Caring for pygmy goats
On this page, you will find information about: Pygmy goat paddocks, accommodation, food, body care, and habits; along with info about goat-friendly toys, and info on how to look after pygmy goats during the winter season and during the fireworks 'season(s)'.
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General info
Owning and looking after pygmy goats as pets is an interesting and rewarding experience, and knowing how to look after them is important, as good pygmy goat care is essential. In many ways, pygmy goats are very similar to dogs; they enjoy human company, are playful, have routines and can be affectionate and have a caring nature. However, it is good to become familiar with how to care for pygmy goats before getting any of your own.
With regards to food, pygmy goats do not eat everything! They sniff, lick, bite and butt lots of things, but they do not eat everything! Even if they do chew something which isn't food, they spit it out when they realise they can't eat it. Goats frequently do not eat some foods, simply because they are fussy and don't like the taste! For example, Henry clearly prefers white bread to brown bread if he's ever given bread as a treat (however he doesn't say "no" to brown bread!). Pygmy goats can also be surprisingly fussy if the food they are eating is slightly dirty or muddy.
Pygmy goats are also much cheaper to care for than dogs or cats, for example. Goats also like each other's company, and as such, they should always be kept in herds of 2 (or more) when they are growing up. Once a goat reaches the latter stages of its life, then being with another goat is not necessarily essential. For example, when Joey passed away, Henry no longer had any goat company, but he has coped fine since Joey's death. He enjoyed many years living with Joey so he was not deprived of 'goat company' when he was growing up.
When pygmy goats are newly-born, they will likely need vaccinations and may need to have these vaccinations updated in the future. It is best to consult your local government departments and/or vet to check the requirements for vaccinations in your area. Pygmy goats can also be disbudded (having their horns removed) and castrated (having their testicles removed). Both of these procedures have various benefits, and both Henry and Joey were disbudded and castrated soon after birth.
Pygmy goats are relatively small animals. For example, once fully-grown, Henry was 85cm (2'10") in length, 62cm (2') tall and 26cm (10") wide. Joey was slightly smaller and plumper, as he was 80cm (2'8") in length, 57cm (1'11") tall and 30cm (2') wide.
Pygmy goat paddock: Henry and Joey's paddock
The paddock has a large amount of grass which provides an additional source of food. The trees also provide an additional source of food for Henry, who is tall enough to reach on his hind-legs and eat the vegetation on the lower branches. Joey was considerably shorter than Henry, and much to his annoyance, he could never reach the trees in the same way Henry could!
There is a high wire fence around the paddock to ensure that no escaping takes place! Many bricks and pieces of wood have been placed on the ground in areas which get particularly muddy. Goats hate to get their hooves muddy in wet weather, so these bricks have always been appreciated!
Pygmy goat accommodation: Henry and Joey's shed
It is important to provide
a decent-sized shed for pygmy goats, as it is essentially their
home. Henry and Joey's shed is 10ft x 10ft in size. This was a good-sized shed for them, and since Joey died, Henry of course now enjoys having the shed all to himself! It's where they go when they want to eat hay, lick the
salt/mineral lick, drink water, chew the cud, shelter from the
rain, sleep, and just generally relax. The shed has a window which Henry enjoys looking out of when he's eating hay at the hay rack. Joey couldn't manage to look out of the window due to his slight height disadvantage! The half-door is opened and shut (to allow human access) via a bolt. Goat access is via the latter half of the door, which has an additional hinged flap to keep draughts out.
The goat shed has a light in it (with the cabling carefully protected and shielded to ensure it is waterproof and goatproof), which is externally controlled from our house. There is also a goatproof CCTV camera (see picture on the right) in the shed which is wired up to a TV in our house. This allows us to keep an eye on the goings-on in the shed. It is particularly useful to monitor a poorly goat, without causing disturbance to the goat who may be resting and recovering.
(The shed with Henry outside; the shed entrance (with door open); old photo of Joey sitting in front of hayrack in the shed)
Pygmy goat food: Henry and Joey's food
Henry is fed each day with a bowl of special goat mix; a large sack of which can be obtained from agricultural suppliers. When Henry and Joey were growing up, their feed was supplemented with carrots and cabbage to ensure they had sufficient nutrients when they were developing. Nowadays, Henry normally has a slice of warm toast each evening and a banana skin in the morning, in addition to his goat mix in the evening.
