101 Fun Facts About Goats

Whether you're starting into a new 4-H project or have been raising goats for decades, sometimes it can be good to know a few facts. So here are 101 of them!

101 Fun Facts About Goats

1. Not all goats have horns.
2. Goats do not eat tin cans.
3. Goat-owners do not always look (or smell) like their livestock.
4. Goat meat is one of the leanest red meats.
5. Goat milk is very healthy.
6. The markhor breed is the national animal of Pakistan.
7. Horns of goats grow in lots of different directions and patterns.
8. Various goat breeds are used for milk, meat, wool, sacrifice, and pack animals.
9. Goat meat is one of the most popular meats on the planet (mainly outside the US).
10. Baby goats are usually born without horns - they start growing after a few weeks.
11. Domesticated goats are sometimes kept as pets - similar to a dog or cat.
12. Goats are very curious - if you do something they see as strange, they will stare at you until they figure out why you're doing it.
13. Some people use goats to pull children in small wagons or carts.
14. The most expensive goat ever sold cost $194,547.20 US Dollars.
15. Nubian goats are the most common dairy goat in the US.
16. Goats are very agile.
17. Race horses are often given a 'goat friend' so they will not be lonely in the stall.
18. The phrase 'getting someone's goat' comes from the (unsportsman-like) practice of stealing the competition's goat to unsettle the horse before the race.
19. Goats only have bottom teeth. The top is just gums.
20. Goats and cattle are not susceptible to many of the same types of intestinal parasites.
21. Goats come in thousands of color combinations from jet-black to blue.
22. Gloves made of goat hide are soft but tough.
23. Like humans, goats can have accents.
24. Baby goats love to run up and down their mother's back while she is lying down.
25. The pupils in a goat's eye are slits, instead of round. This gives them better peripheral vision.
26. Traditional 'mountain goats' are actually more similar to sheep than goats.
27. There are about 450 million goats in the world.
28. Male and female goats often have beards.
29. Some goats have bundles of skin under their chins called wattles which serve no known function.
30. Most goats prefer weeds to grass.
31. Goats hate getting wet - whether from rain or standing water.
32. If a goat is raised by humans, they often have great loyalty and fondness for their owner.
33. Goat fur is fairly resistant to water and dirt - except when they are run-down or unhealthy.
34. Goats prefer to eat the tops of weeds more than any other part.
35. A defense mechanism in fainting goats causes them to appear to pass out when threatened.
36. The tallest goat ever recorded stood almost 6 feet tall.
37. The LaMancha breed is born with ears so small that many people think they have been torn off.
38. Nubian goats have ears so long that reach down to their noses.
39. Goats make different sounds and calls which have different meanings.
40. Goats in Ethiopia first discovered coffee beans.
41. There are companies that transport goats to various locations to landscape the foliage.
42. There are over 200 official breeds of goat.
43. Worldwide, more people eat and drink milk from goats than any other animal.
44. Goats have 24 molars and 8 incisors.
45. Goats can be born with or without horns (polled).
46. Goats have a four chamber stomach.
47. Goats are one the cleanliest animals.
48. Goats are more selective feeders than cows, sheep, pigs, swine and even dogs.
49. The top ten states with the largest population of meat goats are Texas (1,010,000), Tennessee (98,000), Georgia (77,000), Oklahoma (65,000), Kentucky (63,500), North Carolina (52,200), California (50,000), South Carolina (41,000), Alabama (37,800) and Florida (36,000;NASS, 2005).
50. Having 15,000 taste buds, goats have 5000-6,000 more than humans!
51. There are goats on every continent except Antarctica.
52. Goats love to jump and climb on rocks.
53. While climbing, goats often play King-of-the-Mountain by trying to push each other to the ground.
54. 'Judas Goats' are trained to herd other animals to slaughter (though their lives are spared).
55. Goats were not known to the Americas until Columbus brought them in 1493.
56. Most goat medications were originally developed for other species.
57. Goat milk is less allergenic than cow milk.
58. About 1.5 million pounds of goat meat is imported into the US every week.
59. Goat kids can stand minutes after birth.
60. Goats do not have tear ducts.
61. China has the most goats in the world with over 170 million.
62. Lactating does produce around a gallon of milk a day.
63. Some people use tobacco as a wormer for goats.
64. Goats can have life spans up to 15 years.
65. Approximately 72% of the milk consumed by humans worldwide is goat milk.
66. Goat milk is more digestible than cow milk.
67. It takes 20 minutes to digest goat milk (cow milk takes an hour)
68. Some goats bond with their kids for life while others refuse to associate with them after weaning.
69. Goats often stand on their back legs to reach leaves that are to high too reach on all 4's.
70. Goat milk is sometimes used in soap.
71. Sailors used to bring goats on voyages so they could have fresh milk every day.
72. The US imports the most goats worldwide.
73. Australia exports the most goats worldwide.
74. Goats eat around 5.5 pounds a day.
75. Mothers can identify their kids by the smell.
76. Mothers can also tell if their kids have tampered with using scent.
77. Goats move their jaws between 40,000 and 60,000 times a day.
78. Goats have about 340 degree panoramic vision.
79. Goats have excellent night vision.
80. When milk does are kept with bucks, the milk reportedly tastes more "goaty."
81. Goats skins were used as parchment by ancient Greeks.
82. Wild goats do not sleep.
83. Goats milk is naturally homogenized.
84. Early explorers used goat skins to carry water.
85. As president, Abraham Lincoln’s sons kept two goats in the white house with them.
86. Goat horns never stop growing.
87. The oldest goat ever recorded lived 22 years 5 months.
88. Goat cheese has about 60% the fat, cholesterol and calories of cheddar cow cheese.
89. 100 pounds of goat milk makes about 25 pounds of goat cheese.
90. Google rents goats to cut down on brush at Google HQ.
91. When in a herd, goats will select a matriarch as to lead.
92. One Angora goat will produce 11 to 17 pounds of mohair per year.
93. Domesticated goats choose a central bedding area to return to every night.
94. Mountain goats will sometimes eat moss when other food sources are lacking.
95. Goat milk soap is used as a treatment for skin disorders such as eczema.
96. Spanish goats are an actual breed - they are not 'mutts.'
97. The longest domestic goat horns measured were 52 inches tip to tip.
98. Happie, the skateboarding goat, has the world record for longest ride at 118 feet.
99. Goats have natural oils that help repel ticks.
100. The thickness of an Angora goat's hair increases with their age.
101. The high of mohair production was reached in the 1990's with appx. 28,000 tons a year.