How to tell goats age?

farmprincess · #1 09/19/05, 07:16 AM

Hi everyone,
We have a new pygmy goat who we know very little about. The guy we bought him from had sold his farm and was moving and needed an immediate home for her. He didn't seem to know much about her and said she was his ex-wife's goat. We have given her basic cares, hoof trim, worming etc. but we need to figure out how old she is. Is there a way to tell by her teeth? There was a buck on the farm so how can we tell if she's pregnant? Or, if she's in heat. We don't want to breed her too young. I read that regular sized goats should be at least 80 lbs before being bred, but can't find any info on the size a pygmy goat should be. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Goat Freak · #2 09/19/05, 10:04 AM

I read that the wear on their teeth can tell ya how old they are, but I do not knpow how much wear to what age, sorry hopefully someone else will be here soon that knows more than me. Bye.

larellynm · #3 09/19/05, 10:31 AM

Hi-

I just got 4 Pygmies, 2 adults and 2 5 month olds. I used this site to figure out their age. http://fiascofarm.com/goats/age.htm
The two adults I purchased to my best guess are 4 or 5. The lady I bought them from did not know how to "age" goats so I taught her how.
Hope this helps.
Larellyn

dscott7972 · #4 09/19/05, 12:17 PM

I have bottle fed goats but even with that this isn't always an easy task.

**mygoat** · #5 09/19/05, 03:03 PM

Is she dehorned? i can usually tell how old a doe is by how long her horns are....

farmprincess · #6 09/20/05, 07:45 PM

Her horns are about 4- 5 inches long, quite straight, thin and pointy, even sharp - ouch!

tinetine'sgoat · #7 09/20/05, 09:22 PM

Great question, with few answers... You can get an ultrasound from the vet, or you can consider the pooch test, or you can wait...wait...and wait some more. The ultrasound however is the best definate answer you can get if you really want to know right now. We chose to wait with ours and find out due to the costs.

**mygoat** · #8 09/20/05, 10:06 PM

4-5" isnt very long, so i would guess anywhere between 10mon-16 monthes old, but that is just my experience with horns. it also depends on the goat and what feed and how long they were alowed to nurse, so i could be way off. did u ask how long he owned the goat for? or since what month? that is weird that they are straight, is she a pure pygmy? do they show signs of curving back? good luck with ageing her.
~Dona