This is for all the new goat owners out there that haven't yet learned all the goat keeping lingo.
abscess - a lump of pus, to partition off an infection from the goat's body (see also CL)
afterbirth - the placenta that comes after the kids at a birth
airplane ears - ears that point straight out
band - a small elastic band used to castrate young males, and to dehorn (see also elastrator)
bagged up - when a pregnant doe's udder has filled in preparation for kidding
blind teat - a teat without an orfice (see also orfice)
bloat - when a goat eats too much too quickly and cannot get the gas out of its rumen, that rumen swells and causes the goat discomfort and later death if left untreated
breeding season - the season in which goats naturally breed, about August to January for most breeds
buck - male
buckling - male kid
buck rag - to be used to tell when a doe is in heat in leu of a buck, a buck rag is soaked in buck smell (both the urine and the smell from the scent glands) and hung in the doe's pen (see also scent glands)
burdizzo - an instrument of castration that crushes the connection between each testicle and the body
cabrito - goat kid meat
chevon - goat meat
clippers - not to be confused with trimmers, clippers are for clipping a goat's coat for a show, to stay cool, for easier milking, etc (see also trimmers)
coccidia - also known as cocci or coccidiosis, it is a very small and severe parasite that mainly effects kids and young goats that have not built up an immunity to it
collar - not to be confused with halters or harnesses, collars are simply one strand of cord or webbing around a goat's neck
condition - the muscle and fat toning on a goat (see also over conditioned and under conditioned)
creep feed - a way to let young goats have a free choice or undisturbed feeding place by putting up a short fence with slats close enough together that the young goats can get through but not the older and larger ones
cull - to sell or butcher a goat that does not conform to a goatherd's standards
dam - a goat's mother
dam raise - to let a dam nurse and raise her own offspring
dehorn - to remove horns after they have begun to grow
dewclaw - the two round hoof-like growths located just above the hooves at the back of the pasterns
dewormer - medicine given to kill parasites, or worms (see also wormer)
disbud - to use a disbudding iron to kill all the nerves in a circle around the horn bud on a young kid, and thus stop the horns from growing
doe - female
doeling - female kid
dry - not lactating
dry up - the process a lactating doe goes through to discontinue lactation
elastrator - the tool used to place the band on a goat's scrotum or horn (see also band)
elf ears - ears a maximum of two inches, typically found on LaManchas (see also gopher ears)
erect ears - ears pointing upward or forward
fecal test - when a sample of a goat's fecal matter is put under a microscope and the parasite eggs are counted
first freshener - a doe who has freshened only once (see also freshen)
flush feeding - increasing the amount of feed given to a doe just before breeding to maximize the number of offspring
freshen - to kid, and thus freshen or refresh the supply of milk.
gopher ears - ears one inch or less in length, typically found in LaManchas (see also elf ears)
gum pallet - the hard gum a goat has instead of upper front teeth
halter - a more secure way to restrain a goat than a collar, a halter has multiple ropes going around the head of the animal (see also halter)
hay - dried grass
herd queen - the herd's dominant doe
hoof trimming - trimming back a goat's hooves when they have grown out too far
kid - baby goat OR the verb "kidding" in future tense (see also kidding)
kidding - birthing (see also kid)
kidding season - a period of time, usual from January through July, that varies from farm to farm, when all of the does kid
lactation - milk production
lactation curve - the curve a doe goes around in her lactation to produce the amount milk needed for the age of kids she has
lamb bar - a bucket or other container with multiple nipples on it to feed more than one kid free choice or at the same time
ligs - the two pencil shaped ligaments on either side of a goat's tail that usually disappear around the time a doe is about to kid
loose minerals - a mineral and salt mixture formulated specially for goats not to be confused with a mineral block (see also mineral block)
milker - lactating doe
mineral block - a block of salt with minerals in it
miniature dairy goat - any of the standard dairy breeds crossed with Nigerian Dwarf, or purebred Nigerian Dwarf (see also standard dairy goat)
off feed - not eating
open doe - a doe that is not pregnant
orifice - the opening at the bottom of a teat
over conditioned - too much conditioning - i.e. too fat (see also condition and under conditioned)
pan feed - to feed young kids milk from a pan instead of a bottle
parasites - microscopic organisms that take nutrients from a goat either by sucking their blood or by sitting in their intestines and eating the nutrients there - parasites can be internal or external
parrot mouth - when the jaw is overshot (a defect) and thus resembles the mouth of a parrot
pasterns - the portion of a goat's leg from the dewclaw to the hoof
papers - registration papers, bills of sale, services memos, etc.
