Acorn Farm’s goats are firm favourites with lots of our visitors, staff and volunteers because they are so mischievous! We have several nanny goats, as well as some smaller pygmy goats. We breed from some of our goats and often have goat kids on the farm. We use goat’s milk to make lovely ice cream, which we sell in our shop.
Goat facts:
- An adult male is a billy and an adult female is a nanny. A newborn is called a kid.
- A group of goats is called a herd.
- Nanny goats need to have a kid before they will start producing large quantities of milk.
- Goat’s milk is easier for humans to digest than cow’s milk and can be used in much the same way – to make cheese, to drink and even to make ice cream like we do here at Acorn Farm!
- Most goat kids (male and female) will start to grow horns shortly after they are born. These are removed by the vet for safety reasons. Goats that don’t grow horns are known as polled.
- Nanny goats shouldn’t eat any vegetables which belong to the cabbage family as it will make their milk taste like cabbage!
- Goat’s eyes have rectangular pupils.
- Goats only have 2 teats, while cows have 4.
