Goats with horns

Why do some goats have horns and others don’t have any?   Is it alright to keep them together?    The goatkeeper who sent in this query was right to be concerned.   She has been offered a horned goat as a companion to her existing female Saanen and our advice would be to say ‘thanks’ but ‘no thanks’.

Horned goats are fine kept together so long as they have plenty of room.   Goats without horns get on well together also but when they are mixed the horned goats tend to dominate the rest with sometimes disastrous results.   A butt in the stomach from a pair of strong horns can spell death to any kids the female goat is carrying and bruised ribs at the very least.

Goats have a ‘pecking order’ just like most animals, they have the occasional squabble over who sits where and who gets the choicest food.   In a hornless goat it’s just a half-hearted ‘dutt’ on the head but the horned goats know they have weapons!   They are always dominant and will often give any goat who gets in their way some real aggro.

When it’s summertime and the goats can go out and there’s lots of browsing, there isn’t so much rivalry.  It’s a different ball game in winter when goats are penned.   Horns and no-horns are an unequal match and have to be separated.

Goats are very companiable creatures and need a herd environment so don’t keep just the one goat unless you have a great deal of time to spend with her.    Both male and female goats have horns but most goatkeepers have them removed shortly after the kids are born.   It is illegal to do this without an anaesthetic so the vet will carry out the operation as soon as the little horn buds start showing through the skin.

Always let your vet know when your goat has kids and take his advice on when he wants to disbud them.  Different vets sometimes vary slightly in their timing on removing horns.   The vet will cauterize the horn buds with a hot iron, the kid, so long as properly anaesthetised, won’t feel a thing.   In the bad old days kids used to be dis-budded without anaesthetic and it was a cruel procedure.   Thankfully, the law doesn’t allow this now.