pendulous ears - long, drooping ears typically found in boers, Nubians, and African exotics
polled - born without horns
progeny - a doe's offspring
registration papers - papers stating a goat's dam, sire, breed, DOB, breeder, owner, ear type, tattoos, and other information, legalized by one of the many associations
ruminant - an animal with a rumen (see also rumen)
rumen - the most active and largest of the four stomachs a goat has
salt block - see mineral block
scent glands - the two glands behind a buck's horns that produce a strong odor during rut (these can be burned at the same time the buckling is disbudded - see disbud)
scours - diarrhea
sire - a goat's father
standard dairy goat - any of the large breeds of dairy goats (see also miniature dairy goat)
straw - what is left of the dried wheat plant after the grain has been harvested
tattoo - the numbers and letters stamped into a goat's ears, or in case of LaManchas the tail web, and are used to identify the goat
topline - a goat's back from withers to rump
trimmers - not to be confused with clippers, trimmers are used to trim hooves (see also clippers)
under conditioned - too little conditioning - i.e. too thin (see also condition and over conditioned)
undershot jaw - when lower jaw farther out then the upper jaw
wattles - loose pockets of skin, usually near the throat, that act as a cooling system for the goat
wether - neutered male
wormer - the goat slang version of "dewormer" (see also dewormer)
worms - the goat slang version of "parasites" (see also parasites)
yearling - a young goat between 1 and 2 years old
A list of commonly used abbreviations:
AC - ammonium chloride
ACV - apple cider vinegar
ADGA - American Dairy Goat Association
AGS - American Goat Society
BCS - Body Condition Scoring, a way to score a goat from 1 to 5 on their condition with 1 being emaciated and 5 being obese
BOSS - black oil sunflower seeds
CAE - Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis, an incurable, though usually not deadly, virus
CL - Caseous Lymphadenitis, a deadly, incurable bacterial disease
FAMACHA - Fafan Malan Chart, a way to score how anemic a goat is
FF - first freshener, a doe who has freshened only once
IM - (an injection) given in the muscle
IV - (an injection) given in the vein
MDGA - Miniature Dairy Goat Association
SQ - (an injection) given under the skin
UC - urinary calculi
Get caught up on the first part of my Introduction to Dairy Goat Keeping series here:
Introduction to Goat Keeping Part 1 - Breeds
Stay tuned for more to come!
By Suzanne Tyler
the Green T Goatherd
abscess - a lump of pus, to partition off an infection from the goat's body (see also CL)
afterbirth - the placenta that comes after the kids at a birth
airplane ears - ears that point straight out
band - a small elastic band used to castrate young males, and to dehorn (see also elastrator)
bagged up - when a pregnant doe's udder has filled in preparation for kidding
blind teat - a teat without an orfice (see also orfice)
bloat - when a goat eats too much too quickly and cannot get the gas out of its rumen, that rumen swells and causes the goat discomfort and later death if left untreated
breeding season - the season in which goats naturally breed, about August to January for most breeds
buck - male
buckling - male kid
buck rag - to be used to tell when a doe is in heat in leu of a buck, a buck rag is soaked in buck smell (both the urine and the smell from the scent glands) and hung in the doe's pen (see also scent glands)
burdizzo - an instrument of castration that crushes the connection between each testicle and the body
cabrito - goat kid meat
chevon - goat meat
clippers - not to be confused with trimmers, clippers are for clipping a goat's coat for a show, to stay cool, for easier milking, etc (see also trimmers)
coccidia - also known as cocci or coccidiosis, it is a very small and severe parasite that mainly effects kids and young goats that have not built up an immunity to it
collar - not to be confused with halters or harnesses, collars are simply one strand of cord or webbing around a goat's neck
condition - the muscle and fat toning on a goat (see also over conditioned and under conditioned)
creep feed - a way to let young goats have a free choice or undisturbed feeding place by putting up a short fence with slats close enough together that the young goats can get through but not the older and larger ones
cull - to sell or butcher a goat that does not conform to a goatherd's standards
dam - a goat's mother
dam raise - to let a dam nurse and raise her own offspring
dehorn - to remove horns after they have begun to grow
dewclaw - the two round hoof-like growths located just above the hooves at the back of the pasterns
dewormer - medicine given to kill parasites, or worms (see also wormer)
disbud - to use a disbudding iron to kill all the nerves in a circle around the horn bud on a young kid, and thus stop the horns from growing
doe - female
doeling - female kid
dry - not lactating
dry up - the process a lactating doe goes through to discontinue lactation
elastrator - the tool used to place the band on a goat's scrotum or horn (see also band)
elf ears - ears a maximum of two inches, typically found on LaManchas (see also gopher ears)
erect ears - ears pointing upward or forward
fecal test - when a sample of a goat's fecal matter is put under a microscope and the parasite eggs are counted
first freshener - a doe who has freshened only once (see also freshen)
flush feeding - increasing the amount of feed given to a doe just before breeding to maximize the number of offspring
freshen - to kid, and thus freshen or refresh the supply of milk.
