In addition to a flock of hair sheep, I also have a small herd of about 20 goats. I first became interested in goats in about 1984 when I bought an Alpine buckling goat to keep my Arabian mare company. I proceeded to add a few (6) Alpine dairy milking goats to the mix and started milking them by hand. I would then give the excess milk to some Holstein calves, who thrived on the milk. I sold the calves as yearlings at the sale barn and was amazed at the prices I got for them. I did a little showing at the time and learned that a good dairy goat should only have two nipples on her udder. That’s why when I see many of the Boer meat goats of today with four nipples on their udder like a cow, I consider that a fault. But many of the Boer breeders are former or current cattle owners so they probably don’t consider this a fault.

Since I was working a full-time job off the farm at the time, milking goats became too much work and I abandoned this venture.

In 2014, I decided to add a few goats to my flock of sheep and bought five really nice Boer-Alpine cross does from a breeder I knew from my goat showing days. He had been president of the dairy goat association in Indiana and the family was still involved in raising and showing high quality goats. I used a full blood registered Boer buck on them for a few years and then sold him when he became too big to contain and kept either jumping or breaking down fences. Then I saw an ad on Craigslist for six Nigerian Dwarf goats that someone had for sale in downtown Indianapolis. I couldn’t believe it. Someone had goats in the inner city? No place for goats!

I went to look at them and it turned out that they had access to a large lot of grass pasture, but were surrounded by the inner city so I had to get those farm animals out of the city and back to the open spaces of the country where they would be safe and have a more natural life. They were purebred Nigerian Dwarf: two adult females (black in color) and each doe had two female kids with them. So that was my start in the very sweet smaller goats.

I used a Savanna cross buck on my goats (the Alpine cross does) for a few years, then a white Myotonic buck on them. Currently I am using a very sweet natured and non-fence climbing Myotonic (fainting) buck named Danny on my goat herd. He is polled, which is another trait I prefer. I’m looking forward to seeing how this experience turns out.

Some people have the opinion that goats are smarter than sheep. I believe there may be some truth in this, but not totally convinced. I believe it may be more of a matter of each species having a different nature, personality and things they are interested in. I have found my sheep are perfectly happy just being in their group, having their noses to the ground eating grass and don’t pay that much attention to me. On the other hand, the goats are nosey and want to be with their human.

The first thing in the morning when I step out of the house, if the goats see me from their pasture or the barn, the goats call out a greeting to me (not so the sheep). When I have been away shopping and come home past the goats’ pasture which is along the driveway, they all raise their heads up and come running to the barn (“she’s home!”). The myotonic goats will be lagging behind because when they get excited they tend to lose the function of their back legs and may fall over – faint – but they soon recover. 

If I am out in the yard picking up tree limbs or whatever and the goats see me they follow me around and also want to see what I’m doing, actually getting in the way. I believe this probably is a result of thousands of years of domestication by mankind as sheep and goats were among the first farm animals to be domesticated. The goats were probably kept close at hand near people’s dwellings so they would be handy to milk to add to the family’s meals, etc. They probably selectively bred for goats who had the trait of staying close and not wandering too far off as they probably milked them several times a day to feed their children, etc.

Regarding which is smarter – sheep or goats. I recently had a group of about 20 ewe lambs and 12 goats in the yard to help trim things up for me so I don’t have to mow the lawn so much. We have had several periods of rain in the area the past few weeks and I watched from my living room window how they would react to being rained on. At the first DROP of rain, the goats ran like hell for the barn. They hate being rained on. However, the sheep took their time and didn’t seem too concerned until it finally got to the point of POURING rain on them. Then they finally decided to slowly mosey their way to the barn to get out of the rain. One could argue that they had thicker skin (no wool—they’re hair sheep) than the goats…or not as smart?? One wonders.

I will add that on a commercial basis, it is easier for me to sell sheep than the goats. I don’t have as much an emotional attachment to the sheep as I do the goats. The goats are more like pets to me. They are more personal. They are entertaining. Just looking at their goofy faces and watching their antics makes me smile. Selling them would be like selling a pet dog. But if you are interested in making money (as most people are), they both sell well at the sale barn or to private individuals. Happy to be “retired.” Lambjoyw@gmail.com