Goats are amazing animals for even the smallest homesteads. They can thrive on very little land, or run free on vast expanses.
In return, your dairy goats will give you delicious milk and cheese.
Your meat goats will supply your family with a wonderful source of protein.
The brush goats will reward you with a thinned forest, void of brush and noxious weeds.
If you are looking to get into goats, it’s important to know how many goats per acre that you can stock, based on your needs, the goats’ needs, and your intended feeding program.
Location: How Much Can Goat Stocking Per Acre Vary?
If you plan to sustain your herd on lots of natural forage, you will need to have grassy, overgrown pastures, woods, or thickets for them to graze in. If you have this land available to you with a moist, warm climate for the vegetation to thrive, you could potentially stock ten (10) goats per acre.
However, If you are located in an arid region that receives limited rainfall, producing thin, sparse, or poor vegetation, you will need to reduce your stock to 2 per acre. Irrigating the land and planting goat friendly seed mixes will increase your stocking rates.
If you live in a far colder climate, there is a shorter growing season which limits the amount of growth that weeds, brush, trees, and vines will accomplish. This will also reduce your stocking rate, as you will have to feed supplemental food throughout the cold seasons of the year; unless you cut and dry some of the available forage for the goats, which would also require allocating land for “hay” use.
Raising Goats Intensively: How Much Space Do Goats Actually Require?
If you intend on raising goats on very small acreage and DO plan to feed supplemental food, you will need to make sure that your animals have space to exercise. This is a must for any livestock, as the inability to exercise and overcrowding can cause serious health issues for the animals.
With the most intensive systems, on the smallest homesteads, your goats will require approximately 200 sq ft of space each. This number will increase as you add goats; and this should be a single paddock; not split up into many. This is a minimum, and it is highly recommended that you offer more space.
Virtually all feed will be supplemental, as there will be nothing for the goats to forage on. However, you can offer limbs from trees, spent garden plants that are finished for the season, sub-par fruits and vegetables, and even fresh fodder. Otherwise, you will need to keep hay on hand to keep the goats fed and healthy.
Another major concern when raising goats in small spaces is the risk of a heavy parasite load. Goats are browsers by nature, feeding from above; they will only graze at hoof level if they are forced to. This low grazing behavior greatly increases the risk of parasites within the gut. If you plan to raise goats in small paddocks, be sure to use a consistent worming schedule. Goats can be overwhelmed by parasites in small pastures very easily.
Dairy Goats: How Many Per Acre?
If you are raising dairy goats, you must pay special attention to what the goats are eating. Some browse may cause the milk to be very pungent or unpleasant; therefore, many people restrict access to free foraging for their family milkers.
If you are collecting the milk from dairy goats to feed bottle kids with, this will not be of concern. Dairy goats will eat far more in order to compensate for lactation; therefore, you do not want to over stock the land. Instead, aim for 50% to 75% stocking rate for lactating nannies, while also supplying supplemental feed. This will ensure a high milk supply.
How Many Brush Goats to Stock Per Acre of Brush or Forest?
If you are looking to clear some land, try stocking 10 to 20 goats per acre of land. Please note that stocking brush goats is intended to exceed the land’s ability to supply vegetation; the high concentration of goats will not be able to remain on that land permanently with naturally replenishing forage. Many people use ten goats to clear an acre of land in right around a month; if you have very dense growth, it may take longer or require even more goats.
Stocking Meat Goats
For meat goats, you can follow the standard stocking rates that we covered first.
For a majority of goat owners, the animals are either pets, or meat animals; they will stock at nearly the same rate.
The largest breeds of meat goats will need a little more space for foraging and browsing, so be sure to keep your goat-to-land ratio on the lower end if you do not want to supply additional feed.