing land. We have kept a good relationship with our local herd of about 150 plus babies this time of year. I chatted with their owner a few years ago and he pointed out the area his goats used to roam, now all housing.

If you live on an open plan area then you must plant as dippersgirl has indicated, otherwise you have to bite the bullet and do what we did, suitable barrier fence. It is NOT the goat owners problem, it is yours!

I do not have the chance or money to build a barrier my back and front small garden is open to the road. As I said earlier they were here first but I pay a hefty management fee and they are eating everything around the pool so we will be asked for more money to replace trees.

II suspect a lot of rights of way (and not just for goats), along with rights of access, and to light and privacy, were totally ignored in the rush to cash in on what was basically agricultural land post Anan Plan, by sellers,, developers and purchasers alike. I doubt if I am the only person who took pity on and adopted stray dogs when it was possible to excerise them locally who has found all their routes blocked by houses, roads swimming pools etc. and now have to spend time and money that can be ill afforded driving them a distance to "common" land or face unpleasant crisicism and danger from inconsiderate drivers walking through "residential" areas or confine them to our own garens! And this is the least of it - it is all very well talking about "progress" but progress to what should have been considered. When the gold rush for cheap holiday homes and second homes started, the authorities (with all due respect) did not have the experience ot see the consquences and the long term affects on the ecology and culture of the country are still to come,

And if you are thinking about planing Oleandar as a deterrent for goats, look it up on the Internet first. EVERY part of the plant is poisonous to a large number of animals,( including man ) including fumes from the wood when burnt and once planted it is hard to get rid of (I know I planted it without checking) . Horses for insance are not as wary as goats and a lot in America have been killed eating this plant. And dont even THINK of burning it on a barbecu!

I did say it was poisonous Heather, I don't burn it as here you are not allowed to burn your garden rubbish. Maybe it's different in Girne. Don't see any horses roaming here, sheep don't touch it and neither do donkeys, so I still see it as an alternative to having your other plants eaten. There are loads of municipal oleander all over the island!! Rubber trees are poisonous, Frangipani, morning glory are poisonous etc,etc
Walls are not good enough as goats love climbing them, unless they are 6' tall.
My land is fenced in with barbed wire, but then I do live in the country, where everybody's fence is like that.

I live in a village DG, and we arent permitted bonfires either, but like so many rules here is is sometimes more honoured in the breach than the observance - and of course we do have frequent barbecues and I thought it worth the warning particularly as people have been known to be poisoned by eating meat cooked on a barbecue with oleander wood in it . I also save woody clippings from the garden to use as kindling for the house fire, saves a bit of money as well as being more environmentally friendly, but avoid using oleander because of danger from the smoke. Seems several animals have the nous to avoid it as my dogs dont seem to be attracted (I was really worried when I first read of its properties) - though of course it is vegetarian animals that are the usual victims as they browse on the leaves, but the particular thing about oleander is EVERY part of it is poisonous.

I also live in an old house, so it is not on a goat track (I thought it would also be less subject to the dangers of overdevelopment , but |I was wrong! ) and I planted Oleander because as you say it is drought resistant and a quick way to get a good display, but did not realise not onl is it poisonous but grows too tall and fast for a small garden).

Of course , it may be the answer to the goat problem in some cases, but we all learn by our mistakes (including mine!) and I think since it so easy to check on the internet even for idiots like me, people should be fully aware of its properties before rushing to plant it.

Meanwhile I love the thought of taking goats for a walk!
Should I trade the dogs in for a couple of goats, and do goats feel the need to demand to be let out to bark at the many stray cats that invade the garden?

When I moved into a villa in 2004 it had boundary fencing of sorts and to 3 sides was overgrown land not built upon. Goats could still inflict much damage to flora within the garden. Most days I saw the elderly herder and although he spoke no English and I had precious little knowledge of Turkish I made a point of calling him to the fence and offering him a glass of chilled, fresh orange but never attempted to complain by way of gesture. It became custom that he would wait at the fence each day, and sometimes his wife too, in the hope that I would appear with drinks which I always did unless of course I happened to be out at the time. In return, although not a word could pass between us, because I showed them some respect which brought smiles, they always ensured that their goats were kept back from the fencing even if I was absent from the property from time to time. Unfortunately, some 5 or so years later, the gentleman died and his wife ceased to carry on with the herd. Soon after, as more properties were built access to the open ground which continued at my boundaries was not possible for goats so I never did suffer from their presence other than initially. Obviously this cannot be a solution for everyone who has the problem but it is good to do as much as possible to secure perimeters and seek out the owners of the goats and try to befriend them rather than complain.

Even though I am a townie born and bred, we moved to Wiltshire when the children where small and had goats there and took them for walks.
These goats here are still young and I just walk around the garden with them (on a dog lead), will try further soon. We do have a big garden (3 and a bit dönums) and I also have an over the fence 'friendship' with a sheppard. Wild donkeys made us fence our property. They used to gallop around the concrete skirt of our house at night!! The also liked my vegetables!!!

It does pay to befriend the shepherds if you can. The first time I met our local shepherd I had two dogs with me. I saw and heard the flock and having been taught the country code as a child in England I put the untrained puppy in the car, and had the older dog sitting at heel AND A ON A LEAD by the time they crossed my path. The shepherd now always greets me and on one occasion he brought a couple of new born lambs to show me.

My point was at the beginning they were alone no shepherd. Loads of goats graze near my house with no problem because the shepherd is always with them but these were let loose by the owners son and left to roam. Hopefully they have stopped now.

The Goats have not stopped around here. They have wrecked our garden, it seems these twerps have no bells on.

Hi Bill,

They have been in our garden as well and eaten everything but the cacti. Totally fed up of them,
chasing them away and cleaning up all their mess. We have had this problem for eight years now
and nobody takes any notice. It maybe an open plan site but it's time we all put gates up to stop
the blighters.

The butlers wife

Its north cyprus, not in little old England . When you live in a place that still has old fashioned ways you have to accept goats and sheep.Think yourself lucky its not wild pigs or another large animal wandering in your gardens.

Hi Geroff. OK i see your point, but you know the English and their gardens.

Yes, we live in NC not flipping England, so think them who want England and its ways should go back and have the garden filled with empty coke cans and dog poo.