Johnson Home Farm

Basic care

These are very basic instructions for keeping pet goats.

There are a few essentials every goat needs:

Companionship, high quality feed, fresh water, shelter, loose minerals, a

clean/tidy fenced area to live, internal/external parasite control and regular hoof trims.

Companionship

Goats are herd animals.  They need to be with at least one other goat but can be happy

with horses, donkeys, lamas, and rabbits too.  Goats and dogs should not be left unattended together.  It's highly unfair to the goat to put it where it cannot escape the carnivorous teeth of a dog if the dog should decide to play a little rough.  Goats and chickens should not be housed together.  Chicken food is toxic to goats.

Feed

There's a new feed product out called Chafefhaye. The produces claim it "addresses many of the common digestive and respitory problems that animals can experience from insufficient grazing, or from eating dusty hay, high-energy cereals, or difficult-to-chew pellets."  Because we have experienced all these problems, we are now using alfalfa Chaffhaye.  It sounds like the perfect solution to our feeding frustration and we will keep you posted on how we like it.  Below is my rant about baled hay, one of our previous forms of nutrition (or lack of):

If you're thinking you'll keep goats to eat down weeds that's fine, but please supplement

their diet with a high quality forage.  Alfalfa is best but goats are terrible wasters of

stems.  Imagine the amount of waste you'll have from just one fifty pound bale of hay!  Add to that thought how you will get that baled alfalfa to your home, where you will store it when you get it there, the physical labor needed to move the bales, and the hay dust you'll be breathing in through this difficult process.  If you're like us you'll also break out in hives where your skin came in contact with the alfalfa!

Please also consider these facts about baled hay:

Quality is very rarely consistent.  Different cuttings have different nutritional values.  If you're able to obtain enough of the cutting you need (third is best for alfalfa) to last throughout the year until the next cutting you need to have a place to store it.  What a horrible disappointment it would be to go through all the work of buying, hauling, stacking, and storing to realize not all the hay you purchased is of the same high quality!  It may have been baled too wet or too dry.  Hay baled too wet causes mold to form on the inside of the bale.  Feeding this to a cow may be acceptable but feeding it to a goat is not!  The tiny mold spores cause permanent lung damage to those who are forced to eat it or starve.  Hay baled too dry lacks the nutrients goats need to be healthy.  Now, what are you going to do with all that bad hay?  We have suffered the frustration of loose bales.  What a mess loosely strung bales cause in a barn!  OK, so we're not fans of baled alfalfa!  We have found alfalfa pellets (and now bagged Chaffhaye) to work very well.  The nutrition is consistent, there is no waste, and really feeding alfalfa pellets (or bagged Chaffhaye) is as easy as feeding a dog bagged dog food! 

How convenient!

Read labels to be sure there is no additive (such as grain) if you'll be feeding boys pellets.

Just because the bag says 'goat' doesn't mean you should buy it.  Many bagged goat feeds are to be used as a supplement to alfalfa only and not to be used as the only source of feed.  Be sure to read labels and compare them.  If you choose to feed alfalfa pellets as we did be sure alfalfa is what you're buying - plain alfalfa in pellet form without additives!  This is especially important when you're feeding wether's.  They can't have any grain.  Grain is rich in calcium and will kill your boys by a slow and painful death.  Calcium will build up in his urethra.  Urine will be unable to pass through.  His bladder will burst and he will die.  You won't be able to have a vet reverse the damage that was done. 

It's a sure and painful death.  

Fresh Water

If you're just keeping a few goats as pets use a bucket for water that can be easily washed weekly.  You really don't need anything fancy, just something clean that has not been used for non-food substances before.  There are some nice buckets that plug in for winter use.  They keep the water from freezing but do not keep it heated.  Whatever you choose should be kept free of slime and debris daily. 

Shelter

Goat shelters can be very basic.  They need to be free of leaks (check the bottom) and able to protect the goats from wind, rain, snow, and sun.  Wood shavings work very well as a bottom layer of bedding and to absorb urine.  We used to put straw over the top but now we use grass because it's the same price and they can eat it!  The grass helps as an insulator from the cold. 

Loose Minerals

Just get a little bucket or mineral feeder and put a couple cups of loose minerals in it that contains selenium.  Goats need it during the Summer more than any other time of year. 

Containment

Goats need to be able to move freely without being attached to a rope or chain.  Housing them in a fenced area will help them feel safe and keep them out of danger.  Because our goat pens are actual pens rather than fields we allow them playtime every day.  This is when we open the gate so they can run, play, nibble weeds, or whatever they choose.  We've never tied up a goat and we've never had one run away.  They're  so good about staying close to the house and us!  Make sure the grounds you keep them on is free of any hazardous material and garbage.  Goats are very curious and explore their world as a human baby does - by putting everything into it's mouth!

Internal/External Parasite Control

Internal parasites are worms.  Goats need to regularly be treated for worms.  We use a herbal dewormer from thegoatstore.com and like how it's all natural.  It's worked very well for us.  Chemical dewormers are used less often (every three monts rather than once each week) but are a poison.  External parasites are bugs that can be seen on the skin under the hair of a goat.  Treatments for this come in liquid and powder forms.  Do not use the powder where the goats eat, it goes everywhere!  Liquids are just used a few drops at a time on the back of the neck and directly onto the skin.  You must not skip internal and external parasite treatments if you want your goats to live a long and healthy life! 

Hoofs

Hoofs need to be trimmed every four to six weeks.  It's very easy to trim hoofs.  Holding the goat still for the trim is the difficult part of trimming!  The hoof looks much like a fingernail that is over grown.  Just trim the growth back flush with the hoof but not so short you cause bleeding.  If you do see a little blood just put some cornstarch on it (from the baking isle of the grocery store) to help with clotting. 

Horns

Horns are terrible things!  They cause injury to people and other animals (sometimes unintentionally.)  They get caught in buckets and fences.  Pet goats should not have horns.  We can help you with disbudding up to but not beyond a kid four weeks of age.  The process of disbudding is horribly uncomfortable for both the goat and the person disbudding it but it's over quickly and for the entire lifetime of the goat.  Because it is stressful for the animal it should not be done on a goat who is showing physical signs of stress such as a cold or diarrhea.  Of all the goats we have disbudded over the last few years (which is near one hundred now) only one has fainted from stress and she was soon on her feet as if nothing at all had happened.  None have died.

Please teach your children that animals have feelings too and that they must be treated

with love and compassion.

This page was last updated: June 12, 2011