Goat Behavior

General Characteristics

Goats exhibit some very distinct behavior patterns (Hafez 1975; Kilgour and Dalton 1984). Many aspects of goat behavior are conditioned by the circumstances in which the animals are kept.

Goats tend to flock together in extended family groups. They have a strong hierarchical structure in the flock or herd. Both males and females will establish social domi­nance in their respective groups through head-to-head fighting. Goats use their horns to advantage when fighting to establish their social dominance. Therefore, all goats in a group should be either horned or hornless to avoid exces­sive bullying by horned goats.

When goats are accustomed to human contact, they will approach strangers rather than flee. When threatened or upset, they will turn and face an intruder and make a char­acteristic sneezing noise. In keeping with their browsing behavior, goats orally investigate everything in their envi­ronment. This includes veterinary equipment, paperwork, clothing, and jewelry brought within their reach. When drawing blood samples or writing health papers, it is essential to keep the paperwork in a safe place or it will be eaten or destroyed. Goats will chew on pen partitions and other structures made of wood, and a large group of goats can actually devour pen walls over a period of months. They will also eat the paint off walls, so lead paint should be avoided.

Goats are very agile and are excellent climbers. They are occasionally found in barn rafters, in trees, or on the hood of the veterinarian’s vehicle, if allowed access. Providing a rock pile in paddocks or pastures can foster recreation and will help to control hoof overgrowth.

Goats are notorious for successfully undoing simple gate closures and latches. This is a common occurrence in acci­dental grain overload cases, so goat keepers must ensure that gates are securely fastened. Goats can easily jump fences designed for sheep and also will dig under fences that do not closely skirt the ground. Goat fencing should never have interior-sloping support posts because goats will use them to climb out of the enclosure. Goats may ignore barbed wire and therefore it should not be used because it can inflict serious damage. Thus, electric fencing has become popular for goat operations because the ani­mals quickly learn to respect it.

Ingestive and Eliminative Behavior

A key to the adaptability of goats worldwide is their effi­cient browsing ability. This same efficiency, however, has given the goat notoriety as an important cause of desertifi­cation in some regions of the world. The reputation is not necessarily deserved, because over-grazing by numerous livestock species may be at fault, but only the goats are left surviving when vegetation is almost gone (Dunbar 1984). Goats may climb into trees to reach food when it is scarce. If permitted, they can girdle the bark from trees, thus killing them. Goats are used to clear brush to reclaim pasture land for sheep and cattle. When run simultaneously with sheep and cattle, they may improve pasture quality for these other species by contributing manure for fertilization, removing toxic plants such as oak to which they are more resistant than the other ruminant species, and eliminating brush to allow more sunlight for improved grass growth (Ward 2006).

Owners feeding goats in confinement often complain that the animals waste a good deal of hay, particularly leav­ing behind the nutritious leafy parts of good legume hay. This tendency can be countered to some extent by feeder designs that inhibit the goat from pulling hay out of the feeder and dropping it on the floor. Goats are also finicky about contaminated feed and water supplies and may refuse water containing fecal pellets or hay and grain in wet troughs that smell moldy.

For free-ranging feral and Angora goats, approximately 30% of the day is spent in feeding, usually divided into sunrise, midday, and sunset periods. One-third of this is grazing time, two-thirds browsing. About half the day is spent resting, 10% ruminating, and 12% traveling (Askins and Turner 1972; Kilgour and Ross 1980). In contrast, intensively managed Saanen milking goats were noted to eat for 20% of the day, ruminate 25%, travel 20%, sleep 11%, rest recumbent 14%, and rest standing approximately 8% of each day. They defecate on average 11.2 times and uri­nate 8.3 times daily (Jiabi Pu, personal communication, Chengdu, China, 1990).

Goats raise their tails to defecate and normally produce pelleted feces. Female goats squat to urinate. During the non-breeding season, males urinate on the ground with little or no extension of the penis beyond the prepuce. However, during the breeding season, the pattern of urina­tion is markedly different and associated with sexual behavior, as discussed below. Goats cannot easily be prompted to urinate by holding off their nares, as is done with sheep. This makes simple collection of a urine specimen problematic.

Sexual Behavior

In tropical and subtropical regions estrus generally occurs year-round, while in temperate regions goats are seasonally polyestrus, with breeding season triggered by decreasing day length. Breed factors may also play a role in this pattern, because relocation of some indigenous breeds to new climatic zones does not result in a change of estrus pattern.

The obnoxious behavior and strong odor of bucks during breeding season are notorious. At least two factors contrib­ute to buck odor. First, the aroused buck repeatedly uri­nates on himself, soaking his head, neck, and forequarters. He will sometimes take his erect penis into his mouth. Afterwards, the buck may yawn and demonstrate the fleh- men reaction, curling his upper lip. Second, the buck pos­sesses sebaceous scent glands on his head, caudomedial to the base of the horn, which during active rutting produce an odiferous compound identified as 6-trans nonenal (Smith et al. 1984). This compound may also be released from the sebaceous gland under the tail. It acts as a potent pheromone and the odor alone can induce estrus in the doe.

Bucks show active fighting behavior at the beginning of and during the breeding season to establish dominance. Veterinarians and owners should exercise caution when working around sexually active bucks. A full-grown buck striking from the standing position can produce serious or fatal injury. For this reason, bucks of different sizes in con­finement operations should be segregated so that smaller, younger bucks are not injured or killed. Do not turn your back to an unrestrained buck!

During courtship, the buck will sniff the urine of does and follow with the flehmen response. To display to does, a buck holds his head erect and high, or lowers his extended head and neck to the ground. He may also kick out at the doe with an extended forelimb, but rarely actu­ally strike her. Courtship is accompanied by much fren­zied vocalizing and flicking the tongue in and out. Sexually active bucks commonly lose weight during the breeding season.

Maternal Behavior

Free-ranging goats separate from the herd and hide to kid. Confined goats may attempt to conceal themselves. As par­turition approaches, does become restless and paw at the ground, making rudimentary efforts to “nest build.” Details of parturition and the recognition of dystocia are discussed in Chapter 13. Following parturition, the doe actively licks the kids, and this is considered to be critical to successful bonding. If does are frightened or disturbed at this point, or if licking is delayed longer than one hour, bonding may be impaired and kids may be abandoned or mothered less effectively.

Kids are precocial, standing and seeking the hairless udder shortly after birth. In free-ranging herds there is a “lying-out” period of several days to several weeks when does may leave kids in sheltered areas for periods of two to eight hours while they feed. Does must be familiar with the geography to return successfully to their kids. Therefore, it is not advisable to move does to new grazing areas immedi­ately before kidding. Does will respond to alarm calls from their distant kids and return to defend them if bonding is strong. Kids gradually begin to follow their dams, learning to browse and graze. The infrequent nursing pattern of young kids makes the goat adaptable to the twice-a-day feeding regimens that are often practiced under intensive management. If given boxes to hide in, kids raised in con­finement will use them for the first week, coming out only to suckle the dam.