New Owner’s Guide to Goat Care

Welcome to the wonderful world of Nigerian Dwarf Goats! Whether you are starting a show herd or just bringing home some new pets, here is basic guide to keep them happy and healthy. There are many many many ways to manage your goat herd and what may work for one herd, may not work for another. This is what we have found that has been successful for us. We’re always open to improvements but we’re sharing the basics on how we ‘do goats’ here at Grace Hill Farm.

Feeding & Nutrition

Goats are browsers (like deer) and very picky eaters – they actually don’t eat tin cans! They need a balanced diet to stay healthy, but overfeeding can be just as dangerous as underfeeding.

  • Hay (The Foundation): High-quality 2nd cutting Orchard Grass or Alfalfa/Orchard mix should be offered free choice at all times. Feed hay off the ground. Extra hay can be stored in a covered area, preferably inside a building, and pallets can be placed under the hay stack to help prevent mold on the bottom. Always check hay for mold before feeding it to goats as it can be deadly.
  • Minerals: Goats need specific minerals (especially Selenium). We use Kent Performance Loose Goat Mineral fed at 1/2 to 1 TBS per goat per day. Or you can offer it free choice.
  • Water: Fresh, clean water must be available 24/7. We use automatic waterers to keep things fresh.
    • We use automatic waterers during the warmer months. It saves water and keeps the goats hydrated with an unlimited supply of fresh clean water. We drain the waterers and scrub them daily to keep them clean.
    • We use heated buckets in the winter so that water does not freeze.
  • Grain: Grain is a supplement and not to be fed as a main diet like you would a dog or cat.
    • Pets/Wethers: Generally do not need grain after 1 year. Overfeeding grain to males can cause life-threatening urinary stones (Urinary Calculi or UC). If you do need to feed grain to adult pets, choose a grain that has Ammonium Chloride in the feed to help prevent UC, like Kalmbach 16% Textured Goat Grain.
    • Kids: We use Kalmbach Start Right Kid Feed for the first year. We feed kids at 1%-1.5% body weight. (i.e. for every 10 lbs of weight, 0.1 lb to 0.15 of grain).
    • Adult Does: We use a custom mix for our milking goats: 8 parts Kalmbach Milk Maker Pellet, 8 parts Kalmbach Textured, 2 parts Show & Glow, and 1 part Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS). For heavy milkers, we’ll mix in 2 parts Alfalfa Pellets. Does in milk are fed at 2%-3% body weight.
    • Bucks: Bucks are fed throughout their lives based on body condition. Before breeding and during rut, they require more grain to keep body condition.
    • Switching Foods: Always transition to new grain slowly over 7-10 days to avoid upsetting their rumen.
  • Treats: Goats love snacks, but in moderation! You can offer animal crackers, dried pasta (skip the rotini!), apple slices, bananas (even the peels!), pumpkins, & oranges, to name a few!
    • We cookie train our goats! Goats love animal crackers and will just about anything for them. We keep a jar of cookies in the barn and all it takes is a shake of the cookie jar to get every goat standing right in front of you. Accidentally left the gate open (that never happens!)?? Shake the cookie jar and they will follow you right back through that open gate. Works every time!
  • Other Livestock Feed: DO NOT LET GOATS EAT CHICKEN FEED! Please note that if you are housing multiple species within a common area, keep the goats from getting into the chicken feed as it can be deadly! Likewise, goat feed is deadly to sheep. Always feed recommended feed for each species.

Housing & Fencing

Goats hate getting wet and are sensitive to drafts, but they need plenty of fresh air.

  • Shelter: A secure barn or shed is a must to protect them from predators. Some people like to lock their goats in at night and that’s definitely an option should you have predators in your area. We are very blessed to have a unique area and large enough herd that our goats are not locked in at night.
    • Ensure the floor has good drainage. Dirt/gravel is better than concrete or wood.
  • Bedding: Straw or wood shavings are two great options. We use straw because we spread the composted manure on our fields.
  • Ventilation: Even in winter, do not seal the barn up tight. They need air flow to prevent respiratory issues. On extremely cold nights, use deep straw bedding.
  • Fencing: We use 4-foot tall woven wire, no-climb horse fence is best and has smaller openings to keep in those small Nigerians Dwarf goats. Keep it low to the ground so they can’t shimmy under it. Avoid “welded wire” as goats will eventually push the welds apart by leaning, climbing, and scratching on it. If you do have welded wire, check it often. If there’s an opening the goats can fit through, they will! And they are smart so once they find a way out, they’ll remember it!

Health & Maintenance

Goats are prey animals by nature and do their very best to hide symptoms until the very last possible minute. It’s important to visually look at your goats daily and watch for signs that they may be ‘off’. Goats should be alert, look at you when you talk to them or respond when you clap your hands. If a goat is standing off alone, head is down, ears are down, it’s time to find out why.

