Thinking about goats? How much work are they….really

I sometimes get asked how we ended up with goats on our farm. It went something like this:

Me: I think we should get some goats. They are cute and those fainting ones are adorable.
Nick: Goats?! (confused look on his face)
Aubrey: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAATSSS!

And so we got goats. HAHA!

So why goats? Well, ours are pets and provide us hours of entertainment with their crazy antics. They all have very different personalities, but most of ours are friendly and enjoy scratches, brushing and treats.
I’m often asked if we milk our goats and the answer is no. Milking goats requires a whole different level of commitment that we aren’t willing to give. However, while ours are pets, different breeds of goats have different practical uses. There are dairy goats, meat goats, and packing goats. I saw a guy use his goats with backpacks on them in the mountains to help carry out an elk carcass.
Even just as pets, our goats are fun and have great personalities.
So how does one care for a goat? The number one thing I’ve learned about caring for my goats is that they live to destroy. No joke! When planning shelter, fencing, playgrounds, anything they can get to – either plan for it to be nuclear bomb proof or keep it out of their reach.
We use 16′ cattle panels with extra heavy duty metal T-posts to connect the fencing to. Keeping in mind that the goats will use the fence as a ladder to get attention, we put the panels on the inside of the posts so they push against the posts. It’s a more secure way to keep the fencing together. In addition, fencing is important to consider when bringing home baby goats- called kids. The kids are so tiny they can squirt right through the cattle panel holes. So we lined the cattle panels with chicken wire 3′ high as a temporary fix until the kids are big enough to not get out. Our first kids we brought home we didn’t even consider how tiny they were. They got out of the fencing holes straight away and headed to the garage. It wasn’t until Aubrey found them and stated bluntly: “Dad, there are goats in the garage” that we knew we had to come up with a better plan. Thus the chicken wire. Maybe we have been lucky, but our goats have never climbed or jumped the fencing. Cattle panels are 50″ tall and we keep smaller breed goats so it’s been working for us.
One word of caution on the cattle panels and goats: we don’t dehorn our goats, and the smaller ones can get their heads through the fence holes to eat the grass on the other side. Sometimes they get stuck in the fencing. Generally they figure out how to get themselves loose, but we are aware if there is a goat hollering that is what it could be and will need assistance.

Goats are surprisingly picky when it comes to eating, and somehow at the same time complete gluttons. We free feed ours hay – meaning it’s available all the time. They have a tendency to pick through the hay with their lips and eat only their favorite strands while wasting a lot of the rest. There are wall mounted wooden feeders and large tubs filled with hay on the ground (which they generally lay in). We have tried all kinds of ways to reduce hay waste and still have yet to come up with a good solution.
We also feed a portion of goat grains from our local feed mill. It’s formulated specifically for goats so they get the minerals and vitamins they need. This is a once daily feed and it’s more like feeding sharks than goats. They go nuts over the grain and push each other around to get the most! We feed only an allotted amount or they would eat themselves sick.
The feeders we have used with best results are fence mounted heavy duty plastic ones that are literally chained on the bottom to the fence. Remember – goats are destroyers of everything. These are the only feeders that have held up to the wrath of goat horns ramming them. We have plastic hang-on-a-2×4 type feeders for keeping minerals in them inside their goat house. The minerals are a free feed option for them, and sometimes they don’t touch it and sometimes it gets eaten completely. The plastic containers mounted are considered “disposable” as they last a few months and get busted up. One goat in particular, “Tank”, lives to ram his horns into the feeders. It’s his lifelong mission to destroy as many as he can. It’s a good thing he is cute!

Goats have hooves that need regular maintenance. Their hooves are always growing like fingernails, and the growth rate is dependent on each individual. When the hooves get too long it can affect the way they walk and is painful for them. Trimming them is a multi-person job at BFF generally. Two people hold the goat and make sure the horns are secure, and then one trims the hooves with a garden pruning shears. The how to of trimming hooves could be a whole blog by itself, but rest assured once you do it a few times and get the hang of what to cut it’s really not that hard.

Goats do need worming a couple times of year, and it’s wise to take a sample of their poop to the vet once a year to verify the kind of worms you need to treat. Goats always have worms, and there just isn’t going to be a way to completely eliminate the worms. The goal is to manage the worm load they carry so it doesn’t affect their general health. High stress situations such as extreme hot or cold weather, adding new goats or someone passing away can cause “worm blooms.” Worm blooms are just times when the goat’s immunity might be a little down and the worms take advantage of it.
Goats can also get mites or lice which can be managed by giving injections of the proper medication.

The most important thing for caring for our goats, in my opinion, is simply spending time with them and knowing their personalities. When you know their normal routines and how they act when they are feeling good, you’ll know when they are not feeling well and it will be a flag that something is wrong. Sometimes goats get sick and it can go bad very fast. We’ve had experiences here with pneumonia, urinary tract stones, and infections of the skin. When the more serious stuff happens, we fall back on our relationship with our large animal vet to helps us out. Simply keeping an eye on the coat sheen and color can give you a clue that the goats might have something going on that needs attention. The one good thing about dealing with medical stuff is that you gain the knowledge to handle it in the future, and the experience gives you confidence that you CAN handle it. Keep in mind they can have a lifespan of 10-12 years, so they are a serious commitment when adding to your farm.

Overall our experience with keeping goats has been a positive thing. It’s been a good experience for our daughter especially who is tasked with the daily feeding and watering of our herd. Our goats have fun personalities like dogs, and enjoy attention from us.