Something that house pet owners take for granted Is the ability to just jump into the car with your dog, or your cat in its cat carrier.
This makes transporting such animals a whole lot easier—barring any behavioral issues.
When it comes to larger animals like goats, though, it can be hard to know what’s best for them.
They’re large, somewhat unruly animals, and it can be tough to get them to do what you want.
If you want to move your goats, though, you need to know what you’re doing.
You have a few options for how to transport them, and depending on your circumstances any of them could be the best choice for you.
Today, we’re going to look at a comprehensive guide for transporting goats—from the moment you enter the pasture to when you get them to the destination.
Let’s get started.
Essentials
The basics
Before you can think about moving your goats, you need to get the essentials lined up.
Firstly, realize that transporting goats can be a potentially very stressful time for them.
At the forefront of your concern should always be their welfare.
Safety is the key thing.
Transporting goats is going to involve moving them yourself.
Dogs are an option, but it really wouldn’t be my advice to use them.
Goats are flighty, and a dog will make them uneasy.
Avoid dogs if you can.
Then, think about your relationship with them.
Are you very hands on with your goats?
Do you have a bond with them?
If so, this will make moving them much easier.
They will naturally feel calmer around you, and will be willing to do as you tell them to.
If you do not have this relationship with your goats, and for example someone else tends to them daily, then try to bring that person in for the moving.
Facilities
Then, you’ll need to think about the equipment you’re working with.
You need good, sturdy, modern and new transport, whichever kind you are using for them.
If you are using livestock trailers, secure every part of it before you do anything.
Make sure the transport is not in any way compromised or potentially broken.
The last thing you want is for something to go wrong as you’re barrelling down the highway.
If you have a lot of goats you want to move, consider whether moving them all at once is the wisest choice.
If you have limited space in the trailer and a long journey ahead of your goats, they could easily become frustrated with one another and injury could occur.
Overcrowding is far worse than making extra trips—trust me.
Any goats being moved should have plenty of space to sit down and lie down without being stood on.
Finally, make sure they have adequate food and water for the journey.
They must have access to clean water at all times.
How much they drink is going to vary depending on temperature and weight of the goats, so make sure they have enough.
Health assessment
Finally, before you consider transporting a goat, you should take careful stock of its health.
Does it have any signs of illness or injury which could be exacerbated by being moved?
If so, you should ideally wait to move them elsewhere.
Lameness, uneven gait, any discolored discharge like urine or feces—any of these should be monitored carefully before you move a goat.
Kids are an entirely different question, too.
You need to make sure they are suckling properly before you can move them, and naturally you’re going to need to keep them close by.
Once you’ve taken careful stock of all this—your ready to start moving them.
Moving them to transport
Getting started
The first thing you’re going to need to do is get them from their pasture to the transport.
You might not have thought about this as much as the journey itself, but it’s going to be a vital step.
As I said, you want to keep them as calm as possible during this.
This is why I think dogs are not a good idea—they will agitate the goats before you then close them up for potentially hours.
This is where your relationship with them will come in handy.
If their natural instinct is to follow you as part of the herd, you can simply lead them to the transport and they should climb in of their own volition.
Be patient with them. try to get them acquainted with their transport before the actual journey.
Make a space for them to go inside it in the days leading up to the journey, if possible.
This will make it a whole lot easier to get them into the transport when the time comes.
If they aren’t budging, don’t force them.
They shouldn’t be like this if you’ve taken the necessary steps to prepare them in the days leading up to the journey.
If they are, though, it’s very likely going to be bad for the goat’s health if you try to force them into the trailer rather than abandon the trip.
You can encourage them with food and treats of some kind.
It’s best to have something tasty to attract them into the trailer of their own volition, where you can then close the gate behind them.
There are some important things not to do at this stage.
What not to do
There are some really important things not to do here.
Most importantly, do not attempt to drag a goat by its horns.
Its horns are a sensitive part of their body like anything else, and doing this will hurt it. don’t try to drag them by their hair or fibers, either.
Don’t put a rope around their necks, either.
This will burn them and be very painful.
Try to avoid the use of rope as a whole—don’t tie them by their legs to restrain them.
What your main goal should be is maximizing their comfort and minimizing agitation.
Though some choices might be more convenient for you, incorrectly transporting a goat could be very detrimental to their health.
So, once you’ve got them into the trailer, it should be smooth sailing—but don’t take that for granted.
Transport
As long as you’ve followed all the advice I’ve given above, you should be more or less in the clear once they’re inside the transport.
The next steps are going to depend a lot on the length of the journey—whatever the length, though, you should have followed all the steps above.
First, let’s look at options for transporting them.
Livestock trailer/carrier
Your best option, indeed your only truly ideal option, is in a specific livestock trailer made for transporting animals.
Making sure it is completely secure, your goats will have protection on all sides.
Locked doors that they can’t open, sufficient ventilation, windows to look out of.
Without all this, your goats are undoubtedly going to have a more stressful time on the journey.
This will lead to increased instances of injury and infighting.
Though they can be a big expense, if you expect to be moving your goats a lot, they are certainly worth it.
