Vitals:

Temperature 39.3c - 40c

Pulse 60 - 80 per minute

Respiration 15 - 30 per minute

 

Basic Care

This page is intended for very basic care information only.  Should you require more indepth information there are tons of sites available on the internet and some very good books to purchase.

Keeping goats can be as complicated or as uncomplicated as you make it - most important things are shelter, food, water and protection from preditors.

 

GOAT BEHAVIOUR: Goats are above anything else a herd animal, they normally do not do well when being raised alone, you should always have a minimum of two.  Like chickens there is also a pecking order, this usually results in a little barging and butting each other, but rarely is anyone seriously hurt.

They are the Houdini's of the animal world, cute as they are they will jump like a kangaroo and squeeze through places you never thought possible, they are particularly good at going 'under' fences!

They will ring bark tree's and jump on your car, we found it best to put them in smaller paddocks and rotate on a regular basis.

 

SHELTER:  Goats do require some form of shelter to escape the elements, they particularly hate being wet, they also need protection from preditors.  A basic shelter is fine and it does not need to be elaborate.  We have three sided shelters (we find our electric fencing warns off preditors) and some made up of old bits of tin, you can even use old water tanks cut in half.  In winter we try to make the shelters as draught free as possible.

 

FEEDING:  Goats are browsers and not 'grazers', they will surive on pasture but much prefer to chomp on leaves and branches, do some weeding and mow the lawn for you.  Ours graze through the day, they have a little grain 4 or 5 times a week (not overly necessary) and ab lib hay at night, we tend to use barley, or grassy lucerne if available.  A must is fresh water at all times. They do require quite a high mineral intake, suppling them with a stock lick is recomended although you should avoid anything containing urea as it is poisonious to them.

 

GENERAL CARE:  

WORMING:   Every three months, particularly in wetter climates.  It would pay to do some research on worming, worming unecessarily can lead to resistance to drenches.

VACCINATION: Every 6 months we use a 5 in 1.

HOOVES:  depending on the ground they are running on, we check ours once a month and give a trim if required.