How Many Kids Do Goats Have?

Goats are one of the most versatile of the domesticated farm animals. In addition to being bred for meat, living goats can provide skin, hair, and milk. Goats are also used to clear land, due to their willingness to eat almost any plant. Goat breeding is an essential part of any goat farmer's schedule, particularly for milk goats, which must breed regularly in order to lactate. A single female goat, when bred properly, can give birth seven times to anywhere from 10 to 25 kids.

  1. Age of Fertility

    • Female goats, called nannies or does, reach sexual maturity as early as 10 months old. Goats as young as 7 days old have been known to show an interest in mounting. Does typically live 10 to 12 years, though it's not advised to breed elderly goats, so the effective breeding span is about seven years, from age 1 to 8.

    Heat

    • Does are seasonally polyestrous, meaning that they come into heat more strongly in the fall. When the days start to shorten, a doe will usually produce less milk and start showing an interest in any nearby buck, often standing near the buck and refusing to move, or flapping her tail. The doe's menstrual cycle is 21 days, so there are three or four chances each fall to breed.

    Pregnancy

    • A doe's pregnancy typically lasts 150 days, with most kids being born in the late winter or early springtime. Goats can have anywhere from one to five kids at a time, with two being the most common number. A litter of four or five kids is rare. After kidding, a doe will nurse her kids for up to three months.

    Milk Goats

    • The timing of breeding is important to anyone who's keeping a goat for milk. Each birth will usually cause a doe to give milk for 10 months, though some milk breeds are known to keep giving for two years or even longer without breeding. The frequency of breeding depends on the goat owner's primary purpose for keeping goats, but usually every other year is sufficient to keep the doe milking more or less continuously.