Social Behavior of Goats
Natural History and Environment of Goats
Domestic goats (Capra hircus) are the domesticated counterparts of wild goats (Capra aegagrus) from southwestern Asia and eastern Europe.
Goats are adapted to steep, mountainous environments. Wild goats are observed living at high elevations in summer and lower elevations in winter. Some species of wild goats can also be observed on steep rock faces. Feral goats prefer rocky terrain, elevated rock faces, and steep cliffs.
Feral goats have also been observed using caves to rest at night, during rain, and at temperatures > 22°C (approximately 72°F). The flexibility in environment selection demonstrates that goats have different environmental preferences depending on the conditions.
Goats were domesticated around 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, making them one of the first animals to be domesticated. Meat, milk, and wool are the most common uses for goats in agricultural production.
Goats are ruminants classified as both browsers and grazers, meaning that they feed on leaves, shoots, bark, and fruits of high-growing woody plants, such as shrubs, grasses, and other low-lying vegetation.
In addition to having dietary flexibility, goats adopt varied postures when foraging. For instance, they are commonly observed foraging from plants at eye level and at elevated positions (above their heads) in bipedal stances (ie, standing on their rear legs).
Social Structure of Goats
There are three common types of social groups in goats: female-only, male-only, and mixed-sex groups. Sexual segregation of goat social groups changes throughout the year, depending on feeding requirements and activity patterns.
The natural social organization of goats is a fission-fusion society, in which social groups merge and split as goats move throughout their environment. Group composition is thus dynamic over time, changing approximately once every hour as a result of goats moving around to graze and coming into proximity of multiple individuals within the herd.
In feral goat populations, group sizes have been observed to range from 1 to 100 individuals.
Social dominance is related to horn size in wild and feral goats. Males with larger horns are socially more dominant over females and have more access to females than males with smaller horns have, particularly during breeding season. Agonistic behaviors (including head butting, displacing, chasing, and biting) and affiliative behaviors (such as sniffing, scratching, and mock fighting, or play) maintain the social dominance structure.
Sexual and Maternal Behavior of Goats
Goats are seasonal, polyestrous breeders; peak breeding occurs when days shorten. Animals in subtropical environments can have extended breeding periods because day length and temperature are more consistent. Estrous behaviors include bleating, tail flagging, and mounting other does; these behaviors are more pronounced in the presence of an intact male.
Does generally separate themselves from their social group and seek areas with overhead cover, vertical walls, and low wind velocities to give birth. Kids (juvenile goats) are precocial and attempt to stand within 1 hour after birth and suckle within 2 hours after birth.
Pearls & Pitfalls
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Does and their kids stay in close physical contact for the first day after birth and remain isolated from the social group. Then, for approximately a week after birth, kids remain isolated, and does visit the kids for short bouts of time to nurse. Does form exclusive bonds with their kids and will not nurse unrelated kids.
After the hiding phase ends, kids suckle approximately twice per hour. The frequency of suckling decreases as kids age, and weaning occurs between 3 and 6 months of age in wild and feral goats. Preweaned kids form peer groups (crèches) by 2 weeks old, in which they preferentially spend their time with related and unrelated kids of similar ages.
Preweaned kids also engage in multiple forms of play, including locomotor play (eg, running and jumping), social play (eg, head pressing, running and jumping with peers, rearing), and object play (eg, interacting with flooring substrates or enrichment objects).
Behavior Problems of Goats
Unlike some agricultural species reared and housed in confinement, goats do not commonly exhibit abnormal behaviors. The larger potential problem with confined goats is that an inability to perform natural behaviors can result in frustration and boredom.
In natural settings, unrelated goats rarely enter established social groups. Goats in production settings, however, are commonly mixed into new social groups to suit the needs of the farm.
Goats introduced into preexisting social groups frequently experience agonistic interactions from goats in the existing groups, including head butting, chasing, displacing, and biting, for multiple days after entry. Negative social interactions are stressful for goats and interrupt their normal behavior patterns.
Goats in confinement are commonly fed in feed bunks at floor level, and feeding areas might have less space per goat than is required. Goats display more agonistic interactions when space is insufficient in feeding areas.
Providing opportunities for goats to perform more natural feeding behaviors, such as feeding at eye level or in elevated feed bunks, can decrease some competition at the feed bunk. However, goats have shown a preference for eating at eye level, compared with floor level, and they might compete for access to elevated feeding platforms, if access is limited.
Providing goats with preferred flooring substrates and vertical space might also encourage natural behaviors. Goats prefer to lie on hard surfaces, such as solid wood, rubber mats, and slatted plastic, compared with wood shavings or metal mesh. In addition, goats use elevated surfaces to climb and rest. Providing vertical space in goat housing gives them opportunities to perform natural behaviors.
In dairy goat production, kids are commonly removed from their dams early in life and artificially reared in kid-only groups, where they are fed from bottles or automatic milk feeders. Artificially reared kids might show different behavioral responses to novel situations and to unfamiliar goats than those exhibited by dam-reared kids. The full impact of early doe-kid separation on doe and kid welfare needs to be explored further.
Kids in dairy production are also frequently reared in barren environments, in contrast with varied rock terrain, the natural environment of goats. Providing goat kids with enrichment, such as items to climb, chew, and groom, can improve their welfare, as demonstrated by kids' engagement with enrichment items and increased play behavior.
Key Points
Goats in agricultural production systems perform behaviors aligned with adaptations to their natural environment.
Hard lying surfaces, elevated feed heights, and vertical spaces should be provided to allow goats to perform natural, preferred behaviors.
Goat kids hide from does for the first week after birth, seeing them only to nurse.
For More Information
Dwyer C. The behaviour of sheep and goats. In: Jensen P, ed. The Ethology of Domestic Animals: An Introductory Text. 3rd ed. CABI; 2017:199-213.