gopher ears - ears one inch or less in length, typically found in LaManchas (see also elf ears)
gum pallet - the hard gum a goat has instead of upper front teeth
halter - a more secure way to restrain a goat than a collar, a halter has multiple ropes going around the head of the animal (see also halter)
hay - dried grass
herd queen - the herd's dominant doe
hoof trimming - trimming back a goat's hooves when they have grown out too far
kid - baby goat OR the verb "kidding" in future tense (see also kidding)
kidding - birthing (see also kid)
kidding season - a period of time, usual from January through July, that varies from farm to farm, when all of the does kid
lactation - milk production
lactation curve - the curve a doe goes around in her lactation to produce the amount milk needed for the age of kids she has
lamb bar - a bucket or other container with multiple nipples on it to feed more than one kid free choice or at the same time
ligs - the two pencil shaped ligaments on either side of a goat's tail that usually disappear around the time a doe is about to kid
loose minerals - a mineral and salt mixture formulated specially for goats not to be confused with a mineral block (see also mineral block)
milker - lactating doe
mineral block - a block of salt with minerals in it
miniature dairy goat - any of the standard dairy breeds crossed with Nigerian Dwarf, or purebred Nigerian Dwarf (see also standard dairy goat)
off feed - not eating
open doe - a doe that is not pregnant
orifice - the opening at the bottom of a teat
over conditioned - too much conditioning - i.e. too fat (see also condition and under conditioned)
pan feed - to feed young kids milk from a pan instead of a bottle
parasites - microscopic organisms that take nutrients from a goat either by sucking their blood or by sitting in their intestines and eating the nutrients there - parasites can be internal or external
parrot mouth - when the jaw is overshot (a defect) and thus resembles the mouth of a parrot
pasterns - the portion of a goat's leg from the dewclaw to the hoof
papers - registration papers, bills of sale, services memos, etc.
pendulous ears - long, drooping ears typically found in boers, Nubians, and African exotics
polled - born without horns
progeny - a doe's offspring
registration papers - papers stating a goat's dam, sire, breed, DOB, breeder, owner, ear type, tattoos, and other information, legalized by one of the many associations
ruminant - an animal with a rumen (see also rumen)
rumen - the most active and largest of the four stomachs a goat has
salt block - see mineral block
scent glands - the two glands behind a buck's horns that produce a strong odor during rut (these can be burned at the same time the buckling is disbudded - see disbud)
scours - diarrhea
sire - a goat's father
standard dairy goat - any of the large breeds of dairy goats (see also miniature dairy goat)
straw - what is left of the dried wheat plant after the grain has been harvested
tattoo - the numbers and letters stamped into a goat's ears, or in case of LaManchas the tail web, and are used to identify the goat
topline - a goat's back from withers to rump
trimmers - not to be confused with clippers, trimmers are used to trim hooves (see also clippers)
under conditioned - too little conditioning - i.e. too thin (see also condition and over conditioned)
undershot jaw - when lower jaw farther out then the upper jaw
wattles - loose pockets of skin, usually near the throat, that act as a cooling system for the goat
wether - neutered male
wormer - the goat slang version of "dewormer" (see also dewormer)
worms - the goat slang version of "parasites" (see also parasites)
yearling - a young goat between 1 and 2 years old
A list of commonly used abbreviations:
AC - ammonium chloride
ACV - apple cider vinegar
ADGA - American Dairy Goat Association
AGS - American Goat Society
BCS - Body Condition Scoring, a way to score a goat from 1 to 5 on their condition with 1 being emaciated and 5 being obese
BOSS - black oil sunflower seeds
CAE - Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis, an incurable, though usually not deadly, virus
CL - Caseous Lymphadenitis, a deadly, incurable bacterial disease
FAMACHA - Fafan Malan Chart, a way to score how anemic a goat is
FF - first freshener, a doe who has freshened only once
IM - (an injection) given in the muscle
IV - (an injection) given in the vein
MDGA - Miniature Dairy Goat Association
SQ - (an injection) given under the skin
UC - urinary calculi
Get caught up on the first part of my Introduction to Dairy Goat Keeping series here:
Introduction to Goat Keeping Part 1 - Breeds
Stay tuned for more to come!
By Suzanne Tyler
the Green T Goatherd