  • Temperature: Normal for kids is 100-102.5°F; adults are 101.5-103.5°F. Always check a temp first if a goat seems “off.”
    • Get a 10-Second thermometer and write GOATS on it with a marker. Goat’s temperature is checked rectally and you don’t want to accidentally use your own thermometer.
    • If Too Hot: Use rubbing alcohol on the belly/armpits and consult a vet for Banamine. A fever can be a sign that there is another underlying issue. Check temp every 6-12 hrs to ensure treatment is working.
    • If Too Cold: Use a blow-dryer and “tent” a towel over them to keep the warm air around their body.
  • Parasites:
    • Internal Parasites – Most common is ‘worms’. The best way to check for worms is a fecal. We do regular fecal checks and deworm only if needed. Over deworming will create resistant worms and dewormers lose their effectiveness. It’s best to check with your vet on which dewormer would be best for your herd. We do use the FAMACHA system to check eyelid color but we never rely on it.
    • External Parasites – goats can and do get mites & lice. We use topical products as a preventative – Cylence or UltraBoss. For treatment of mites, we use injectable Dectomax (Rx required) along with topical Nustock (this stuff is amazing!).
  • Hoof Care: Trim hooves regularly with a Hoof Trimmer to keep them flat with the outside lines on the hoof. Depending on the surfaces that your goats encounter will determine how often you need to trim hooves. For softer surfaces, like pasture or dirt, check every 4-6 weeks. Over the warmer months, hooves will grow more. We use a Dremel with a #80 grit barrel to smooth them out after the initial trim—it keeps them walking soundly!
  • Bloat: If you see a hard, high bubble on their left side, they may have trapped gas. Drench with Bloat Release or Vegetable Oil and then massage their left side as you hear them burp until their side returns to a normal size. You can offer baking soda free choice to help prevent this. If they are in distress, call a vet immediately. Bloat is deadly and it happens fast!

The Goat “First Aid Kit”

We keep these basics on hand for emergencies. The BEST option to support your goat herd is your local Large Animal Veterinarian. We can’t stress how important a good relationship is with your vet. When you need them, they will know you and your goats. Please have your vet visit your herd annually to keep things up to date.

  • Local Vet – Here’s our vet resource list if you are looking for a large animal vet.
  • Banamine (Rx): Fever and pain relief.
  • B-Complex & Thiamine (Rx): Immune and neurological support.
  • Electrolytes: Great for hot days or when they seem dehydrated. Orange Gatorade works in a pinch! We love Diaque which also helps bind up loose stools!
  • AluShield/AluSpray: A silver spray for open wounds—it’s amazing for keeping flies away and preventing infection.
  • Probiotics: Use these anytime a goat is stressed or on antibiotics to keep their rumen working.
  • Activated Charcoal/Toxiban: Poison treatment should your goat eat something they shouldn’t.
    • Speaking of things that goats shouldn’t eat, we love this list of Poisonous Plants by Fiasco Farm.

Other Goat Notes

  • Size: Nigerian Dwarf goats are small in size, standing at about 18″ to 23.5″ at the withers and weighing anywhere from 65-100 lbs for mature does and up to 120 lbs for mature males.
  • Handling: Nigerian Dwarf goats are very smart and can be easily trained.
    • Stand Training: We ‘stand’ train our goats. This means that they are all trained to jump up on the milking/feeding stand, putting their head through the headlock. One benefit for stand training is that it’s a great way to restrain them when it’s time for maintenance, like hoof trimming. Other great thing is that if the goats ever slip past us at the gate, they always go to the stand looking for food.
      • Goat Stands – you can buy many different kinds of goat stands online. We make most of our stands out of wood. Someday we’ll offer the DIY plans to our design as we’ve come up with a headlock that fits the small kids all the way up through the mature does. Bucks have larger necks so they get a standard goat fitting stand that secures their head. We have a metal folding stand that we use when traveling to shows.
    • Lead Training: We also ‘lead’ train our goats to walk on a lead and collar, just like a god. It helps us for moving them around as well as showing them. NEVER let collars on your goats as they can get hung up on things.
      • Break Away Collars: If you wish to keep collars on your goats, please use a breakaway type collar. We use plastic chain collars for our milkers that have a cut link in them. We simply cut the end link so that if it gets caught anywhere, it will just stretch and pop off. We often will find them hanging on the fence or on the ground next to something they were rubbing on.
      • Training Collars: For training or just going for a walk, we use nylon dog collars and leads.
      • Show Collars: We LOVE the paracord show collars made by Lily!
    • If you need to handle a goat without a collar or stand, there’s a few tricks.
      • Hand-Head Clamp: You can simply use your hands in a clamping type hold around their head. Place one hand under the jaw and the other hand around the back of the head. You can control a goat’s movements by their head. Never put pressure on the bridge of the goat’s nose. You may see halters on larger breed goats and sheep but they are not designed for the nose of Nigerian Dwarf goat.
      • Between Your Knees: Using your legs as a ‘head-lock’, place the goat between your knees and keep your feet together. This is great for two people when doing hoof trimming if you don’t have a goat stand.
  • Some Other Goat Tools We Use
    • Wi-Fi Plugs: These little Meross Wi-Fi plugs help us automate our world a bit. Since we have Wi-Fi near the barns, we use them to turn on/off fans in the summer. We can schedule times of day, routines, or simply control it from our phones. We even have an outdoor Wi-Fi plug for our electric fence charger so we can turn it off from any point along the fence should we need to.

Recommended Resources

  • Fias Co Farm: The “Goat Bible” for health and plant info.
  • Onion Creek Ranch: (tennesseemeatgoats.com) – Great for meat and health tips.
  • Supplies: We try to use local suppliers whenever possible but there are some items that we order online. Some of our favorite online vendors include PBS Animal Health, Premier 1, Jeffers, and Valley Vet. The links provided on this page are mostly ‘big box’ stores where we feel most people should have access to. Please support local if you can!

Last updated: 05/03/26