We have many goats on our property. If they don’t greet you when you arrive, peek into the little sheds you see dotting the hillside. These provide them with shade and shelter, as well as a great place to snack on some hay. Goats are mammals. All of our goats are domestic goals which have a lifespan of 15-18 years. Goats have horns and cloven hooves. Their eyes give them a wider range of vision, protecting them from predators. There are over 200 breeds of goats ranging in size from just 20 lbs all the way to 250 lbs.
Goats are herbivores and thrive on grass. During the colder months, grass is less abundant. We supplement their diet with specially formulated goat pellets. Goats are ruminants and have four stomachs. It takes 11 to 15 hours for food to pass through a goat’s digestive system. Goats like to chew on anything they can find. It’s important to keep them away from trash, string, plastics, which can cause serious problems.
Goats can have kids at 6 to 9 months. Within minutes of being born the kids are up and walking around. They are weaned around 3 to 4 months of age. A group of goats is called a tribe.
Reality of farm life outside the sanctuary.
In the US, goats are raised for meat, milk, and textiles. In the goat dairy industry mothers and kids are separated within hours or days of giving birth so they can be milked. Mothers are nurturing and protective. They cry out for their babies for days, frantically searching for them. This is true of the dairy cow industry as well. Male kids are considered useless to the industry and are often killed at birth and discarded, or put into the meat industry. When dairy goats begin producing less milk they are killed. This often happens when they are only a few years old. Goats who are raised for meat are often castrated without anesthetic and have their sensitive horns disbudded. This is often done with a searing hot cylindrical iron. It burns and damages the nerve filled horn buds. Most goats are slaughtered for meat when they are just 8 to months old.