Goat Facts

Information compiled by Dr. Bob McClung

Goats are intelligent, social, and challenging to herd

Goat Facts: Goats are versatile, domesticated animals that are kept for their 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:

• 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 as pets.
• Life span is 8-12 years, with exceptions of up to 15+ years
• Worldwide, more people eat or drink milk from goats than from 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 first discovered when herders noted that animals became very energetic after nibbling on coffee beans.
• Dairy goats produce 2-3 quarts of milk per day, or approximately 5,000 gallons of milk per year, with some improved milkers producing more than 1 gallon per day.
• Goats can consume 3-5% of their body weight of dry matter on good pasture and less on poor pasture.
• Market infrastructure is disorganized in the 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, and pneumonia
• Goats don’t like to eat feed that has been soiled, contaminated, or has been on the ground
• Some naturally polled goats 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 a coccidiostat in the feed for 2 weeks to late-gestating animals 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 of worms change the pH of the gut and cause ½ of the worms to cover their 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’ bodies only lasts 42 days
• Don’t pasture for 45 days after 1st green grass
• ½ of the worms starve on the 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
• Deworming is performed within 30 days before kidding to prevent the transfer of parasites from the nanny to the kid.

Breeding Facts

• Age of puberty: female 7-10 months; male 4-8 months
• Breeding age male 8-10 months
• A 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 have never been 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 an 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 bucks in nannies to breed
• 15 days before the breed turns out on the desired breed date (male odor, behavior stimulates synchronization of estrus)
• We also use 9mg/# of LA200 2 weeks before breeding to decrease Chlamydia, Campylobacter & Lepto

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