Run, run, run

Question: Do goats need exercise?

Yes! And plenty of it. For a few reasons. One, they can be a real handful if bored. Goats are surprisingly moody and fights are plentiful when they are cooped up during the winter months. 

Two, lack of exercise, especially during the end of pregnancy will result in more malpositioned births, in my experience. Kidding complications are never welcome here! Especially at 3am.

Lastly, goats get fat too! We've had lazy individuals over the years who choose to lie in prime real estate under the hay feeders and their jiggly elbows never really go away. They can get fatty briskets, fatty udders and fat deposited around their internal organs which is another leading cause if kidding complications as well as a host of other illnesses. 

These goats are overweight. Fat goats appear coarse and thick at the shoulder and sternum, jiggle at the elbows and lose a bit of gracefulness or 'dairy character'.

This goat is faaaar too thin and unthrifty. Visible ribs are acceptable and normal in goats but not spine, pelvis and limbs. I see goats like this posted for sale far too often. Most often they are not just 'thin' but riddled with parasites and disease.  

This is a healthy goat. No, she is not pregnant. Or fat. The protruding left sided stomach is the rumen, where the goat ferments its dinner. A wide wedge shaped animal with a prominent rumen is generally a healthy animal. 

This goat is heavily pregnant. Again, not fat. Wider than she is long, she will probably welcome triplets (at least) very soon.

Another example. This is a national champion goat who is highly productive as well. 'But I can see her bones!' A non goat-saavy person may say. A good dairy animal high in production of milk will tend to be a tad on the thin side as she uses much of her energy filling a bucket in the milk parlor. She is not too thin, this is fairly ideal body composition for a productive animal. 

This is a another fairly ideal conditioned goat. She has a thin layer of fat over her ribs and is well muscled and strong.

So yes, goats need exercise, much like humans. Thankfully they don't fight it as much as we do.