Thinking of buying your first goats?

WeWell, you have goat fever and are ready to take the plunge! Where do you start looking? The auction barn? WRONG. The best place to go to when looking for a healthy goat is to a local breeder. You can find reputable pygmy goat breeders in your area by searching the National Pygmy Goat Association's website. It is organized by state. You can also search or members page for local breeders.

Goats sold at auctions are usually but not always, breeders cull that need to be put down. At an auction you don't have time to check out the animals. What you see is what you get & unfortunately it only takes one diseased goat to expose a whole herd of animals leading to painful losses and expensive vet bills.

Just doing a quick visual, you can learn to spot a sickly goat. You don't want to buy a goat with scours, a shaggy coat, runny eyes, runny nose, bad feet, or one that is to skinny. These are often signs of a sick goat with possible parasites, pink eye or respiratory problems. You also want to do a quick visual of their hooves to make sure they don't have hoof rot.

Another highly contagious disease is Sore Mouth. It is a highly infectious viral disease to animals and humans. ORF is the name for this in humans. You will find pimples about the nose, mouth, eyes, anus and hoofs. Turning to watery blisters, then to sticky and encrusted scabs. Swelling of mouth and gums. Will run a course of around three weeks. Animals can die if they are unable to eat or nurse because of the sore mouth.

SORE MOUTH

There are more serious problems that can't necessarily be caught by doing a quick visual. So it is important to ask lots of questions.

Ask if your goat and the rest of the herd has been tested for the following diseases and make sure the results were negative. Ask to see the results.

CL (CASEOUS LYMPHADENITIS)

CAE (CAPRINE ARTHRITIS)

JOHNES DISEASE

If your goat is less than 6 months, than these tests may not be reliable. Ask if the parents were tested with negative results.

Not all breeders do this testing and have perfectly healthy animals. If the breeder doesn't want to pay to have the testing done, than I would highly recommend you ask to pay for it yourself. If the breeder is reputable they should not have a problem with that.

Good luck & hope to meet you in the future.