can goats be pets?

[ArtisticFarmer]

Hi!
I am going to be getting either 2 Alpines or 2 Nubian goat soon, I hope. I was wondering- can goats be pets? Like, how much could I interact with them? Will they learn to like/love me? I was thinking that maybe when I had time I could halter them, and take them out of there pen and let them browse in other places/the grove and play with them, if goats play. Would they like this? And how would a goat play?
Thanks!

 

[lovinglife]

They are awesome pets! I take my Guernsey for walks all the time. I can't wait to get home at night so I can go mess with my small little herd. If they were bottle raised, look out, they will follow you ANYWHERE!

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Absolutely! My goats go on walks with me, play with us, love to be petted, and boy are they smart! I have seen several videos of people who have their goats clicker trained to sit, back up, shake, and what not too.

Get goats that are young, either ones that are bottle fed or ones that were handled regularly and are already friendly---it is no fun trying to get scared, shy goats to get over it and it may not even ever happen. Start working with them on a leash as soon as you can for the best results.

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Thanks guys! I can't decide to get it as a baby or as an adult, because I will have the breed it so it start producing milk, right? But if I get it as a baby, it will most likely be more tame.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I personally like getting them as kids because I get to work with them and train them the way I want. Plus they are just too cute. However, there are great reasons to get an adult too, such as conformation, udder capacity, and such---some traits can't be seen until a goat is an adult and if you are looking for good dairy quality, it might be good to get one that is already in milk. That will probably cost more, but for good reason.

 

[SheepGirl]

While sheep and goats are different, I can give you my experience with my sheep.

As a flock -- My sheep come when I call them. When other people call them up to eat, they don't listen They come running as fast as they can to get their dinner. After they're done eating, I can walk around the field and they will all follow me. Once they realize I don't have any more feed, they will walk off on their own and start grazing. Sometimes a sheep or two will stay with me wanting to be pet or sniffing me to see if I have any more food on me. Sometimes I do, but mostly I don't. As a flock, they do not approach strangers or let strangers approach them. They high tail it out of wherever they are to get away from the people they don't know.

Individually --

* My oldest ewe I got when she was 2-3 months old. She was penned up with other lambs for a couple months before being turned out with the rest of the flock, to get her friendly. She would walk up to me, but she was never friendly enough that I could walk up to her. She is still that way. It's my attention on her terms. She will walk up to me when I have food, but she doesn't always let me touch her. She does not walk up to people she doesn't know and will not get close to people she doesn't know. She is old & wise enough to know my 'sheep catching tricks' so as she's gotten older, she's gotten much more difficult to catch. (She's 7 this year.) Last October I tried weighing her and to catch her took two hours with three people. I even had feed!

* My other ewes I've had since the day they were born. They let me walk up to them, but I'm not always allowed to touch them. Sometimes when they're eating they will let me touch them but most of the time they are off limits for me to pet. After they are eating, some will walk up to me and put their nose in my hand and that tells me they want to be scratched. So I will sit there for what seems like an eternity scratching the side of their face, their neck, their briskets, etc and they just stand there grunting lol. Sometimes I spend two hours out there and it amazes me that I had been petting the sheep for that long! But usually it is about 5-10 minutes that they are willing to stand around.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Absolutely, they can be pets. But I must warn you, this website group is a bunch of enablers. I started with two pet goats, I now have 14, including two bucks and am breeding my own goats now. So while you are getting them as pets, know that they will get under your skin, you will fall in love with them and you most likely will get more than the inital pets.

But I say go for it.

I will add that all of my goats except two were dam raised (their mother) and are very friendly. My one buckling was bottle raised by us and I love him, but he is starting to get stinky and yet he insists he should be able to get in my lap and rub all over me. Note to self, plan for a shower after playing with him. The other bottle raised doe I purchased bred and she is a total lover.

While I love that they are very friendly, it does make it difficult when you need to walk in their field and all of them are around you, I can not walk very fast.

Again, go for it.

 

[Godsgrl]

They sure can! My friend has two pygmy does-a mom and her daughter. They love people, we are the keepers of the kibble! LOL They're a lot of fun. They have no job other than to be goats, and keep the people entertained.

 

[JanetM]

My boys are wonderful(pets only)...we got Little Willie when he was only 4days old & his brother Horton was 14days(sadly we lost Horton at 6months) they were bottle babies & are awesome and the sweetest things ever. I have a little house dog Benzley and I never thought I would have another animal that meant as much to me....but the little goats are a totally different type of awesome. When Horton passed we had to get Little Willie a buddy and we choose an older goat since Willie was 5 1/2months old...Ducky was not bottle raised and was not handled very much(although the ad we responded too stated daily human contact)...but we took him anyway we were kinda in a pinch...and it took about a week but I will tell you Ducky is just a sweet and loving as Little Willie is- now Ducky wont sit in my lap...it is reserved for Willie-ever evening bout 915 if Im not out at the barn they are both standing at the door waiting for lap/brush time...Little Willie will be 1yr old May 1st & as soon as I sit down hes right there to climb in my lap and Ducky huddles up right they beside us and I tell them a goat story

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Aw! I can't wait! @ ThreeBoysChicks- I am already accustomed to not walking fast outside- my chickens always come a runnin and I have to be careful to NOT step on them!