Acajou Ranch - Goat Information

Contrary to popular belief, goats are NOT lawnmowers. In fact, they are very likely to eat your trees, flowers, and bushes rather than any grass you want them to eat. They are browsers, which means they eat small amounts from several different plants. To stay healthy they also need hay as well as minerals, which does not apply to lawnmowers.

< Willy, An Angora Buck

Some people who raise goats disbud them when young to remove their horns. At Acajou Ranch, we do not do this, since the horns are very convenient when we handle the goats we raise. Every disbudded goat we have seen developed short, weak, useless scurs, which bleed when the goats butt heads. Keeping the horns intact eliminates this problem.

TRIVIA: For those people who register goats, the common practice is to name the young starting with a different letter each year. In 2007, the letter was “X”.

SELENIUM is a very important mineral for all types of goats, and in the United States, our soil and plants are more often than not deficient. Check with your local vet to find out if the soil is deficient in your area. If so, most feed stores carry loose minerals for sheep and goats. Some of the signs of Selenium deficiency are: Pale and scruffy fur, pale gums, poor growth, weak muscles and respiratory problems.

< Victoria, a Toggenburg Doe with
Selenium Deficiency.

TRIVIA: Some breeds of goats, such as Boer goats, are raised for meat, called Chevron.

Milk beer, or Koumiss, can be made from goat milk rather than horse milk.

You can make soap from goat’s milk as well as yogurt, custard, pudding, fudge, and ice cream;
ALL much healthier for you than using cow’s milk.

< Xterra

Crossing a Pygmy goat with an Angora goat will result in a breed of goat called a Pygora.

Xterra, our Pygmy buck, and Xaria, a young Angora are destined to produce Pygora goats for us beginning late in the year 2008 – early 2009.

< Xaria