It will make things a lot easier on you and your new goats if you do your research, find a good goat vet in your area, have the proper fencing and housing in place, and purchase basic necessities ahead of time to bring them home. You have obviously chosen to research Fainting Goats so you are headed in the right direction. They are your ‘easy keepers’. They will not challenge your fencing, are calm in nature, and parasite resistant.

Goats are herd animals and do not do well by themselves. You need to decide if you are interested in having goats as pets or if you are looking for breeding stock. The common terms for goat genders are: Buck-male goat, Doe-female goat, and Wether-castrated male. Wethers, in my opinion make the best pets and also make good companions for breeding stock since you will have to separate your bucks and does at a pretty early age to keep a doe from being bred too soon. Bucks normally do not make the ideal pets. They will be in rut (breeding season) for several months out of the year. They can be more aggressive or ‘fresh’ during this time. They also have a strong odor, which is caused by them urinating in their beards, on their faces, and the backs of their front legs to make themselves more attractive to the does. Wethers will not have the ‘bucky’ tendencies or the odor.

Some goats have horns and some are polled, which means they are born with no horns. We have mostly horned goats, but do have a few polled. Some people ‘disbud’ or ‘dehorn’ their goats. We prefer not to do this so we will be trying to expand our number of polled goats so that we will have more available to those who prefer no horns.

Proper Shelter

You will need to provide sufficient shelter for your goats according to the climate you live in. Here in southwest GA where we have a milder climate they will need at least a basic 3 sided structure to provide a place to escape the wind and rain and give them some shade for those really hot days.

If you have predators in your area, you might want to consider a barn type shelter that you can lock your goats up in at night and/or a good livestock guardian dog.

Feeding Your Goats

The ideal situation for any goat is to have a place to browse through weeds, and small brush to consume what they need when they need it. They do adapt well to what most people have more readily available for them, which is pasture. Also provide a good quality hay to them all the time, especially when grasses or browse are in their dormant season. Keep hay up off the ground. Do not feed moldy hay. It will help to have some type of hay feeder that will catch falling hay as it is nibbled to keep it from falling to the ground and being wasted.

Browse and hay are most important to your goats to keep their digestive system working properly. You can supplement their diet with grain or feed pellets, especially when grasses and browse are dormant. Depending on gender and time of year the amounts will vary. Bucks and wethers require much less than does. Does will require more when pregnant and nursing.

Your goats should always have fresh water available to them. A good loose mineral specifically for goats should be provided as well as baking soda at all times. Baking soda acts kind of like a Rolaid for us when we’ve eaten too much or too fast. It can prevent your goats from getting bloated.

Goats at Play

Goats love to play! Be creative and provide them some entertainment. Trust me…you will get as much entertainment watching them as they do playing. Some of the things we have provided for our goats to play on are as simple as a log to climb on, ramps or sliding boards, and wooden cable spools. Safely, securely stacked concrete blocks or a ramp covered with roofing shingles will help to wear down their hooves naturally and give them hours of fun.

Be careful not to entice your goats to butt you, by pushing on their heads or grabbing their horns. They naturally play with other goats this way, but you want to discourage them playing with you this way while they are young since it can become a problem when they get bigger.

Maintenance

You will need to worm your goats and trim their hooves as needed. You will need a good pair of hoof shears and a good wormer.

I recommend a CD&T shot annually. You can purchase this yourself along with syringes and needles.

Other items it will be helpful to have on hand are:

Nutrient and Energy drench, which you will find useful if your goats go off their feed, are stressed or need a boost. There are different brands. Power Punch, Goatade, and Nutri-drench are 3 I can think of right off hand.

Probios, which usually comes in a powdered or gel (tube) form. We give this also in stressful situations such as moving to a new home, after worming, or while on antibiotics.

Blood Stop powder, which hopefully you will never need, but is very good to have on hand in case of an accident.

You can find the above items online or at most of your local feed stores. A couple of my favorite online sources are:

http://www.jefferslivestock.com
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com
http://www.livestockconcepts.com

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
Enjoy your new goats!!