Goat Care Basics: Company, Browse, Feet, Fencing and the Law

Company Comes First

Goats are herd animals, and a goat on its own is a stressed goat, however much time you spend with it. Start with at least two, bought together on the same day if possible; adding a second goat to a lonely one later is harder. Another goat is the right companion, not a sheep, a dog or a pony.

For pets, does (females) and wethers (castrated males) are the usual choice. Entire males (bucks) are strong-smelling in the breeding season and need their own housing and fencing.

Browse, Hay and a Little Feed

Goats are browsers rather than grazers: they prefer leaves, shrubs, brambles, tree prunings and weeds to a mown lawn. Where browse runs short, good hay should make up most of the diet, with a measured amount of goat feed on top only if your vet or an experienced keeper says your goats need it. Clean water must always be available.

• Minerals: a loose mineral or lick made for goats. Goats need more copper than sheep can safely have, so if both share a field, keep their minerals apart (see goat minerals).
• Wethers: castrated males can be prone to urinary stones, and diet affects the risk, so ask your vet how to feed them.
• Poisonous plants: many garden shrubs, such as yew, rhododendron and laurel, are toxic to goats. Walk your boundaries and remove them, and never give garden clippings you can't identify.
• No kitchen scraps: in the UK and the EU it is illegal to feed kitchen or catering waste to farm animals, pet goats included.

Fencing That Expects to Be Tested

Goats climb, jump, lean, squeeze and work out latches. Fencing that holds sheep or a dog often won't hold a goat.

• Use tight stock netting or rigid livestock panels, tall enough that they can't jump or climb out, with no footholds such as horizontal rails on the inside.
• An electric strand on the inside, at goat nose height, stops leaning and rubbing.
• Fit two-step or clip latches on every gate.
• Keep woodpiles, cars and log stacks away from the fence; goats use them as launch pads.

Dogs (including friendly ones) are the main predator of goats in many places. Our page on dogs and livestock has more.

A Dry Shelter

Goats have no waterproof undercoat like sheep and really dislike rain. They need a dry, draft-free, well-ventilated shed with clean bedding, raised sleeping platforms if you can, and room for every goat to lie down. Hay racks inside keep hay dry and off the floor, and something to climb on outside keeps them busy and happy.

Feet and Daily Checks

Goat feet grow continuously and need regular trimming; how often depends on the goat and the ground. Ask your vet or an experienced keeper to show you how, then check feet every few weeks. Daily, look at every goat: eating, cudding (chewing the cud), moving well and bright-eyed.

Buying Healthy Goats and Finding a Vet

Good breeders test their herds for diseases such as CAE, CL and Johne's and will show you the results; ask before you buy. Keep newcomers apart from your goats for a few weeks. Register with a farm or mixed-practice vet who sees goats, and plan vaccination and worming with them; worming is best based on fecal egg counts (see our livestock health kit).

Worming, parasite treatments and other medicines: see your vet or a pet supply store with trained staff. Farm animals are a food-producing species in law in many countries, even as pets, so treatments follow farm rules and need recording.