Raising goats teaches valuable lessons. Goats are popular additions to small farms and homesteading family’s back yards. Goats are a versatile animals that can provide, milk, meat, and weed control. Some breeds of goat are raised for fiber, that is spun into yarn. They are mostly easy to keep, friendly and comical additions to the family farm. And, goats can be a handful! After raising goats, breeding, and caring for goats for fifteen years, I have compiled a list of 9 truths about raising goats. I felt you should know some behind the scenes, real life experience from the goat barn.
There is No Such Thing as a Dumb Goat
1. Goats will be directly in the path of where you want to walk, will stand in the feed bowl you wish to fill, and generally be jumping in your face when you are in the pen. Except for the time that you need to catch one for a health check or to treat an illness or injury. The goats can smell a lead rope coming from 500 feet away. The Herd Boss will tense and the herd will pick up on this body language. They will work as a team to scatter the herd so you can not catch any of them. It will look like the goats are just frantically running from you, but believe me, t they have a well orchestrated plan that will end with you sprawled in the mud with no goat at the end of the lead rope.
Raising Goats will be Easy They Said……
Raising goats can be fairly easy but you need to remember that they have a mischief streak a mile wide! You will learn to watch for potential danger to the goat and your belongings and learn to not leave things to chance.
2. A goat with horns will be able to shove her head through a small fence opening. She will not be able to remove her head however and will be stuck standing there until you rescue her. This is particularly important to be aware of when anything is low hanging like a hay feeder. Goats can become stuck and hang themselves.
3. Goats are herd animals and even if you have two goats, they may attempt to escape to locate a herd. If the fencing is not strong and tall enough to keep them in, they will repeatedly escape. The height of the fencing will depend on the size and breed of goat you choose. I have had a pygmy goat jump over a four foot fence as if it was nothing.
4. Goats prefer to forage rather than graze on grass. If you let the goats out to graze in your yard, you will probably find them eating the bushes, vegetable garden or your neighbors flower bed.
You Will Wonder at Times Why You Decided to Start Raising Goats
5. Stopping by the barn, for a quick moment while wearing clean clothes will require time set aside to go back to the house and change your clothes before heading to the appointment or meeting. During the fall mating season, the buck will try everything imaginable to rub his smelly body against your pants, no matter how hard you try to avoid him touching you. The goat who never jumps up will jump on you if you are wearing clean clothes.
6. Trying to pull a reluctant goat out of the stall using a lead rope and collar will get you nowhere, with a strained back. Learn to work with the animal and its natural tendencies and not against. Goats are unusually strong animals.
7. Goats will go on a hunger strike if they have to walk across wet ground to get to the hay.
Raising Goats and Having Babies!
8. While waiting for a pregnant doe to deliver, on her expected due date, nothing will happen. When you take a break to use the bathroom or eat a meal, the doe will deliver one or two perfect kids in record time and you will miss the whole thing.
The kids will be the cutest things since sliced bread. You will be totally smitten with each one. This may lead to you considering goat breeding as a side hobby, so that you can have more baby goats arrive on the farm.
Raising Goats and Learning Lessons
9. If you leave the feed shed or room open while the goats are out of their pen, they will know! You will find a party going on in the feed room with containers opened, and goats trying to eat as much grain as they can before they are found. It is extremely hard to convince them that the party is over. This is a great lesson in behavior management, your behavior not theirs. You will learn to not leave the feed room open.
Raising goats will show you where all of your farming weaknesses are. If you have a broken fence board, the goats will be happy to point that out to you. It will be the gaping hole where they left to visit the neighborhood across the way. You know the one. Its the neighborhood with the gate at the entrance and all the yards are full of well tended flower beds and grass. Oh and it will also be the one with the homeowner standing in the front yard waving wildly at your goats and yelling.
The goats will remind you that you haven’t yet given them a ride in your car. They will stand on the hood and have a head butting match. Which will remind you of why you can’t have nice things.
Goats will enrich your homestead life, drive you nuts, and make you laugh. Provide your goats with plenty of sunshine, fresh air, a suitable stall or housing, and quality forage. Use grain sparingly, unless feeding lactating does and kids. Your goats will reward you with years of good farming fun and plenty of behavior lessons along the way.
For further information read Goat Care and Maintenance
Amen!! I love my goats, but… yes!
They can get under our skin! Lots of laughs
Ha ha, cute! We don’t have any pasture for our goats, so in a situation like that would you suggest grain and alfalfa then as a regular diet? Or alfalfa only? Something else? Thanks!
Hi Kristi! I usually recommend orchard grass or timothy over alfalfa but I know we are in different areas of the country. Alfalfa is high in protein and may be too high for some goats. Are yours milking does? That would be a good reason to feed alfalfa. But yes, free choice hay and a small amount of grain daily should be fine. We don’t have pasture either and just let them out when we can supervise where they go on the property.
Thanks Janet! Yes, our girls are dairy goats (Nigerian Dwarfs), which is probably why I keep getting the advice to feed alfalfa, minerals, and water, and stop at that. However, a friend of mine who raises LaManchas and Nubians recommends grain for them with some other grass (she calls it teff grass or something like that). She says the reason for that is that alfalfa will kill their liver, which is why I’m looking into adding a little grain to their diet even before they are pregnant.
I think you are probably doing what you need to do. Its hard to pin point an exact regimen because it depends on so many variables, what is available in your area and the nutritional needs of the animal at the times None of ours are growing, pregnant or lactating so they get mostly orchard grass hay and a small handful of grain, mostly because they think they have to have some grain!
Hi my name is Christine I just wanted to ask a question. I went to the zoo with my husband and my grandson and girlfriend we walk in like a little barn to feed or touch them they were 3 laying down as soon as we walk up towards them All 3 jump up going towards us. I felt like they wanted to charge at us but than again idk wat tat ment????
