How to Buy Your Goats (The Complete Guide)

Goats are very productive animals to keep on the farm. They can be used for meat production, milk production, fiber production and can also be companion for travel packing activities. Besides from their uses, sometimes you can keep them as pets too, that your kids will love. In this article, I share with you everything you should know about how to buy your goats.

How to buy your goats? There are many factors you need to understand before you buy your goats just like the information about the goats, questions you need to ask yourself what goats do you want to buy, how to purchase the goats, how much is the price of the goats, where you can buy the goats and a lot more. These factors are very important when you want to buy your goats.

If you want to learn more information about how to buy your goats. You can read down below.

Things you Need to Know Before you Buy Your Goats

1. You Must Understand the Goats Terminology

Goats terminology is very important to know before you buy your goats. The reason why you need to know the goats terminology is because it is often used in the discussion. By knowing these terms, you will be smart enough to understand their talking about. I will give you some basic examples below.

• Billy Goat – a unique term used to describe the adult male goat
• Buck – called to an adult male goat
• Buckling – called to a young male goat
• Disbudded – remove the horns of the goat
• Doe – called to adult female goat
• Doeling – called to a young female goat
• Kid – called to a baby goat
• Kidding – doe gives birth
• Polled – a goat that was born without horns
• Wether – castrated male goat

2. Goat Breeds

Knowing goat breeds are very important before you buy your goats. It can help you decide what goats are right for you. So, let’s now talk about the goat breeds. There 3 main types of goat breeds you can choose. The meat goats, dairy goats and the fiber goats.

First, for meat goats, this is the list of goat breeds you can choose.

1. Boer Goat
2. Spanish Goat
3. Tennessee Fainting Goat
4. Kiko Goat
5. Pygmy Goat

Second, for dairy goats, this is the list of goat breeds you can choose.

1. Alpine Goat
2. Lamancha Goat
3. Nigerian Dwarf Goat
4. Nubian Goat
5. Saanen Goat
6. Sable Goat
7. Oberhasli Goat
8. Toggenburg Goat
9. Guernsey Goat

Third, for fiber goats, this is the list of goat breeds you can choose.

1. Angora Goat
2. Pygora Goat
3. Nigora Goat

3. Goat Shelter

The goat shelter provides protection for your goats from extreme weather conditions and sunlight. Also, goat shelter can hide and protect your goats from dangerous animals. The most common goat shelter used are the 3 sided. 3 sided goat shelter is very easy to make and very practical.

4. Goat Foods

The foods are very important factor for the goats to become healthy. For this reason, you should learn it first before you buy your goats to help you understand what foods can you give to your goats. It is a bad idea not learn it first because almost goat keepers know this thing.

These are the most common goat foods.

1. Hay
2. Forage
3. Grain
4. Goat Supplements
5. Garden Scraps

5. Find Local Veterinary Clinic that Have Expertise About Goats

You need to understand that sometimes, goats can get diseases too, just like other animals. It is very important to give them proper care. Therefore, you need to visit your local veterinary clinic in your area to help you know the diseases of your goats. Then, they will help you cure its diseases. Also, veterinary clinic is the place where you can get vaccines and supplements for your goats.

6. Zone Regulation on Keeping Goats in your Area

You must know the rules of keeping goats in your area before you buy your goats. It is very important to know, what goats are allowed in your area, how many goats are the limit, what goat size breeds are allowed and a lot more. So, you need to consult a local government authority on this topic.

7. Goats Lifespan

You must learn first the lifespan of the goats before you buy. It’s a very crucial factor if you want to raise goats for long term purpose.

8. Goats are Browsers Not Grazers

You must understand that goats are browsers not grazers. Browser animals are animals that eat leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high growing plants such as shrubs. Keep in mind that goats are browser jut like deers and not grazers just like sheep.

9. Goats are Herd Animals

Herd animals live in groups and don’t live alone. If you want to buy your goats, make sure you buy at least 2 goats because if you buy only 1 goat, the goat will feel sad.

