Goats are excellent barnyard pets!  They are playful and enjoy playing on obstacles. They have individual personalities and will interact with people.

Here are a few tips and warnings:

1. Don't love your goat to death with grain.  See Goat Nutrition page.

2. Friends don't give friends male goats.  A sexist but realistic viewpoint, from a man!  Bucks have one function in life (Breeding).  Bucks can grow to around 250 lbs., which make them difficult to handle even if they are not aggressive.  Bucks frankly stink with an aroma that will drive away your dinner guests if the wind is blowing toward your house.  And most importantly, almost all pet buck and withers (castrated males) eventually get bladder stones which block the urinary tract.  If you own a blocked male goat, you only have 2 choice, surgery or euthanasia.  Please avoid having to make this decision.

3. Supervise children and don't allow them to play bucking games with goats.  This is dominance/ pecking order behavior and eventually the child will get hurt.

4. The major predator to goats is not a coyote.  Roaming pet dogs are a goats worst enemy.  Dog proof your goat pen the best you can.

Cattle Nutrition  ::  Goat Nutrition  ::  Goats as Pets