Caring for pygmy goats
This section contains info on pygmy goat paddocks, accommodation, food, body care, habits and goat-friendly toys; along with info on how Henry and Joey are looked after during winter, and how goats can be protected from the noise of neighbours' fireworks.
Please note that the information below relates to how Henry and Joey are looked after, and different circumstances may require different goats to be cared for in varying ways. If in doubt about the health of your goat and/or any urgent issues, contact your local vet and/or your local government agricultural department (DEFRA in the UK).
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General info
- Owning and looking after pygmy goats is an interesting and rewarding experience.
- 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.
- It is good to become familiar with how to care for pygmy goats before getting any of your own.
- Whilst goats sniff, lick, bite and butt lots of things, they do not eat everything (contrary to popular belief). Even if they 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. They can also be surprisingly fussy if the food they are eating is dirty or muddy.
- Pygmy goats are much cheaper to care for than other pets such as dogs or cats.
- Pygmy goats enjoy each other's company, and as such, they should ideally be kept in herds of 2 (or more) when they are growing up. Once a pygmy goat reaches the latter stages of its life, then being with another goat is not necessarily essential.
- When pygmy goats are newly-born, they will likely need vaccinations and may need to have these vaccinations updated in the future. You can also have pygmy goats castrated (removal of reproductive organs) and/or disbudded (removal of horns) at birth.
- It is best to consult your local government department and/or vet to check the availability of vaccinations and other procedures in your area.
- Pygmy goats are relatively small animals, and are one of the smaller breeds of goat. Henry is 85cm (2'10") in length, 62cm (2') tall and 26cm (10") wide. Joey was slightly smaller and plumper!
Pygmy goat paddocks
- Henry and Joey's paddock is about 50ft x 40ft in size, which is a suitably sized paddock for two pygmy goats, although a larger area would be fine.
- There is a secure wire fence around the paddock, which is essential to ensure that no escaping takes place! It is important to ensure the fence is safe and secure (e.g. there are no pieces of wire sticking out).
- The paddock has lots of benches and tables, which pygmy goats enjoy to climb, sit, sunbathe, eat, play and relax on.
- 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!
- It is important to ensure any vegetation within reach of goats is not poisonous to them.
- Bricks and wood have been placed on the ground in areas which get particularly muddy, as goats hate to get their hooves muddy in wet weather!
Pygmy goat accommodation
- It is important to provide a decent-sized shed for pygmy goats, as it is their home. 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.
- Henry and Joey's shed is 10ft wide, 10ft deep and 6 feet tall.
- The shed has a window which Henry enjoys looking out of when he's eating hay at the hay rack!
- 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 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 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.
(The shed; the shed entrance (with door open); the hayrack in the shed)
Pygmy goat 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 while growing.
- 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 pygmy 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 must ensure that stale food is edible (i.e. it has no mould!).
- The manure which is produced from goats can be used as fertiliser.
Pygmy goat habits
- Pygmy goats have many habits.
- For example, when they sit down, they often scrape one of their front hooves to ensure any thorns and dirt are removed before they settle.
- 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 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 scientifically known as the 'Flehmen response'.
- 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.
- Pygmy goats generally all enjoy being fed treats, sunbathing and playfully butting.
- Pygmy goats generally dislike rain and shelter whenever it rains, and they also dislike sudden loud noises.
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 spring arrives, 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.
- Pygmy goats regularly need their hooves trimmed (once every 2 to 3 months), 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 pygmy 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 car that I used to have when I was very young. Once I no longer used it, I reinforced it and made it goatproof, and they used to love to play on it.
- Videos of them doing so can be seen in the Videos of H & J section.
- They also used to play with an old toy scooter (which I had made goatproof) and 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.
- Goats must always be supervised when playing with objects, and all toys etc. must be removed from their reach when they they've finished playing.
Cold weather advice
- Pygmy goats are generally hardy animals and can adapt to hot and cold climates, and their winter vests keep them warm in the colder months. However, you can do your bit during the cold weather to ensure your goats remain comfortable.
- Any bowls of water that your goats have access to will freeze over in cold weather (even bowls in the goats' living quarters can freeze over), so it is essential that you regularly break the ice and refill the bowls with fresh water. You can also give some tepid warm water.
- Lightly-warmed food (such as vegetables) will also help to keep goats warm.
- Ensure that any doors on your goats' living quarters are shut (but ensure that there is still some ventilation). It may be beneficial to add extra pieces of wood to act as draught excluders.
- Piling up hay or straw near the door can also keep the inside warm. Placing bricks or gravel on the ground can help prevent pygmy goats from slipping around on the ice. Ice and snow should be cleared from a goats' paddock whenever possible.
- Be extra vigilent and make regular checks on your goats, to ensure they are not getting too cold.
- However, it is possible that on some nights, you may find your pygmy goats sleeping outside as opposed to inside! This is quite normal, and is likely due to the fact that their winter vests mean it's too warm for them to sleep in their living quarters.
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.
- As well as going out to see Henry to comfort him, I wired up an old speaker in his 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.
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Henry and Joey live a few miles north of Chelmsford, England.
This website was last updated on 29 January 2013.
All content on this website, including text and visual materials, is Copyright © David Watts 1997 - 2013.
It cannot be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder.
All information provided on this website is based on experience of caring for Henry and Joey. Whilst the
information will hopefully be useful to those interested in caring for pygmy goats, it must not be treated
as a defintive care guide. If in doubt regarding the health and well-being of your goat(s), be safe by
contacting your vet and/or your governmental agricultural department (e.g. DEFRA).
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