What Is Goat Math?

We talked about chicken math here, but did you know there is such a thing as goat math? And you will become a victim of it SO much faster than chickens! But to stay on topic as much as possible, I’m going to tell you what goat math is, how it happens, why it happens and what you can do about it…. of course that is assuming you don’t want to be a victim of goat math. But if I’m being honest, I’m a proud victim of goat math…

Is Goat Math A Thing?

Uh, yes, goat math is absolutely a thing. It may not be as wide spread as chicken math because there are people who don’t like goats… Yea, I know, I couldn’t believe it either. But those people do exist and I am not their friend.

What Is Goat Math?

Goat math is very similar to chicken math if only because you’re not really sure how it happens. But that’s where the similarities end. In chicken math, you end up getting more chickens because you want to meet your egg needs. Or maybe, you need a couple more because your flock is getting older. Maybe you wanted to incubate a couple eggs to see what it was like. Your numbers could explode.

With goat math, the animal and by extension bill is much more expensive.

How Does Goat Math Happen?

Goat math is an all or nothing thing type of math, because it is 100% controllable. If you only purchase does, and never use a buck? Goat math doesn’t apply. Or if you only purchase wethers or bucks, you won’t have to worry about goat math. But if you ever decide to you want milk? You are screwed.

Sure, goat math could apply if you decide to bring one more goat onto the property, then another, and another. But it’s not like getting suckered at Tractor Supply. You don’t hear those baby goats bleating at TSC!

Goat math also happens because you are aiming for a goal like, only drinking goat milk or eating goat cheese. Well, you have to breed to get milk! So now, you have a couple goat kids. Then you want to keep one, then another, and another and BAM you’ve got 20 goats!

Ask me how I know.

Why Does Goat Math Happen?

Goat math happens because you get attached to these adorable creatures. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t melt when goat kids start jumping around and acting crazy. Again, if you don’t, I don’t know if we can be friends. Because it is freaking adorable!

But because we get attached, it’s harder and harder to not get more! Or at least keep one or two from that year’s kidding season.

Again, the why to goat math is answered exclusively by being a mere mortal and unable to say no to more goats. Because honestly, how in the world do you say no to a baby goat!

How To Combat Goat Math

There are several ways to not be a victim of goat math:

1. Never buy a buck
2. Never buy a doe
3. Probably best to never buy a goat, at all.
4. Don’t breed.

Pretty simple, right?

But it’s really not that simple. I absolutely love my goats. And while I don’t think they are beginner livestock, I do think they are a great animal to get for those city kids that moved to the country…. *raises hand*

They are a million times easier to raise than pigs and easier to keep track of than chickens.

Major Issues With Goats

I talked above about goats not being beginner livestock, and they are easier to raise than just about other animals if you stay on top of their care. But goats can be relatively fragile unless you get lucky with a Bella.

Skittish Goats

Goats for the most part are extremely friendly, especially if they have been raised by someone who truly cares about their goats. With a little bonding time, you can have an animal that is dog-like with their affection.

But if you acquire goats from less than ideal situations, you may end up with goats that will never come around. Just like dogs, goats raised on poor husbandry farms will probably always mistrust humans. Sure, you can get them to come around a bit, like we have with Bella, but they will probably never be truly comfortable with humans. Which breaks my heart.

Most Goats Aren’t Hardy

Due to constant, monthly worming, goats have become reliant on these medications to survive. When we bought Champ, she came from a place were she was wormed monthly. She is not a hardy goat. In fact, we have to baby her almost every winter.

We don’t worm monthly, in fact, we rarely worm our animals. We want them to be hardy and we are getting there. One of Champ’s daughters, Stella, has only been wormed 5 times in the 2.5yrs since she was born.

But if we don’t “force” the hardiness, the goats will not thrive.

Kidding Season

This is probably the most obvious reason for goat math issues. Kidding season is, normally, a happy time. But sometimes, you will have issues with miscarried babies, stuck kids, and stillborns. Sometimes, after kids are born, they aren’t hardy and they are more likely to die.

We learned the hard way that any babies born from May to August don’t survive the worm blooms. We lost 2 bucklings to high worm loads and not being hardy enough to handle the cold. There’s more to it than that, but we realized that any babies born in those months tend to die very easily. But all the babies born at other times have thrived.

Goat Math Survivors

Now, that I have my established herd of does, I usually only retain one or two does every year. Normally, I will sell any that aren’t producing the amount of milk we need. We have also made the decision that we will keep 100% of Bella’s doelings. At least until we don’t have the room to keep more.

But remember, just because you’ve made plans and decisions, doesn’t mean that you won’t have brushes with goat math and watch those plans go right out the window.

How do you handle goat math?

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