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Pygmy Goat Care Manual
Pygmy goats are wonderful pets and can provide
years of enjoyment for your family with minimal care. This
is a brief "owner's manual" to help provide information on
how to care for your new goats.
BACKGROUND
First, some background information on pygmy goats. Pygmy
goats originated in the Camaroon Valley of western Africa,
hence the official name of African Pygmy Goats. They were
imported into the United States from European zoos about 50
years ago for use in zoos and as a research animal. They
were eventually acquired by private breeders and quickly
gained popularity by the public due to their good-natured
personalities, friendliness and hardy constitution. Today
you can hardly go to a petting zoo that does not have pygmy
goats to greet you.
Pygmy goats, in addition to making wonderful pets, can be used as a milking goat (supplying up to a 1/2 gallon of rich milk a day), an ecologically effective browser, an excellent 4-H project or as a show animal.
Our family has been raising pygmy goats since 1991. Our children started with two wethers as 4-H projects to show at the county fair. Within a year we purchased our first does and have been breeding pygmy goats since. We hope to share some of the things we have learned over the years with you to help you on your way.
FENCING
Since pygmy goats are small, they do not require acres
and acres of pasture. I have 3/4 of an acre for my does and
a large separate pen for my bucks. A good fence is
essential, not only to keep your goats in, but to keep stray
dogs out. We tragically lost three does in one night to a
dog that worked the gate latch open, so make sure you have
good hardware as well. Non-climb 2"x4" fencing is ideal, but
4' high livestock fencing will do the job. Two strands of
barbed wire above the fencing and one strand at ground level
is a good idea to keep dogs and coyotes out. With the larger
size squares of livestock fencing, you will need to put a
cardboard collar on your babies until they can no longer
squeeze through (about 3 months of age). Goats are escape
artists due to their high intelligence (on par with a dog),
so you will need to keep up on any holes (I did find that
when we acquired does, our wethers gave up their roaming
ways and stayed with the does, who were quite content to
stay home in their pasture).
HOUSING
Pygmys are not fussy about their accommodations. If you
have just a few goats, a 8'x10' shed or lean-to will do.
They do hate to get wet, so make sure that whatever you put
them in is dry. They will need a hay rack to keep their feed
off the ground. I stretched fencing across exposed 2" x 6"
studs to make my hay feeders. Goats are fussy about eating
clean feed and will not eat "dirty" feed unless they are
starving. Once hay hits the ground, they consider it "dirty"
and will not eat it. This is a benefit because it helps them
to avoid intestinal worms. Your pygmys would also enjoy a
wooden sleeping platform. It can be as simple as an old barn
door thrown on the ground. I built mine out of used plywood
and 2" x 4"s. It is 4' x 8' and is about 15" above the
ground. Your goats would also enjoy things to climb and jump
on. Wooden cable spools are great for playing "king of the
mountain".
FEED
Back on the goat information index page is a paper I
presented to our pygmy goat club on feeding, so for further
detail, read it. Keep in mind as you read it that I raise
goats for breeding and as show animals, thus my breeding
does have greater nutritional requirements than wethers kept
as pets. Goats are very hardy and are efficient browsers and
you literally can kill them with kindness by overfeeding
them. Wethers can be susceptible to a fatal condition called
urinary calculi (calcium stones in the urinary tract) if
they are over-grained. For baby wethers I would recommend
starting out with 1 cup of dry COB (Corn, Oats, and
Barley-also known as Dry Rolled Ration) fed once a day with
free choice alfalfa or grass hay available. Also, make sure
that you have a trace mineral salt lick available. For does,
I would start them off with dairy goat feed instead of dry
COB and follow the recommendations in the attached
article.
Goats are "browsers", not "grazers" like sheep and cattle. They will not keep your lawn mowed, but will love blackberries and brush. Please make note of the attached toxic plant list. Some, such as rhododendron, are highly toxic and require immediate vet care for survival.
SHOTS AND GENERAL
CARE
Your new goats have had their basic shots. Pygmy goats
require two basic shots. Your goats will need a yearly
booster of Tetanus C & D on their birthday. CDT guards
against Tetanus and Enterotoxema, also known as Overeating
Disease. BoSe (containing selenium) must be given in our
area due to the absence of selenium in our Northwest soil if
you do not add selenium as a daily supplement. Your goats
will need a shot of BoSe every six months to prevent white
muscle disease. Your goats will need their hooves trimmed
regularly. Garden pruning shears or sheep hoof trimmers work
quite well. I have available a simple plan for building a
stanchion
for holding your goat when trimming hooves or giving shots.
Please consider building one--it is invaluable for holding
your goat while you work on it.
You may need to worm your goats. If you have many animals in a small space you will need to worm more frequently than if you have a few animals in a large space. Symptoms to look for are weight loss, in spite of a good appetite, a rough coat, and/or a general "ratty" appearance. You can take a fecal sample to your local vet for testing if you suspect worms. Horse paste wormers can be used at 5x the dosage rate of a horse. My favorite wormer to use is Eprinex--a pour on version of Ivermectin. I use a syringe with the needle removed and apply it on the skin along the spine. This also will take care of lice. I generally find I need to treat for lice at the end of winter, so I worm in early fall and early spring.
Grooming your goats is one of the more fun tasks of goat care. You can find inexpensive grooming brushes at your local feed store or even use an old "people" brush. Goats really enjoy being groomed, especially in spring when they are shedding their winter coats (I like to have on hand a a dog undercoat rake for combing out their undercoat). Grooming is an excellent bonding activity with your goats.
HEALTH
Pygmy goats are very hardy. It helps to observe your
goat's daily habits so that if your goat is acting strange
you will notice it right away. There are certain things that
you should be on the look out for:
1. Going "off his feed" (although during very hot weather
this is not uncommon for a day or two)
2. No longer running and playing
3. Standing hunched up with his tail drooping
4. Diarrhea, loose and/or mucousy
5. A high temperature-normal goat body temperature is about
102.5. It is a good idea to take your goat's normal body
temperature for reference.
Any or all of these symptoms may indicate a serious health problem.
SOCIALIZATION
This is for you, not your goats! Getting together with
other pygmy goat enthusiasts is a lot of fun. There may be a
local goat club (Willamette Pygmy Goat Club in my area) that
meets regularly and sponsors goat shows in your area. There
is a national organization you can join (National Pygmy Goat
Association) that publishes a magazine with good goat
information, as well as show results, 6 times a year. Also,
there is an excellent magazine full of great information as
well as fun articles about pygmy goats and breeders called
The Goat World.
Pioneer Meadows Pygmy Goats
18383 S Grasle Rd
Oregon City OR 97045
(503)631-2855
hmdahlin@mac.com