Hi Christine I think the goats at the zoo are very comfortable around humans. They probably receive treats and so they are happy to see you. Most goats are not charging at you and I doubt the zoo would have animals that attack people in the petting zoo area. I hope you were able to enjoy the visit
How room do you need for 1 castrated male and 1 doe with babes? Do they have to kept separated? Thanks !!
I would have them in one stall with an adjacent fenced in area. Keeping the male with them would depend on their temperaments If he is not aggressive to the little ones then its no problem
Thanks for sharing your insights. As newbie goat owners this was useful to read!
You are welcome. I hope you will find time to come back and visit the page. thank you
@ Janet
I read your post of “truth about raising goats” and I have one question to ask about goat’s milk, what benefits I can get by drinking it. Can you please suggest some of them.
Regards
Jenifer
Hi Jennifer
Some people can digest goat milk when they can’t tolerate cow milk. The protein is different. Personally I like the taste better and I have less digestion issues with goat milk and goat milk cheese
If you can find someone with a goat that is willing to give some up to see if you can before you buy one and go through all the work and heartache just to still not be able to tolerate it. the stuff in the store is NOT THE SAME! no way around it.
LOL Great entertaining and informative read!!! Thanks for sharing at the (mis)Adventures Mondays Blog Hop. I look forward to seeing what you share this week!
Hi, I’m looking into getting two Nigerian dwarf goats. The problem is that I live on a shared property and don’t want them getting into my neighbours garden. I have been looking into 50 Metre electric fences which are 4 feet high. Would this contain them or would they just jump it? Thanks Grace
Grace I appreciate your comment. Unfortunately there is a little trial and error with the fencing that will work for individual goats. We had two goats that could jump anything we put up! Then we have had some that won’t leave their area if they gate is left open. My neighbor had three nigerians and used the electric fence. The goats were constantly getting through it and wandering off. That doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. It just means there isn’t an easy answer
Are goats normally crazy? I have a doe who is a maniac when it comes to milking time. None of my purebred Lamancha goats have every been nut cases. This goat is suppose to be 3/4 Lamancha and 1/4 Oberhalsi, she was very calm when she had a kid on her now she is crazy. She busts down doors, throws herself against walls, she lunges and leaps when I hold onto her collar. She is still even a little crazy when it’s not milking time. Is it just her personality? Could it be a breed thing? I had a crossbred goat a few months back that was like that but she calmed herself and learned her manners this one isn’t learning at all! Please help me this goat is driving me mad!
Sure hope this improves for you Maddie. We don’t have any milking does and in my experience I haven’t seen this. I would try positive reinforcement and lots of short practice sessions to get her used to staying calm. good luck
This was a great read, because I was laughing at the fact that all of these have happened with our goats. We are going into our second year with Nigerian Dwarfs. And they remind me of things that my kids did as toddlers.
Lol! We have Tennessee Fainters. One is actually part pygmy and can jump any fence. All it takes is calling his name and telling him to “Get back over there!” and back he goes. Nothing like a buck that rubs his head on your pants, making you wonder in the grocery store line….Who smells, and it is you!. Yes, they have gotten out, stripped the berry bushes, ate the blossoms off the beans and peas, broke into the house and created havoc. But, at the end of the day we would never want to be without any of them and losing one is like losing a family member. Best entertainment ever!
I understand that this is an old blog post but I’m thinking about adding some goats to my small homestead. I live in central Florida where the summers are hot, humid and in August it rains a lot. Would goats be a good fit for me? I live on half an acre and the very back of my yard tends to flood at the end of summer (on a bad year our backyard can turn into a 4 ft deep pond). I’m worried about goats getting foot rot or being stressed out with the climate.
Thank you!
Debbie, it sounds like you are doing your homework before getting goats which is a good idea! The heat is not their favorite climate but many people raise goats in Florida. It sounds to me that your property may not be the best for a goat herd though with the flooding. Goats do not like their feet to be wet. They are very unhappy standing in water or on wet ground and usually will choose to stay in when it rains. A good sized barn would be needed to offer them the protection they desire. Otherwise they would be stressed. Hoof rot is very hard to eradicate once it gets in the herd. It lives in the ground and is nearly impossible to get rid of. It is manageable with good hoof care but still a concern, as lameness can occur from it. Goats also prefer to forage so if they can’t go out due to prolonged wet weather, they will be bored and may try to escape the barn. All in all its of course hard for me to tell you what would happen but I am glad you are taking a serious approach to the decision.
Hysterically comedic post! However, even though I know you didn’t mean it to be an anti-goat post, now I really don’t want goats! I work 5 days a week and they would be left to themselves and I can’t afford to get calls from neighbors saying your goats are loose….Too bad, I have heard so many wonderful things about their milk and their other great traits, but all of the other stuff is unacceptable. I had cows and once the fence was re-done, had no issues with them trying to get out (could have been that they ate better than me, too LOL!)
I wouldn’t hesitate; as long as you get like 2 of them that are not mother daughter pair but are from the same herd so they are used to each other they should be just fine. I brought in two completely new ones and the Queen does not like them; it has caused stress. I would also plan to spend quality time with them. I have some crazies because I didn’t spend quality time with them. So babies this year will be more like pets and less like livestock so I don’t have that trouble next year. my plan is to have them out with my children and I when we are out for the day, whether on a leash or not.
I started with one pregnant doe and am up to 4 and waiting for babies any day. and waiting and waiting. .
I have always wondered if goat kids got their names from human children or the other way around. I’m pretty sure that human kids got it from goat kids but that is my opinion.
Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to do so. This is a great and truthful article.
Keep’em comin’!
do goats eat your house. Do i need to fence off my ac unit