08/26/2026
Something that really gets me bummed is the large belief that goats aren't healthy or strong, prone to worms and always looking for ways to die. All of this is total bu****it, and the people that spread this BS must have never had good goat stock or enough experience before they gave up. What a shame to have such a belief ingrained that it should be spread to disengage others.
Goats aren't prone to parasites.
Goats aren't looking for ways to die.
GOATS DON'T HAVE TO BE HARD.
Not all goats test fences.
Goats aren't all stupid.
You don't have to treat goats like they need to live in a clean, presitine environment to survive.
If you start with unhealthy animals from random backyards or auctions, they ARE going to be a trick to keep alive. That's most people's problem, right there.
If you start with stock from a breeder who works really hard to keep them alive, they're NOT going to be hardy stock in your barn, regardless of their pedigrees, names and titles. Define what "quality" means to YOU before you invest.
If you start with a less-than-intelligent breed, yeah, they might bother you enough to give up. I just cannot stand goats that are dense in the head...... i actually do cull stupid.
If you got Boers for meat, you gotta understand why they're hard keepers instead of assuming all goats are a lot of maintenence.
Nigerians? They can be total menaces, yes. But, curbing your herd's temperament and behavior by culling hard and asking the right questions when purchasing stock absolutely will solve your "naughty goat" problems.
Alpines aren't bullies, they're extremely intelligent, problem solvers, and take their opinions seriously. They're simply a choleric breed, but this doesn't mean they won't coexist with others.
Your Togg milk might be weird if they're browsing. Study further.
Your meat might be gamey because you've got an improper mineral balance, etc. Not because of its age, size, breed or location.
My 20 bucks share a fence line with my does that are milking every day, and the milk tastes totally normal, still delicious. Ask any visitor that's tasted our milk and loved it. It's not the pen location that matters. It's their overall health, condition and diet.
I almost NEVER deworm my goats. Most of mine haven't had a single dewormer in YEARS, or even their entire lifetime! I literally won't even sell a kid if I needed to deworm it for any reason. It IS possible, or i wouldn't have goats at all.
Listen. If someone tells you goats are hard or they're always looking for ways to die, the milk is bad or the meat is gamey, I might confidently admit that the people that say these things ARE ignorant on the subject and/OR never experienced life with healthy, hardy stock, OR never took the time to hard cull for more admirable behavior traits, OR selected a breed that was a wrong fit... because yeah, breed DOES matter.
It's taken me several years to weave the herd I've got today. But if i gave up every time someone told me "goats are hard" or anything of the sort, I would have given up the first day. Seriously. Because goats ARE a hard learning curve. That does not mean the species is hard, itself.
Goats are.... a science? It just takes a little more human consciousness, selective decision-making, experimenting, learning and understanding, and observation. You can craft something beautiful with your herd if you come to terms with the fact that goating simply requires more brains than just putting a bunch of sheep or goats or cows in a pen because "they're easier." In the end, you'll be SO happy you took the time to figure them out.
Quality matters. Environment matters. Temperament matters. Breed matters. Maintenance matters. MINDSET matters.
