← Goats H25-01 · Module 1 of 7 · Pages: 21 · Worksheets: 5

Goats: breeds, numbers and purpose

What you want from goats, which breed to choose, how many your family needs, what a buck and the paperwork involve, and what it all costs

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Goats: breeds, numbers and purpose

In short

  • A goat never lives alone. Keep at least 2, because goats are herd animals and a lone goat cries and escapes all the time.
  • A good dairy goat gives roughly 500 L (about 110 UK gal / 130 US gal) of milk a year; a family needs roughly 150 L per adult.
  • Allow 1,200 m² (about 0.3 acre) of grazing and hay ground per goat, 400 kg (880 lb) of hay for winter and 2 hours of work a week per head.
  • Buy only goats with ear tags, movement papers and health records, from a herd free of CAE and CL.
  • A buck is a serious animal: strong, stubborn and dangerous in the rut. If you have nowhere to keep him apart, don't keep one.
  • Before your first goat, register your holding and ask your vet what is compulsory where you live.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. What you want from goats
  2. Breeds for your farm
  3. How many goats
  4. The buck: your own, borrowed or AI
  5. Buying: who from and what kind of goat
  6. Space, time and neighbours
  7. Paperwork and obligations
  8. Goats in the farm cycle
  9. Cost and value
  10. Plan for the first year
  11. Common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Herd calculator
  • Start-up costs for the herd
  • Comparing goats and sellers
  • Herd register
  • First-year goat calendar

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

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