Happy Goat?

[KrisW]

Hello All,

First time goat owner, with a some what silly question…….
Picked up my goats on the 22nd of this month. These will be my milk goats.
7 month old sisters, Togg and Alpine cross from a 4H girl, with papers of some sort that I don’t really understand yet, (but that’s beside the point right now).

Have done a lot of reading and asked a lot of questions so I feel pretty comfortable with them.
The one thing I can’t figure out is …. Do goats purr?
When I brush Polly she kinda rumbles and gurgles, is this a goat purr? She seems happy to be brushed, the other one Holly, not so much, gonna have to work on that.

Just wondering .....

Kris

[topside1]

Sounds like you are taking great care of your new goats. Goats have a wide variety of unusual sounds that they can make. The most unusual noises occur during their last two months of pregnancy. Sounds normal to me, keep up the good work..The papers you are holding are probably called experimental breed. It's just papers showing the breed percentages of the animals you own....Just a guess though, my eyes just aint what the used to be...Go Goats.

[fishhead]

Rumbles and gurgles sounds like the rumen working.

Mine make a kind of deep cat growl sound when pushing another goat away from food.

[KrisW]

See, these are the things they just don’t tell you in books!
And here I thought goats only made one sound, boy I’m in for some surprises aren’t I? LOL

Thanks

Kris

[HazyDay]

Mine make very wierd sounds during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy. Some will grunt all night long and some snore all night long!! You will see a change in the last 8 weeks!!

[AnnaS]

I have one doe who groans and moans when she is brushed or scratched. She's also the dominant doe and "growls" if another doe gets too close when she's eating.

I have another doe, Elsa, who is just loud. If I say her name, she starts yelling. All the other does just come to their name. She scared the @#$% out of me by screaming constantly for 12 HOURS before she kidded. Yes, she had a totally normal presentation and kidding. Beleieve me, I checked. She just didn't like it. She also yelled herself hoarse after kidding, trying to get me to come out of the house and sit with her. 10 cc of blackberry brandy (for the goat) cured that issue. For that year, anyway.

These are both Toggs. They have closely related herdmates who are totally silent. These does will use body language to let me know that they enjoy itching or are happy to see me instead of vocalization.

It seems to be a personality thing

[AnnaS]

I have one doe who groans and moans when she is brushed or scratched. She's also the dominant doe and "growls" if another doe gets too close when she's eating.

I have another doe, Elsa, who is just loud. If I say her name, she starts yelling. All the other does just come to their name. She scared the @#$% out of me by screaming constantly for 12 HOURS before she kidded. Yes, she had a totally normal presentation and kidding. Believe me, I checked! Many, many times.

She also yelled herself hoarse after kidding, trying to get me to come out of the house and sit with her. 10 cc of blackberry brandy (for the goat) cured that issue. For that year, anyway.

These are both Toggs. They have closely related herdmates who are totally silent. These does will use body language to let me know that they enjoy itching or are happy to see me instead of vocalization.

It seems to be a personality thing

[nehimama]

A lot of my girls make a humming/yummy sound when they dive into their alfalfa pellets. It's like they're in ecstacy. They probably are.

Yelling - they ALL do that any time they see me come out the door. As if, when they see me, I should be bearing FOOD for them. Or something.

Grunting. Those who are nearing the end of their pregnancies are doing a lot of grunting. And groaning.

NeHi

P.S. KrisW, it sounds like you have happy goats. Or at least one happy goat.

[Alice In TX/MO]

My Alpine mumbles when she's not happy, too.

[HilltopDaisy]

Funny! I remember when I got my first doe, Emily, after having three very quiet wethers; I came here and asked about all the weird noises she was making! Almost sounded like she was choking but it's just a growling/grunt she does when she eats.