10. Goats are Good Climbers

You must understand that goats are good climbers. The reason why they are good climbers is because their body is designed to climb mountains and cliffs. Actually, goats love to climb always.

11. Goats have Rectangular Pupils

You must know that goats have a rectangular pupils. Their rectangular pupils have the ability to see side vision, even they don’t move their head. They use their rectangular pupils to see danger approaching using their peripheral vision to be able to evade them.

12. Goats have Four Stomachs

You must understand that goats have four stomachs just like other ruminant animals. They use their four stomachs to store foods they eat. The advantage of having four stomachs is all about the capacity of storing foods.

13. Goats are One of the First Animals Being Domesticated

You must know that goats are one of the first animals being domesticated. The reason why they were the first animals being domesticated is because they have many uses for the humans. So, I will talk about their uses. They can be used for meat production, milk production and fiber production.

14. Goats are Very Intelligent and Curious Animal

Goats have natural talent to search for anything that they come across their path. They have a desire to investigate something they want. Also, goat knows what foods they can eat and they can’t eat.

15. Goats Hate Being Wet

Goats is not afraid of water, but they have a natural aversion towards the water just like cats. This behavior can be traced back from their ancestors. Goats from the past don’t like to be wet because if they are wet, they can’t move from the mountain cliffs that’s why the mindset of the goat are still there today.

16. Goats have Different Colors

You must understand that goats have different colors. The most common colors of the goats are black, brown and white. Usually, goats have different color patterns in their body.

Important Questions you Should Ask Before Buying Your Goats

1. Opening Question

May I ask why you’re selling these goats?

This question is to be able to find out why the owner of the goats selling its goats. There are valid reasons why he or she sells its goats, maybe he needs money for its family, too many goats to keep and other related matters.

2. About the Goats

Are your goats registered? If so, where or with what registry?

This question is to be able to know if the goats are registered or not. If he or she answered registered, you need to ask where or with what registry it was registered. Then, you will have the information.

Are your goats disbudded or polled?

This question is to be able to know if the goats are disbudded or polled. Disbudded are goats that their horns were removed while polled are goats without horns when they were born. Make sure you ask this question if you want polled goats.

What is the average weight of this goat?

This question is to be able to know the weight of the goat you are looking for. It is very important to know if you want to raise a goat for meat production.

If you are buying meat goats: What is the market weight you can get with these goats?

This question is to be able to know the market weight you can get for the goats from their full potential to get weight. So, you have the information what goats you will buy.

If you are buying dairy goats: How much milk do you get from these goats per day?

This question is to be able to know the milk production of the goats to get milk per day. It is very important, how much milk they can produce per day so you will have the idea what goats you will choose for your milk production.

If you are buying fiber goats: How much fiber do you get with these type of goats?

This question is to be able to know the fiber can goat produces. It is very important if you want to buy goats for fiber production.

3. Goats Health

Are these goats healthy?

This question helps you know if the goats are in healthy condition. You should ask this question always when you are buying goats to make sure you don’t buy sick goats.

What is your feeding program?

This question is to be able to know the feeding program of the owner of the goats who want to sell its goats. It is very important to understand what feeds he or she feeds on its goats, schedule time and how many times he or she feeds its goats per day.

Do you vaccinate these goats? What vaccinations do you give to these goats?

This question is to be able to know if the goats are vaccinated or not. If the owner answered yes, you can now give follow up question like what vaccinations do you give to these goats. Then, you will get the information you need.

Do you dewormed these goats?

This question is to be able to know if the goats are dewormed or not. If the owner of the goats who want to sell says yes, you can give additional question like what do you use to dewormed these goats, how many times do you dewormed these goats per year and a lot more.

4. Goat’s Body Inspection

Can I check the body of this goat?

This question is to be able to inspect the goat’s outside body, to check if there are no diseases. It is very important to know because frequently goats have skin diseases, damage to their hooves and lot more. Make sure you check the goat’s outside body before you buy so that you can have good looking and healthy goats on your farm.