It’s the best way to move goats on the road.
Alternatively, if you don’t expect to move them very much, you still have the option of renting a trailer.
A livestock trailer is your best option—but not your only one.
Truck bed
If you drive a large enough pickup truck, and you own a topper, then this is an option.
Being sure that the door secures tightly and stands no chance of opening on the road, a small number of goats will be fine in a truck bed.
This isn’t really ideal, though, and presents a number of potential problems.
It’s less secure, and goats will have less space to move around even if there is only a couple of them.
Like I said, what you really want to do is keep their stress at a minimum.
Though a good truck bed can work, they’re going to be more on edge in this scenario—even if only a little.
This depends on the size of the goats, though.
An option to make this safer for smaller goats is dog carriers.
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Dog carrier
If your goat is small enough to fit in one, and the journey isn’t too long, then a big enough dog carrier makes a great way to make the journey on a truck bed a bit safer.
You can also even put them in the backseat of your car this way.
Obviously, this only applies in quite specific circumstances.
Large goats will not do well in carriers, and no goat will do well in one for an extended period of time.
No more than an hour really.
You might be wondering if the trunk of your car with some hay thrown in is a good option.
Car trunk
Don’t put your goats in the trunk of your car.
Don’t put them anywhere where it’s dark, and the air circulation is limited.
Not to mention the lack of space in all but the biggest car trunks.
If you are driving a large SUV with an unenclosed trunk, then that’s fine for a couple of small goats.
As I said, though, your best option is always a dedicated livestock carrier for any large goats.
Preparing the transport
So, once you’ve established how you’re going to move them, you need to get that transport ready.
If you’re using a livestock carrier, make sure there is plenty of bedding in there.
It should be fresh and clean, and there should be enough for everyone.
Then, make sure there is sufficient food and water.
If it’s a relatively short journey, constant access to hay is fine.
For longer journeys, you might want to think about additional snacks like fruit and vegetables.
The front of the transport needs to provide protection from the wind.
Make sure they are also protected from both heat extremes—they are very sensitive to both hot and cold weather.
The last thing to do before you go is think about the sorts of goats you’re moving.
What boxes do they tick?
For example, you ideally would not move two males in the same transport unless they are bonded.
Suckling kids should be separated with their mothers from the rest of the herd.
You cannot move them all together—this is very dangerous for the kids.
Equally, pregnant does should ideally not be moved at all.
Once you’ve got all this straightened out, your ready to head off.
Let’s see what the journey looks like.
Journey
The main question that you should consider before you set off is how long the journey is going to take.
This is going to make a big difference to how you should plan it.
Short journeys
For a short journey of under 6 hours, given adequate food, water and bedding in the chosen method of transport, you should be able to just go without stopping.
Make sure your route is carefully planned, and give yourself good allowances for getting into traffic jams or other unexpected delays.
If you end up stuck on the road for an extra three hours due to backlogs, your goats could get very agitated with no way for you to check on them.
So, though your journey is short, you should act as though it could get delayed.
Make plans to have somewhere to stop on the road and check the goats are okay if you get delayed.
Medium journeys
For journeys between 6-10 hours, it’s best to plan at least two stops to make sure your goats are okay.
There are many problems that could arise during the trip, but most are solvable if you can catch them early.
if a goat has soiled the bedding, for instance, then can quickly change it and give them a fresh and clean place to sleep and lie down again.
Without this, they could begin to argue over space.
If you don’t make time to stop and something goes wrong, you may not know until it has done serious harm.
Somewhere to stop where you could let the goats out would be ideal for a journey of this length, but it is understandably quite difficult.
Handling facilities where you can pay a small fee to make a stop do exist, and if your journey is 8-10 hours and there’s one along the way,
I would recommend it.
You could, though, get away without this.
Long journeys
Finally, for anything longer than 10 hours, you’re going to need a bit more planning.
You may have multiple drivers to take the wheel so that the person behind the wheel isn’t tired, but that doesn’t mean much for your goats.
If you can, it might be best to do a journey like this at night, as far as possible.
Your goats will then sleep through most of the journey.
Nonetheless, you would ideally stop on the way and let them out at a handling facility if you can.
If you can’t, you need to stop and change their bedding and water at least twice during the journey.
One option is to pack a portable fence, so that you can allow them to stretch their legs a little, even if just on some truck stop asphalt.
In any case, make allowance to check on your goats as much as possible during a trip of this length.
Driving this journey alone is probably not a good idea—try to have someone with you to assist if you can.
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If you have a lot of goats, then, moving them is going to be no small job.
They’re not used to being driven around and, generally speaking, they don’t love it like some dogs do.
That said, armed with a bit of knowledge, you can make the process as smooth and easy as possible.
It starts with having a good relationship with your goats—they aren’t going to do what you want them to if they barely know you!
For the journey itself, the most important things are equipment and planning.
You need solid transport that has adequate space and stands no chance of breaking.
Then, plan ahead so you don’t get stuck in a bad situation.
With the knowledge I’ve given you here, though, you should be able to get your goats to follow you anywhere.