Keeping goats in New Zealand

Why keep goats

New Zealand goats are farmed for milk, fibre (mohair and cashmere), and meat. On lifestyle blocks, small herds are also kept for weed control, on thistles and dock for example, and as pets.

Goats are browsers rather than grazers. Given the chance they take up to 60% of their diet from shrubs, weeds, and trees. They are curious, agile climbers. Head-butting is normal herd behaviour, so don’t push on a goat’s head or horns. Bucks can be dangerous at any time, and especially in the mating season.

Company, shelter, and fences

Never keep a goat alone. Two goats that get on is the minimum, and the Code of Welfare accepts sheep, cattle, or horses as companions too. Uncastrated males smell strongly and spray urine, so they don’t suit as pets; wethers do.

Goats don’t have the oily coat that keeps sheep dry, and they get hypothermia easily when wet. They need a rain- and draught-proof shelter where every goat can get off wet ground and out of the wind. Make it big enough that dominant goats can’t push the others out.

Fences should be at least 1.55 m high, with no barbed wire and gaps too small for heads, horns, or legs to get stuck. Netting can trap horned goats. Many owners add an electric wire to stop climbing and squeezing through. Vets count a goat as roughly one sheep when working out how many animals a block can carry, and Beef + Lamb NZ’s Wormwise advises keeping goat numbers low to control worms. Higher figures, such as the NZ Dairy Goat Breeders Association’s 4–6 goats per acre, assume you buy in plenty of roughage.

Feeding and water

SPCA suggests about half the diet as good hay and a quarter to a half as browse, with pasture on top. On many blocks goats need supplementary feed for much of the year. Change the diet gradually over several days, especially when feeding grain, because a sudden change can cause acidosis or pulpy kidney.

Adult goats drink 3–4 litres a day and milking does 12–20 litres. Make sure the smallest goat can reach the trough. Goats need more selenium, iodine, and copper than sheep, but too much copper is also harmful, so ask your vet to test before supplementing.

Names for goats

New Zealand breeders and the Code of Welfare say doe and buck; nanny and billy are the everyday alternatives.

Doe (nanny)

An adult female.

Buck (billy)

An uncastrated male.

Wether

A castrated male. The usual pet or companion goat.

Kid

A young goat, up to about 4 months old.

Doeling and buckling

A young female, and a young uncastrated male.

Goatling

A young female dairy goat, before the end of her first lactation.

In kid

Pregnant. Pregnancy lasts about 150 days.

Kidding

Giving birth.

Milker

A doe being milked.

Dry doe and drying off

A doe not being milked, and stopping milking before she kids again.

Freshen

To kid and come back into milk.

Rut

A buck’s breeding season, which runs from late summer to late winter.

Buck rag

A cloth rubbed on a buck in rut and offered to does to show which are on heat.

Disbudding

Destroying the horn buds of a young kid. It needs vet-authorised pain relief.

Herd or trip

A group of goats. Herd is the usual word.

Regular jobs

Worms and drenching

Worms are the biggest health risk for goats. Unlike sheep, adult goats never build up much immunity, and drench resistance is widespread in New Zealand. Goats also break down drench faster than sheep, so vets often recommend 1.5–3 times the sheep dose. Levamisole can be toxic at three times the sheep dose, especially for kids. Most drenches aren’t registered for goats, so weigh your goats, work out doses with your vet, and don’t use pour-ons.

Health problems to watch for

• Barber’s pole worm: it sucks blood, causing anaemia, and can kill young and adult goats.
• Pulpy kidney: often sudden death after a sudden change to grain or lush feed. The 5-in-1 vaccine protects against it.
• Bloat: a swollen left side.
• Urinary stones in wethers and bucks: restlessness, going off feed, dribbling, then straining with nothing passing. Call a vet immediately.
• CAE, a viral disease found in many New Zealand herds, which can cause arthritis in adults. There is no cure, so ask for test results when buying.
• Footrot and scald, which are more common in wet weather.
• Poisoning from rhododendron, tutu, ragwort, karaka, ngaio, oleander, yew, macrocarpa, or garden prunings. Signs can take 24–48 hours to appear.
• Cold stress: hunched, shivering, huddling, and not eating.

What a goat costs to keep

The first bottle of drench and pack of vaccine cost about $225 between them, shared across your herd. Vet visits, hoof trimming if you pay someone, and fibre shearing are extra. So are the goats themselves: the NZ Dairy Goat Breeders Association quotes $350–$750 for a milking doe.

New Zealand rules

• The Code of Welfare: Goats sets minimum standards, including companions, shelter that keeps goats dry, and daily water.
• Tethering is legal only for a placid, trained goat with food, water, shade, and dry shelter at all times, checked at least every 12 hours. Never tether kids, sick goats, or pregnant or nursing does. MPI and SPCA advise against tethering.
• Disbudding needs vet-authorised pain relief at any age, and so does dehorning. Castrating a goat over six months old, or with a high-tension band, also needs pain relief. Horns must not be left to grow into the head.
• An Animal Status Declaration (ASD) is needed when goats move to a new owner or to a processor.
• NAIT tagging doesn’t apply to goats. If you also keep cattle or deer, declare the number of goats you had on 30 June to NAIT by 31 July.
• Home kill: an MPI-listed homekill service provider can kill a goat you have cared for daily for at least 28 days. The meat is for your household and can’t be sold or bartered. MPI consulted on changes to the homekill rules in 2026, so check before booking.