You can tell a goat is in heat by the signs that they exhibit. Learn all eleven signs to watch for so that you can pinpoint when your goat is in heat, as well as, learn about your goat’s heat cycle.
Fancy Nancy, my goat here, is in standing heat. I know that because of all the signs she’s been exhibiting. The eleven signs you should look for are listed below.
Sign #1 Flagging
When a goat is in heat, they will noticeably wag their tail repeatedly, which is known as flagging. As soon as Fancy Nancy came out of the goat shed this morning, she went straight over to the buck pen, where the male goats were, and she was flagging her tail.
Sign #2 Vocalizing
A goat will typically be more vocal when in heat. Fancy Nancy will walk over to the buck pen and yell at the male goats when she is in heat.
Sign #3 Discharge from vulva
The third thing you may notice is discharge coming from your goat’s vulva. Fancy Nancy had discharge from her vulva, as you can see in the video above, and that discharge can be an indicator that your goat is in heat.
Sign #4 Sticky tail
You may notice that your goat has a sticky tail, where the discharge got on their tail hairs, with all that flagging going on. Sometimes the discharge mixing in their tail hairs can look a bit crusty. That’s another sign to look for when looking to see if a goat is in heat.
Sign #5 Change in behavior
If you notice your goat has a change in her normal routine or acts differently, that can be a sign of heat. Every morning, we follow the same routine where I have Fancy Nancy get up on the milk stand and she gets her breakfast while we milk. Well, this morning, she did not want to go on the milk stand and she did not want to eat her breakfast. All she wanted to do was stand by the buck pen. That for me that was a big indicator of heat. Things that, if you know your goat, you’re going to notice these differences. Normally, she’s really affectionate with me, she’s all about me but she bypassed me this morning and went straight to visit with the bucks.
Sign #6 Decrease in milk production
Now, if you’re milking your doe, you may notice that she has less milk production and that is a normal thing to see during her heat. I saw this with Fancy Nancy’s milk supply dropping just slightly for a couple of days while she was in standing heat.
Sign #7 Mounting
When a doe is in heat she will likely stand for another goat to mount her, this applies to both male and female goats. She may also try to mount other goats. I noticed Fancy Nancy’s sister, Amelia Bedelia, was mounting her this morning and she was standing there for her.
Sign #8 Fighting
You may also notice more fighting than usual, where they’re head-butting each other. Fancy Nancy, during her heat, will rear up on her hind legs, hop towards Amelia Bedelia and ram her head into Amelia Bedelia’s head.
Sign #9 Swollen vulva
Their vulva may look pink and swollen and that can also be a sign of heat as well.
Sign #10 Positive reaction to a buck or buck rag
If a goat is in standing heat, she will be interested in a buck and will stand still to allow him to breed with her. If you let your doe sniff a buck rag, which is a towel, rag, or puppy pad that has the scent of an intact male goat on it, your doe will be excited by the scent if she is in standing heat.
Sign #11 Buck will be noticeably interested
If you have a buck who smells a doe in heat, he’s going to be wagging his tongue, he’s going to be spitting and he’ll likely pee on his beard. He’ll paw his hoof at the ground. He’ll make it obvious that he’s interested in that doe.
Time to breed
If you want to get your doe bred and you do not have a buck, getting a buck rag from the farm you plan to use for your stud service can be helpful. In the beginning, I had just my two does, Fancy Nancy and Amelia Bedelia, and no buck and I wanted to bring them to another farm to breed with a buck. In order to breed successfully, you need to have your doe and standing heat and it wasn’t easy for me to tell. She had subtle signs and I would question “Is she really in standing heat?” However, what really helped me to tell when she was in standing heat, to get her successfully bred off farm, was that I was able to get a buck rag from the farm that I was bringing her to.
Buck Rag Tips
You bring the buck rag home with you and show it to your doe. If she gets excited about it, that’s a good sign that she’s in heat or coming into heat. If she doesn’t show any interest to it, then you know that she’s not likely in heat. I did that every day, showing Fancy Nancy the buck rag and every day no interest, no interest, no interest until finally, she got really excited about the buck rag. She just kept sniffing it. She was doing the flehmen response, where her lip would curl up. Her tail was wagging and that was my indicator that, yes, she’s in heat.
I brought her to be bred that day and she successfully was bred. Whereas prior to having the buck rag, I took her to be bred when I thought she was in heat, but she wasn’t in standing heat. I had likely just missed the window because she had discharge but she wasn’t receptive to the buck. Having a buck rag definitely is a big help. Having a buck on the property will definitely help you to indicate when your doe is in heat.
Heat Cycles
Now, things to remember is that goats depending on their breed can be seasonal breeders. This is where they come into heat between September and February and they’ll cycle through their heat cycle every 18 to 22 days only during those few months, in the fall and coming into winter for certain breeds of goats. However, a Nigerian dwarf goat, like I have, come into heat every 21 to 28 days, year-round. That means you can choose which month you want to breed your Nigerian dwarf goat in since they come into heat year-round. You have a lot of options. You just got to make sure you catch that heat cycle on time because they’re only going to be in estrus or heat for 18 to 36 hours and you want to get them bred when they are in standing heat and receptive to a buck.
Now, you have learned all the signs to look for to see if you goat is in heat. If you would like to read another post on goats, check out How to keep your goat water from freezing without electricity.
If you haven’t started your farm yet, what are you waiting for? Get your farm on!