Feeding slightly-stale or unwanted food to goats (such as biscuits which are a week or two beyond their 'best before' date, or banana skins) is very sustainable, as otherwise this out-of-date or disused food would be thrown away. You do have to make sure that any stale food is edible though (i.e. it has no mould or other 'nasties'). As previously mentioned on this page, they're also very fussy over food, and will not eat food that has dirt on it! Joey had a 'sweet tooth' and would love it whenever we gave them an occasional sweet treat, such as a stale chocolate biscuit! Henry still has the odd occasional sweet treat, but nothing will ever beat Joey's enthusiasm!! However, the feeding of sugary products to goats must be kept to a minimum to ensure tooth rot and other problems do not occur.
The manure which is produced from the goats can then be used as fertiliser.
Pygmy goat habits
Pygmy goats have many habits. For example, when Henry sits down, he scrapes the surface he's about to sit on with his hoof, to ensure he removes any thorns or dirt from the area. Pygmy goats also scrape their hooves and raise their hackles whilst playfully butting, in order to appear more threatening! They also tend to raise their hackles if they're excited or have just shaken their fur. If pygmy goats taste or smell something they're not familiar with, they'll curl their upper lip up for a few seconds in order to analyse the smell/taste and try and work out what it is! This is known as the Flehmen response.
Some pygmy goats have different habits to other pygmy goats. As such, Henry and Joey did not share all the same likes and dislikes! For example, Henry hates having his back legs touched, but Joey didn't mind his being touched. Similarly, if a hot air balloon passed over the paddock (at great height), Joey would scrape the ground and bleat loudly at it! Henry, on the other hand, is nervous of balloons and hides when they pass over.
They also shared many likes and dislikes. The 'likes' they shared included being fed treats, sunbathing, and playfully butting. They both shared common dislikes; the main one of which was when the neighbours let off fireworks (see below for fireworks advice). Pygmy goats also generally dislike rain, and shelter whenever it rains.
Pygmy goat body care
During winter, pygmy goats grow a woolly fur vest beneath their fur, that keeps them warm. It starts growing rapidly (often within the space of 2 days) in the late autumn when the first frost occurs. When the spring comes in March, they moult and lose their winter vest. With the help of grooming and rubbing themselves on the fence, their winter vest is gone by the summer months.
It is often necessary to shampoo a pygmy goat in the summer (using a special animal shampoo) if a build up of dandruff has occurred during the moulting process. Photos of Joey being shampooed in 2004 can be seen in the Photos of H & J section.
Another event that occurs once every 8 weeks or so, is hoof trimming. Pygmy goats regularly need their hooves trimmed, otherwise they will start skidding everywhere! In the wild, their hooves are worn naturally by rocks and rugged terrain, but when goats are kept as pets, it is necessary to periodically clip their hooves. The standard method is to tether the goats to the fence, give them some greenery to take their mind off what's going on at the hoof-end of their bodies, and carefully trim their hooves, using special trimmers.
Pygmy goat-friendly toys
Henry and Joey used to often play with a small child's 'AA' car, that I used to have when I was very young. After it broke a long time ago, we reinforced it and made it goatproof, and they used to love to play on it. Videos of them doing so can be seen on the videos page on this website. They also used to play with an old toy scooter, especially liked butting the soft rubber tyres. Nowadays, Henry occasionally plays with some old balls (as well as an old marine buoy) which are in the paddock.
Note: Goats must be supervised when playing, and all toys must be removed from their reach when they they've finished playing!
Fireworks advice
People often let off fireworks to celebrate various events around the year, including Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night (in the UK) and other events, such as Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, as with many pets and other animals, pygmy goats do not like the sound of fireworks, and it generally terrifies them.
I wired up an old speaker in Henry and Joey's shed, and ran a (low-voltage, goatproof and weatherproof!) speaker cable to a disused stereo system in our house. Henry enjoys listening to music as it deafens out the sounds of any fireworks in the area, and gives him something to take his mind off the fireworks.
Henry seems to particularly enjoy classical music, so stations such as BBC Radio 3 (a classic music radio station in the UK) often calm him down if there are fireworks around. I even downloaded free pieces of jazz and classical music from the internet, burned them to CD, and played them to him via the stereo system, which seemed to calm him.
Clearly not everyone will be able to wire up a speaker in their goats' place of residence! A good substitute however, would be to hang an old battery-powered portable radio (tuned to a classic station) in your goats' shed. (But please ensure your goat(s) cannot reach the radio, otherwise they may see fit to investigate it!!)
This site is based in Chelmsford, Essex, UK.
It was last updated on Monday 7th November 2011.
All content on this website, including text and visual materials, is Copyright © David Watts 1997 - 2011.
It cannot be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder.
