I was at a petting zoo recently where the owners had quite a large herd of fainting goats.
I was intrigued to see them as I had never met fainting goats in person before, and was immediately struck by their smaller stature.
In recent years, as keeping pet goats has become more and more popular, the demand for diminutive breeds has become greater and greater.
Nigerian dwarf goats, pygmy goats, and pygora goats have all become very popular in recent years.
So, when I met these little fainting goats which I hadn’t really heard much about, I was straight away intrigued by their size, so I decided to look into the question.
So, how big do fainting goats get?
Smaller than standard breeds although not the smallest, fainting goats stand on average 17-22 inches tall and weigh between 60-170 pounds. The heaviest bucks could weigh as much as 200 pounds, so there is a lot of variation between individuals and between bucks and does.
Goats breeds are somewhat unusual as far as their weight varies so much.
It can be a bit more difficult to put an average to it, in some case, and 60-170 pounds is a very large weight range.
Excluding breeds that are specifically bred for their short height, most goat breeds are somewhere in the range of 15-30 inches tall.
Their weight is usually what sets them apart, and as I said there will be large variation between individuals for a few reasons.
So, let’s break some of those reasons down.
Do fainting goats stay small?
Probably the most important thing to note about fainting goats is that the range of their size can mean that even some full-grown adults don’t stand much taller than Nigerian dwarf goats.
Fainting goats, like pygmies and dwarf goats, have been very popular for this reason.
People like to keep smaller fainting goats as pets.
Some have indeed reported that even at the point that they are full grown, their fainting goat only weighs around 50 pounds and stands around 17 inches tall.
This is absolutely on the bottom end of the spectrum for fainting goats, but the fact is they can be very small.
Usually, they will be a lot larger than this.
How big do silky fainting goats get?
It’s also important to keep in mind that there is more than one “sub-breed” of fainting goats, and some are smaller or larger than others.
The silky fainting goat, bred with a luxurious coat that resembles the shimmer of a terrier dog, have been very popular as pets.
They won’t reach much bigger than 23 and a half inches.
There will be some variation between genders here, so let’s look at the sizes of does versus the size of bucks.
How big do fainting goat bucks get?
Fainting goats are a meat breed, so they tend to be quite heavily muscled and weigh a lot despite their shorter stature.
Bucks are pretty much always larger than does, so you can expect bucks to fall in the higher end of the scale.
On average, buck fainting goats will weigh upwards of 120 pounds, and as much as 150-175 pounds.
Their heavy muscles make them a powerful package in a small stature.
How big do fainting goat does get?
Does, then, are naturally the smaller ones.
Again, it is not impossible than you get a very small buck and a very heavy doe, but on average fainting goat does will weigh less than 100 pounds, and somewhere from 75-100 pounds on average.
This will often fluctuate over their lifetimes as they bear kids and whether they’re milking or not.
| Breed | Weight | Height |
| Fainting | 60-175 lbs. | 19-25 in. |
| Nigerian dwarf goat | 75-95 lbs. | 17-20 in. |
| Pygmy | 50-75 lbs. | 17-22 in. |
How big are fainting goats compared to Nigerian dwarf goats?
Nigerian dwarf goats are another very popular breed famed for their small stature, as I have mentioned.
A miniature goat of West African origin, Nigerian dwarf does stand around 17-19 inches tall, whereas bucks can reach a whopping 20 inches!
So, you can see where they get the name.
Nigerian dwarf goats are quite small.
I used them as a point of comparison earlier to illustrate the great range of heights you can get in fainting goats, but, on average, fainting goats are quite a bit taller than Nigerian dwarf goats.
Fainting goats will usually stand at least 20 inches tall, if many individuals don’t reach this height.
So, on average, Nigerian dwarf goats are much smaller.
They also usually don’t weigh more than 75 pounds, which is the bottom end of the spectrum for fainting goats.
How big are fainting goats compared to pygmy goats?
Undoubtedly the most popular of tiny goat breeds kept as pets is the pygmy goat.
Their size can, again, vary a lot, but does won’t usually stand any higher than 22 inches, and are more likely to sit around the same average size as Nigerian dwarf goats.
Bucks are much the same, standing sometimes perhaps an inch taller than does.
At the higher end of the spectrum, they might be larger than fainting goats, but typically not.
Pygmies vary between genders a lot less in weight, too, does usually weighing around 50-70 pounds, and bucks around 60-80 pounds.
Again, you see how much bulk the fainting goat packs, weighing a lot more on average in a much smaller package.
So, fainting goats are strong and bulky for their size.
Compared with other small breeds and other large breeds, it’s easy to see that comparatively speaking they aren’t especially large or small.
For many people, though, this makes them the ideal size for companionship.
Not too big that they need an acre of space to roam and not so small as to appear to be a pygmy or dwarf goat.
Fainting goats are great little pets.