Preparing Your Property for Raising Goats

Bringing home goats requires some forethought on your part so that you can keep your goats safe and healthy and protect them from predators. Here’s a glimpse of the projects you need to undertake before you get your goats:

Build housing or get current housing ready. Goats need some kind of shelter from the elements and a safe place to bunk down. In addition, you might want a dedicated area for milking or kidding, if you decide to breed your goats.

Build a fence or check your fencing for security. Goats are smart and curious, and they will head out into the neighborhood if given the chance. Furthermore, wolves, wild dogs, and other predators would love to be able to get at your goats, and so you need to do your best to keep them out.

Buy feed and feeding equipment. Goats need hay, grain, minerals, and other supplemental feed, depending on the kind of goats you get, their stage of life, and the way you intend to use them. And of course, your goats need clean, fresh water every day. At a minimum, you need

Feed storage containers

Food bowls

Hay manger

Mineral feeder

Water buckets

Put together a first aid kit. Accidents and illnesses are inevitable, and so you need to be ready for common problems you’re likely to face as you raise goats, from stopping the bleeding from a hoof-trimming injury to giving injections to combat infections or illnesses.

Goat-proof your yard or pasture. Goats are grazers, which means that they move from plant to plant and tree to tree, eating all the way. Some of the common plants that homeowners use for landscaping can poison goats, and so you need to clear them out. You may also want to protect the trees that you can’t or don’t want to remove but adding some protection to their trunks.

Tips for Bringing New Goats Home

If you purchase your goats from a breeder who lives across the country, the breeder is responsible for getting the goats to a shipper, and all you have to do is find out where to pick them up. If you bought the goats from a neighbor and they are trained to lead, just put them on leashes and lead them home. If you’re buying goats in any other situation, you need to figure out in advance how to get them home.

Some of these methods won’t work for large goats, but you can transport goats in the following ways:

Pet carriers or crates with straw or wood shavings for bedding. If you’re moving the goat in an open truck bed in cold weather, cover the crate with a rug or tarp to keep the wind down and keep the goat warmer.

The back of an SUV, van, or the back seat of a car.

Cover the seat with a tarp and towels for those “accidents” that occur during transport.

On the towel-covered lap of a passenger. Goats that are being held and aren’t standing up will not pee on you, but they will poop.

The back of a truck with a canopy. Make sure to put down plenty of straw.

A horse trailer or another trailer with fencing or cattle panels to make it high enough to prevent escape. Cover an open trailer in extreme weather conditions to protect the goats from rain and wind.

Regardless of how you transport your new goats, to make the trip as stress-free as possible, do the following:

Load the goats carefully.

Make sure they have adequate bedding or padding.

Start, stop, and take turns or curves slowly and smoothly.

If your trip will take many hours or days, provide the goats with hay during the trip and stop every 3 to 4 hours to let them eat, drink, and regain their equilibrium.

If you’re getting your first goats, you don’t have anyone to quarantine your new goats from. You just get them situated in their new digs. But if you’re adding goats to an existing herd, you need to quarantine the new goats for at least 30 days.