How Loud Are Goats?

[The Monkey Mama]

This is a stupid newbie question.

I grew up with goats [on a farm when I was young], but it has been 25 years since I was around them. I remember loving the goats and I would like to add a couple of goats to our backyard "farm"...but, we live in a subdivision. My hens don't bother anyone, and nobody has ever complained about them.

But I'm wondering how loud a goat would be? I know someone who is selling a couple of pigmy goats and I was thinking of buying them - would that be insane to do in a subdivision or is it something that could work?

We have a decent sized fenced in back yard with a 6 foot wooden privacy fence, so it is pretty secure, I'm just wondering if the goats will make a big racket and get our neighbors mad at us or anything....

thanks - and thanks for letting me ask such a stupid question.

Kelly

[QoTL]

Other people here are much wiser than I, but...

I have one Alpine mix and one Nigerian Dwarf. Originally I only had the Alpine... and she was LOUD. Yelled for me all day long, poor lonely girl. I could hear her in the house from an acre away. Now with two, I rarely hear them, and only if I am heading up to see them anyway, and they spot me coming They are way quieter than one neighbors barking (and howling) dogs.

I don't know how it would be in a subdivision. We are surrounded by woods, and can really only see the neighbor directly across the road. '

Adding: I also have chickens. When they are laying eggs they get LOUD. If your neighbors put up with that, the noise of a few goats shouldn't bother them IMHO.

Meghan

[RiverPines]

Well, first find out what your local ordinances are.
It would suck to get them, fall in love, and then have to surrender them for violation of ordinance.

As for noise..it gets loud here at feeding time. I have 13 goats now.
But other than feeding time, its quiet.

[Ernie]

Goats can be loud. If local ordinances allow them though, who cares how loud they can be?

It's not an unpleasant noise. It's not cars honking, doors slamming, rock music blaring, kids screaming. Your suburb (if it's like any suburb I've ever lived in) has much more noise going on at all hours of the day than the addition of a couple of goats would cause.

Many people even find it soothing. I do. When I hear my goats calling each other (or me) then it reminds me that I am on the farm that I've always worked for.

[gerald77]

for my goats it depends on the situation. if i am 2 seconds late milking i hear about and loudly. the others are quiet except when certain pairs get seperated. i hardly ever hear anything from my buck. it seems the girls and youngins are the most vocal here. that's just my goats though. they don't walk around yelling though.

[chewie]

mine make noise when its time for feed or milking--and nub. are the worst! my ober barely whispers and its a nice soft sound from her.

[oceanmist]

loudness depends on conditions, age, sex, season, breed... etc.

a lone goat can be VERy loud

[Common Tator]

We have 12 Boers. One, named Belle (for Alarm Belle) sounds just like someone yelling HEY!

[northprairiegir]

I have noticed that some breeds tend to be louder than others. My nubians tend to be more "vocal." The toggs are fairly quiet unless it is feeding time. But by far - my lamanchas are the quietest! I know there must be something wrong if one of them gets loud.

[GoatNamedDunn]

I have a pygmy and a nigerian whether. They are fairly quite and content. They can be very noisy at times. If I am late feeding them for instance they will cry, or if they cant see eachother they cry for one another. However the majority of the time they are not loud at all.

[buspete]

What we have found is that animals are generally very quiet unless a need isn't being met. If they have companionship (never get a single goat), have food and water, and don't have their head stuck in something, they generally don't have much to say.

Right now my gang is out there yelling for me because it is dinner time. My fault for being late with dinner.

The other "noise" associated with out goats is me doing the yelling like: "HEY!!! GET OFF OF MY JEEP!!!" or "HEY!!! STOP CHEWING THE TRAILER WIRES!!!!"

[HollyBearFarm]

Yup, I was about half an hour late for milking today and mine were very noisy about it. Other than that, I have ND's and Obers, and I really haven't noticed a difference in vocal-ness between the two breeds. Sometimes they talk and sometimes they are quiet.

OT, my ND mama has "adopted" my Ober doeling. Willow (the doeling) tends to shut herself in her house accidentally and Maggie (the mama) ALWAYS yells at me about it. It's really cute.

[hoofinitnorth]

Every goat is different but I will say I have met some shriekers! lol I have always heard that Nubians were loud but I don't mind most of them. Then at a recent show, this GORGEOUS Nubian doeling was talking normally and suddenly let out the hoarsest, most gawdawful shriek you'd ever heard a goat make. She didn't seem bothered by it! lol My barn is far eough from my house though...

Right now I only have NDs. I have one buck that has almost no voice. He sounds like he is whispering. Until he gets upset, then he *can* let out a "normal" sound but usually does not. Just sounds hoarse. He has been this way since he was born and I first heard it when I picked him up from the breeder. Endearing to me. Most of my other goats have a quiet voice that they let out through closed mouths, but when they want something (usually when they are frightened or mad), they can really bellow!

When I was attending my last kidding for the year, my second-freshener doe was having trouble repositioning the first kid. I had to go in and help turn her. Then the contraction came and it didn't matter what position that kid was in, it was COMING. My poor girl leaned up and put her face three inches from mine and SCREAMED as she pushed that girl right out into my hands. Good thing she was wide enough to pass a butt-breach but oh my, she let me know she was NOT comfortable! At least I had the baby turned enough to avoid a sideways delivery, which is how it was TRYING to come out - ribs and backbone first! ACK!

One of my new bucklings born in April has quite the whiney voice. He gets very vocal when he is out with the other young boys for exercise. His papa is the same way when his buddy leaves the pen for a hoof trim or something like that. My older buck is very quiet, except when romancing his girls.

Some days I walk out there and I can barely carry on a conversation in the yard. Of course I have TONS of fowl too and they are NOISY when they are hungry!

[The Monkey Mama]

Thank you all so much for the great replies! I really appreciate your thoughts and opinions!

Kelly