New Zealand farming. Goats – Glossary of terms.

Dr Clive Dalton

Breeds

Saanan milking goats on rotary milking platform

Milking dairy goats:

Sannan

Toggenburg

British Alpine

Anglo Nubian

Fibre goats:

Angora

Cashmere

Cashgora

Feral goats 

Meat goats:

Feral goats

Angora male goat kids

 

Feral goats mustered from the wild and farmed for their fibre and meat

Beard:  The hair which grows below the jaw on mature male goats.

Billy goat:  Same as buck and used mostly when referring to feral goat males.

 Browse:  Feeding habits of goats where they select and eat longer more mature herbage and tree leaves, compared to grazing seen in sheep.  Also name given to the mature feed they select to eat.

 Buck:  Entire male goat of any age. 

Angora buck

Cashmere:  Fine downy undercoat fibre in the base of the fleece of a Cashmere or some feral goats.

Cashgora:  Goat which is a cross between  Angora and Cashmere parents. 

Cashgora doe

 Doe: Mature female goat.  ‘Nanny goat’ also used for females of some breeds such as feral goats.

Goatling:  Same as hogget.

Hogget:  Young goat up to one year old.

 

Saanan goatlings or hoggets up to one year old

 Kid: Young goat of either sex up approaching a year old.

Kidding: Giving birth to an offspring.

Saanan doe just after birth of her kids

Mohair:  Fibres from an Angora goat.

Mohair fibre

Tassels: Structures which grow on neck of some goats near the jaw.

Teeth and aging:  Goats are born with 8 milk teeth which are replaced in pairs from the middle of the lower jaw to the sides at 1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 years of age.  After a ‘full mouth’ at 5 years old you cannot age a goat by its teeth.

Weaning: Removing goat kids from sucking their dams.  In dairy goats they are weaned at birth but other breeds can be weaned at any age up to 4 months.

Wether:  Castrated male goat.