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Goat Behaviour

 

  • The first thing to accept is that goats are very different from sheep in their behaviour, and we sometimes forget this when trying to handle them.

  • The goat is found on all the continents of the world, and is one of man's most important animals as more people in the world eat goat meat than eat sheep meat.

  • Goat remains 10,000 years old (or of their early ancestors) have been found in central and West Iran, and domestic goats existed in other parts of the world for 8,000 years.

  • Some authorities suggest that goats were companion animals long before dogs. The goat has also caused many of the world's deserts through man's ignorance and stupidity resulting in over grazing.

  • The goat was domesticated early along with sheep and adapted well to man's nomadic lifestyle as well as in established farming.

  • Goats are a different species to sheep with different numbers of chromosomes (sheep 27 pairs and goat 30 pairs). Hybrids between them are often reported (Geeps or Shoats) but are not viable and don't breed.

Social behaviour

  • Goats are a flocking species but they don't flock as tightly as sheep.

  • Feral goats are hard to muster as individuals (especially males) keep breaking back and prefer to escape rather than herd with the mob.

  • Sheep stick with the mob for safety unlike goats that seem to more keen to take a chance on their own.

  • Goats will herd together better when you get them off their home range. It's a good idea to have some sheep in the goat mob to encourage flocking during mustering.

  • Goats are a "lying-out" species like cattle and deer which is a big contrast to sheep.

  • Males join harems of females in autumn and feral bucks will travel up to 20km to find does. But the rest of the year they are in bachelor groups or live as solitary males. They sort out a social order in these groups by bunting and horn wrestling.

  • So most of the year, an alpha female leads a small family group of females suckling their current kids, with any previous adolescent females still in the group. A dam may suckle a kid till the next one is born.

  • Younger members of the family or tribe are submissive to higher-ranking females.

  • As most feral goats in NZ have horns, they use these along with head butts to sort out their social status.

  • In farmed milking goats, you see them bunting and biting each other in the milking bail to sort out their differences, especially in competition for any feed supplements.

  • At mating the buck is the harem leader and fights off any on-comers. These may be younger lower-ranking males in the group waiting for an opportunity, but the old buck is the boss and does the mating.

  • Mature bucks sort themselves out by serious head butting, rising on their hind legs to attack with horns and heads. They also use their horns to side-rake their opponents

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