Instructions
Stand with the goat facing you. Place one hand on top of the goat's head and hold the other hand under the goat's chin. Put your thumbs and pointer fingers inside the goat's lips. Expose the teeth by peeling the lips away from the gums.
Count the number of baby teeth in the bottom jaw. Having all eight baby teeth indicates that the goat is less than one year old. The goat is between 12 and 18 months old if the front two teeth are adult while the remaining teeth are baby.
Look at the front four teeth. The goat is between 18 and 24 months old if all four of these teeth are adult. The goat is between 24 and 36 months old if six of the front teeth are adult. The goat is between 3 to 4 years old if all eight of the teeth are adult.
Observe the condition of the front teeth. Broken teeth indicates that the goat is older than 4 years. Almost all the front teeth are either broken or worn down to the gum once the goat reaches 10 years of age.
How to Tell the Age of Baby Goats
Purchasing a young goat from someone other than the breeder raises a few questions regarding the goat's age. You should know that it is impossible to determine the goat's precise age. However, a highly educated guess using the goat's teeth is possible. Goats are born with eight front teeth in their bottom jaw. Just like humans, goats lose these baby teeth. Mapping out which teeth are adult and which are baby teeth will give you the goat's approximate age. After age four though, a goat will have lost all its baby teeth, so, determining its age becomes much more difficult.