Physical features & behavior

Toy goats have become a pet, just as dogs or cats. Except that it is actually more useful for your garden. The goat is going to clear your garden of brambles, woody plants and bushes, even nettle (once dried)!

They are born from a breeding between the smallest goat races, mostly originating in Senegal and Tibet, where the living conditions are tough. The dwarf goat is part of the Bovidae family, and the subfamily Caprinae, just like other goats and sheeps.

Goats are gregarious animals, they are used to live in herds since the dawn of times. A single goat will be very unhappy and though she can befriend a dog, a cat, a horse or whatever animal you may already have... They need to be with their peers. If you intend to adopt a goat, then you better plan to adopt goat...s! Which means more fun!!

It is a very rustic and hardy animal with a life expectancy from 10 to 15 years. They can weight between 15 and 30kg and their sizes varies from 42cm at withers for the "toy" or "extra-toy" labelled goats, and up to 50cm at withers for the "dwarf" or "extra dwarf" labelled goats.

You may have noticed that dwarf goats (and goats in general) have rectangular pupils! Weird, no? Several reasons to that:

• Thanks to this shaped pupil, they have a panorama vision. In the wild, this helps them spot predators rapidly on a broad range. Even when they are grazing, their vision is aligned on the horizon so they don't get surprised by an unwelcomed visitor...
• Their whole vision field is clear, not like us with rounded pupils. When you focus your eyes on something, the surrounding of that focus point is blurred, right? Not them! When running away from predators, they are able to have a clear vision of the ground and what's ahead.

Pretty neat eh??

Easy to be tamed

Toy goats are really friendly animals that can be pet or walk like dogs. If the goat has been tamed from her birth, it will be even more social and you will be able to educate it easily. They also love playing around in the woods, but if you take them in the forest, have them leashed because running away is their absolute favorite activity!

Male individuals are more social than female ones, but they are very stubborn farm animals... You must lay rules down and stick to them. Otherwise, you may be surprised by their naughty behavior...!

If the goats have not been early tamed, they can be very wild and fearfull, then you must be really patient to get accepted.

Field & shelter

There are no specific rule of thumb in order to know if the size of your garden or field is suitable for your goat. It is advised to have a space of minimum 200sqm for one goat, and then 100sqm more per extra goat.

Some people raise dwarf goats on smaller fields (~100sqm), but they are very playful animals and it is best to offer them a decent play field so they can enjoy and be happy. Also the smaller the field, the riskier it is for your goats to catch parasites, and they are very sensitive to these... You must treat and deworm them twice a year.

The goats' shelter

It is important that their shelter is aerated: goats hate rain, drafts and humidity. A good quality shelter is essential during winter and rainy days. A wooden shelter is the best for the winter times, because warmer. Make sure it is ventilated and bright enough.

The shelter's ground must be easily cleaned: spread a wood-fiber/sawdust layer, to absorb most of the urine, then cover with a straw layer. By adding to the top straw layer regularly, it stays clean and dry. This way helps reduce the deep cleaning to a 6 weeks frequency.

What to feed your goats?

The dwarf goats are clever enough to select their food, which helps reduce the poisining risk. However, take care not to feed them with potatoes, cabbages, or some plants like laurel, ivy, yew... Here is a list of adapted aliments for your goats:

• Herbs (bushes, leaves)
• Hay (especially during winter)
• Hard bread (but in small quantities, cutted in pieces and never wet!)
• Cereals (100g of corn/oat/barley per goat, avoid wheat)
• Vegetables (carots, celery, spinach, ...)
• Fruits (apples, pears, apricots, banana peels, ...)
• Water (always a clean bucket of water)

To ensure the daily intakes in salts and minerals, you can add salt blocks. They are sold as blocks to be licked, and the best is to choose those specially made for goats. A dwarf goat needs around 100g to 200g of concentrated aliments daily, to meet the needs in minerals in vitamins.

Breeding

The sexual maturity of dwarf goats varies a lot from one individual to another, and can happend between 3 to 12 months. Most of the time, it happens around 6-7 months. Unless their bigger cousines, the dwarf goats can give birth anytime in the year. Then it is important to separate male and females individuals, except during your selected breeding season, in order to preserve and do not exhaust the females.

The gestation period is around 150 days, as it is for regular goats. The oestrum of the females lasts around 48h and happen every 3 weeks. The dwarf goats usually give birth to one or two baby goats, rarely more. When expecting, the female goat will isolate herself from the herd to get more tranquility, but won't go too far since it is in their DNA to stay together in order to protect each other from the dangers in the wild. You can withdraw the baby from its mother after a 3 months period.

The male's sterilization

Sterilization is often performed on male individuals, to avoid strong odours, suppress morphological features (no beard, less important horns) and to temper their nature. Sterilized males are often absolutely lovely and cuddly with their owners.