Okay, if you’re wanting goats as pets, get off of the scrub goat ads. Find local show goat breeders - but don’t be afraid of the high prices and pictures of ribbons and goat boobs.
We all produce an excess of bucklings, and there are only so many pet homes. The rest go for meat generally - so prices tend to stay low, even for high quality wethers. Let the breeder know you are looking for pets that will be cared for like your horse(s) is - we can’t get enough of those homes, they are rare.
You want disbudded kids, at least two, three is better, and you want them from a herd that is tested for CAE and CL at the very least. CL is contagious to horses and people so this is important. CAE is not dangerous to anything other than sheep (and risk of transmission is almost nothing in anything but a lactating female) but will shorten the goat’s lifespan and if they are symptomatic, they will be miserable.
Responsible breeders test, responsible breeders disbud, and a responsible breeder will have your back. Goats get sick quickly, they hide it ten times better than horses, and they appear to die overnight. Wethers in particular need attention paid to their diet to prevent urinary calculi, but otherwise, when it comes to keeping pet goats (as opposed to production breeding/milking animals) it’s honestly not that difficult.
Browse and a good quality hay, hoof trimming (get a milkstand, you’ll thank me), loose minerals (just like with horses, block minerals are useless), and you’ve got yourself a fairly easy pet.
If you want “dogs with hooves” which is what goats absolutely can be, I suggest bottle feeding them. You can use whole cow’s milk from the store - don’t mess around with overpriced replacer.
This is not the best time of the year to buy - depending on your location, most breeders will start kidding out in the Spring, unless you’re in the South as I am, in which case I kid out in January and am pushing for others to follow my example. Right now breeders are dumping culls and overstock before winter.
Now, when it comes to bucks, bucklings, and wethers - they can be banded like a calf, which is the most common procedure. If you are unsure, ask the breeder to do it for you. Some breeders use an emasculator and some simply cut and pull the testicles out. These are all fine methods. Do not believe the myth that the younger you castrate, the higher chance of UC - this is correlation but not causation. The urinary tract shrinks no matter what are you castrate. UC is caused by an imbalance of calcium and phosphorous in the diet, and is caused by the phosphorous - being fed too much grass hay + grain. This is why I get so many cases of intact bucks with it. Over fed, over fed, over fed. Almost every goat I lay hands on (that is not mine) is over fed and under conditioned. Goats are not meant to be fat in any way. They develop fat around their internal organs before any significant amount of subcutaneous fat.
A wether will not demonstrate the foul behavior of a buck if wethered early. Older bucks can be castrated, but will often continue at least some of the foul behavior, though the smell and intensity will be greatly lessened.
I have no clue if anything I just wrote flows in any kind of mindful order, but please feel free to follow my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/knsfarm and know that I spend literal (and I do mean literal, not figurative) hours a day answering emails and messages about goats and their care.
If other breeders had not helped me when I started, I would not be where I am today, and I pay that back ten fold.
