How many years do goats live: average life expectancy, maximum age

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Quite often, farmers, as well as just people living in private homes, have goats. This choice is quite obvious - these are really universal animals. On the one hand, they are unpretentious - they eat almost everything, they easily tolerate heat and cold. On the other hand, they allow you to get high-quality milk, clean wool and very tasty tender meat. It is quite understandable that many owners are very interested in how many years domestic goats live. Let's try to consider this issue in as much detail as possible.

Mean lifespan of common goats

For starters, it's worth noting that goats have an average lifespan of 12 to 15 years. In their wild counterparts, this figure is much less - no more than 10 years. However, do not think that all goats live that much. After all, there are many nuances that affect the average life expectancy, both positively and negatively.

So it's worth looking into all these factors.

What can reduce life expectancy

To determine ifhow many years goats live at home, you need to find out first of all about the negative factors.

One of the most common reasons a goat's lifespan is shortened is high humidity. Yes, these animals are better adapted to dry climates, so high humidity can lead to diseases that will shorten the life of your animals by several years.

In general, goats tolerate frost quite easily, but still those of them who are forced to live in low temperatures also show a worse life expectancy than those who live far from the harsh climate of our country.

Finally, a very important factor is proper nutrition. The lack of minerals and trace elements quite often leads to the fact that in some farms it is impossible to keep animals for longer than 5-8 years.

Fortunately, this figure can be significantly increased if goats are treated as carefully as possible, taking care of them seriously.

How to increase the life of goats

Experienced farmers know how many years a dairy goat lives, and they try their best to increase this figure. There are several reliable ways to do this.

First of all, the provision of suitable living conditions. The goat should be able to hide in winter from the cold and wind in a cozy, well-insulated barn. This is a really important factor that some beginners seriously underestimate.

It is also very important to have an idea about proper feeding. This is especially important for goatswhich are actively used to produce offspring and milk. Both of these factors greatly wear out the body of the animal, pump out a large amount of s alts and minerals. And getting them along with ordinary straw and grass is almost impossible. That is why experienced farmers take the issue of compiling the optimal diet for animals very seriously, trying to diversify it with special additives containing the necessary substances.

The breed also has a certain influence. It has long been noted that pedigree goats, with good care, live noticeably longer than their ordinary outbred relatives.

If you are serious about breeding goats, and have been doing this for a significant amount of time, it is very important to regularly renew the blood. The easiest way to do this is to buy a breeding goat from a farm that you have not de alt with before. This will avoid inbreeding, which leads to the weakening of animals, increased susceptibility to disease and, accordingly, early death. If possible, this should be done more often - at least once every 5-7 years. That is, when the main goat-inseminator gets old, it needs to be changed to a young one.

Until what age do goats give milk

But knowing how many years goats live on average, you should not think that all this time they will give milk and produce he althy kids. Actually it is not. After all, a woman can live 80-90 years among people, especially if she follows a he althy lifestyle, but she will be able to give birth to children, at best, up to 50 years old.

Exactly the same picture is observed in goats. At best, they can bringhe althy offspring up to 6-7 years. Accordingly, they give milk up to the same age. Of course, many goats can lamb at a more mature age. But the number of kids is declining, as is the weight, as well as vitality. Such cubs are more likely to get sick, giving the owners unnecessary trouble. Older goats also produce less milk.

On average, milk yields increase from the first birth to 5 years. Then, until about 7 years old, they remain at the same level. After that they start to fall. However, these dates can easily shift by a year or two, depending on the breed and conditions of detention.

The reason is quite simple - at the age of 7 years, goats teeth deteriorate significantly. Partially grinding down, partly falling out, they can no longer grind hard feed with high quality. As a result, half-chewed grass and hay enter the stomach. Such food is digested worse, the body receives less nutrients. This leads to the expected result.

How to determine the age of a goat

However, it is not enough for an experienced farmer to know how long dairy goats live. He must also be able to determine the approximate age in appearance. For example, if people offer a bargain with whom he has not yet de alt. A beginner may well be sold an eight-year-old goat, passing off as a three-year-old, in the prime of life.

First of all, an experienced goat breeder will pay attention to the teeth - remember the proverb about a gift horse. But the goat is not gifted, but purchased, so pay attention to the condition of the oral cavitya must.

At about four years old, the milk incisors completely replace the molars. They are located on the lower jaw in front. You can distinguish dairy from indigenous ones in shape - the first ones are a little narrower and smaller. If some of the incisors are still milky, then the goat is less than four years old - it has not yet entered its prime and is quite suitable for purchase. If all the incisors are already molars, then she is definitely four years old or more.

Gradually, the molars begin to wear out, turn yellow. Gaps appear between them, and the dentition itself becomes uneven. This becomes especially noticeable at the age of seven. If there are no such defects, then the age of the goat is from 4 to 7 years. It can no longer be called a successful investment, but still, it will definitely serve for a couple of years, bringing goats and milk.

The defects listed above indicate that the goat is already 7 years old and more - you should not buy one, unless for meat.

When is the best time to slaughter a goat

Most often, goats and goats are allowed for meat at the age of 7-8 years. Specifically, you need to look at milk yields - it is advisable to keep a table indicating how much milk this or that animal gave. When they begin to slowly but constantly decline, then it's time to slaughter the animal. After all, the goat still consumes the same amount of feed as before, and there is less benefit from it. So, it's time to replace her with a younger goat.

Conclusion

Our article has come to an end. From it you learned about how many years goats live, as well as about the reasons that increase and decrease the age allotted to them. And at the same timefigured out how to determine the age of a goat and when is the best time to let it go for meat.