Purchasing your Goats

1. Planning to Buy

Research about the goats

You first need to research all about goats. This is very important because you will be able to know what are the breeds, characteristics, behavior and a lot more information that help you decide what goats you will buy.

Decide what kind of goats is right for you

This is the time you need to decide what kind of goats you will buy. There are so many breeds of goat to choose from, before you settle on a goat breed, you need to consider these following factors:

• Size: Small, medium
• Age: Young, Adult
• Uses: for milk, for meat, for fiber and other uses

Each of goat breeds has pros and cons so you need to decide what goats you want to buy. Also, other traits to consider include their eating habits, health problems, their behavior, easy to handle and many more.

How many goats you want to buy?

You need to think how many goats you will buy. Most often, new buyers can’t decide how many goat they will buy. So, I’ll give you the information how many goats is recommended to start raising goats. This is the information, most goat keepers say that when you start to raise goats you need at least two goats because goats are herd animals. It is a bad idea to buy 1 goat because it will be so noisy to your farm and it will try to escape to find other goat friends.

What is your budget for buying your goats?

This is one of the major factors that can affect your buying decision for buying goats. You need to understand what is your budget and goats can you afford to buy. I share you some information why many new buyers of goats that have little budget often buy unregistered goats because that is their budget only. It is not practical to buy goats that are so expensive that you can’t afford to buy, that’s the advice of many goat keepers.

Additional expenses, that you will spend for buying your goats

Sometimes there are additional expenses you did not expect just like the transportation, processing fees for buying goats, vaccinations and lot more. So, it is very important that you have emergency funds for buying your goats.

You must also consider the other factors that can affect your buying decisions

There are factors that can affect your buying decisions just like the cost of keeping goats, zone regulations for keeping goats in your area, the space you have where you can keep your goats and a lot more.

2. When Buying Your Goats

Make sure you bring your money

This is the most important thing you must bring when your buying goats. If you don’t have money, you can’t buy goats. Make sure you bring your money before going to the place where you can buy goats.

Choose the goats you want to buy

This is the time you need to choose your preferred goats that you need for your farm. There are many factors you need to consider before buying your goats just like the size, age and uses to make sure you don’t regret when you bought them already. Remember these factors always when you are buying your goats.

Negotiate the price

Negotiation is very important for every buy and sell transactions. You should always negotiate the price of the goats you are buying to get the best price you can get, that you can have the advantage. It is a bad idea when you did not negotiate the price because the price will be high. The reason why the price is so high because many goat sellers sell their goats so high to earn more money.

Purchase now your goats

After you get the best price for the goats. Make sure you bring your cash when the time of purchasing. Then, now it is the time to purchase your goats. Next, after your purchase, you can now take your goats to your farm.

How Much Does it Cost to Buy Your Goats?

Goats have different prices depending on their breed and uses. Usually, the cost to buy a goat can range around $75-$700 whether it is registered, unregistered, baby goats, young goats, adult goats, pure breeds and not pure breeds. It is very important to know that registered goat is more expensive than unregistered goat. So, let’s now move to the goat price table.

These are the average prices of the goats:

Meat Goats

Dairy Goats

Fiber Goats

Where to Buy Your Goats?

There are different ways you can buy your goats. You can buy them in sales barns, public livestock, local feed stores, craigslist, farm websites that sell goats, goat breeders club, goat exhibits, goat shows and a lot more.

These are the goats you can buy there: Boer Goats, Spanish Goats, Tennessee Fainting Goats, Kiko Goats, Pygmy Goats, Alpine Goats, Lamancha Goats, Nigerian Dwarf Goats, Nubian Goats, Saanen Goats, Sable Goats, Oberhasli Goats, Toggenburg Goats, Guernsey Goats, Angora Goats, Pygora Goats, Nigora Goats, Kinder Goats and a lot more.