Goat Facts

Information compiled by Dr. Bob McClung

Goats are intelligent, social, and challenging to herd

Goat Facts: Goats are versatile, domesticated animals kept for meat, milk, and fiber. The domestic goat is a species of goat-antelope mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. 

Goat Facts

Goat Facts:

  • First tamed by humans 9-10,000BC
  • Member of the cattle family
  • 210 breeds with 450 million worldwide (4-6% in the USA)
  • China has the most goats at 170 million
  • Goats’ eyes are rectangular in shape instead of oval
  • They have good night vision
  • Goats are bred for milk production, meat, skin, cashmere, mohair, and for pets.
  • Life span is 8-12 years with exceptions of up to 15+ years
  • Worldwide, more people eat or drink milk from goats than any other species
  • Goats don’t like to get wet and will seek shelter when it is raining
  • Goats are very susceptible to parasites
  • Goats deposit fat internally and less externally than sheep and cattle; therefore, they have more fat around their organs.
  • Goat milk is hypoallergenic and higher in Calcium and Vitamin A than cow’s milk.
  • Goat milk is naturally homogenized and can be digested in less than 20 minutes, while cow’s milk may take all day.
  • Goat meat has less fat and cholesterol than beef, pork, mutton, or poultry.

More Goat Facts:

  • Coffee was 1st discovered when herders noted animals acting very energized after nibbling on coffee beans.
  • Dairy goats produce 2-3 quarts of milk/day or 5000 gallons of milk/year, with some improved milkers producing more than 1 gallon per day.
  • Goats can consume 3-5% of body weight of dry matter on good pasture and less on poor pasture.
  • Market infrastructure is disorganized in movement from farm to consumer
  • Some goats have milked up to 5 years after only one gestation
  • Goats don’t have tear ducts
  • Goats’ primary illnesses are coccidiosis, parasitic worms, pneumonia
  • Goats don’t like to eat feed that has been soiled, contaminated, or has been on the ground
  • Some goats naturally polled are also infertile (male or female)
  • Goats like to eat woody plants and are utilized as pre-grazers in the West to improve pastures for cattle, e.g., leafy spurge
  • Azaleas are poisonous to goats
  • Vomiting is almost always a sign of poisonous plant consumption
  • Lactating in close contact with “musty” bucks may produce “goaty” tasting milk and may be offensive.

Parasite Strategy

  • Feeding Coccidiostat for 2 weeks in feed to late gestating decreases the environmental load and the passage of Coccidia from adults to young.
  • Always use Coccidiostat in the starter or creep feed
  • Have a clean and dry environment
  • Coccidia is worse in cold and wet times of the year

Worm Strategy

  • Inhibition-heavy loads worms change the pH of the gut and cause ½ worms to cover mouth parts with membrane and leave the body for the new host: parasite survival techniques
  • We have learned that the food source in the worms’ body only lasts 42 days
  • Don’t pasture for 45 days after 1st green grass
  • ½ of the worms starve on pasture: this is a great time to worm goats in the 45-day inhibition phase
  • Parasites lose resistance to wormer in 18 months
  • Use wormers strategically and rotate
  • Spring-August 30, 30 days before kidding
  • Deworm does this in the 30 days before kidding to prevent transfers from nanny to kid.

Breeding Facts

  • Age of puberty: female 7-10 months; male 4-8 months
  • Breeding age male 8-10 months
  • Healthy buck can breed 20-40 does
  • Gestation length 146-153 days
  • Females 80# body weight time to breed or 75% of adult weight
  • Estrus length 12-36 hours
  • Signs are tail wagging, mucous discharge, swollen vulva, bleating, mounting, or being mounted.
  • Female adult weight 22-300# breed dependent
  • Male adult weight 27-350# breed dependent
  • Goats can deliver up to 3 litters of kids in 2 years
  • Goats can deliver 1-5 kids/gestation

Odd Reproduction Problems of Small Ruminants

  • Ringwomb
  • No consistent predispositions, etiology unknown

Theories:

  • Genetic link-autosomal recessive
  • Lack of release of hormones that soften cervical collagen
  • Infectious in nature (unlikely)
  • Estrogens in feed, moldy feedstuffs
  • It may or may not recur in the same female
  • Manual dilation doesn’t work-still left with a thin band of cervical tissue
  • No studies clearly document the efficacy of any drug or treatment to complete dilation

Treatment:

  • Not advised to pull. Will get hemorrhage and death of neonate +/- dam
  • Cesarean

Goat Facts: Abnormal udder development

  • Rare in sheep, common in goats
  • Precocious udder development
  • Young, unbred goat
  • Glands produce normal, mild

Treatment

  • Prostaglandin, then FSH if it fails
  • Do not milk out
  • Cease grain

If a goat is not for show, do nothing

Pseudopregnancy (Cloudburst pregnancy)

  • Goats only never reported in sheep
  • Unknown etiology
  • Accumulation of fluid in the uterus
  • It may or may not have udder development
  • Treatment is Prostaglandin because a CL is persistent. To prevent this, some breeders breed on the first cycle.
  • The goat is anestrus during this time but remains fertile.

Spontaneous Lactation

  • It seems to be relatively common and of no consequence
  • Unknown etiology
  • Estrogens in feed, estrogens from abnormal ovary
  • Mastitis

Treatment

  • None required
  • Can try hormonal therapy
  • Mastectomy, ovariectomy, ovariohysterectomy

Goat Facts: Tips on Natural Synchronization

  • Remove bucks from sight, sound, and smell 2-3 months
  • Start to flush 2-3 weeks before breeding
  • Deworm 2 weeks before breeding
  • Pen “teaser bucks” or buck in nannies to breed
  • 15 days before breed turn out on desired breed date (male odor, behavior stimulate synchronization estrus)
  • We also use 9mg/# of LA200 2 weeks before breeding to decrease Chlamydia, Campylobacter & Lepto

Livestock Products for Goats & Sheep

  • Newborn Immune Primer Original for Goats and Sheep
  • Newborn Stress Premix for Goats and Sheep
  • Adult Immune Primer Support for Livestock
  • Adult Stress Premix for Goats and Sheep

Learn More

These testimonials and case studies are presented for informational purposes only and are not intended as an endorsement of any product. The information is not intended to be a substitute for consulting your local veterinarian. Rather, they offer the reader information written by pet owners and/or veterinarians concerning animal health and products that have shown results.