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Goat go bag - you will want to keep a kit together with essential supplies in case you need them in a hurry. I have an every day type one and my goats in labor one. Any bag will work. I'm sure there are cheaper options but this is what I use.

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Rectal thermometer - A MUST HAVE.

If you don't buy anything else, buy this.

Normal goat temps should be between 101.5 and 103.5. Anything outside of this should immediately be investigated. Especially in babies. If they have a lower temp than 101.5 get them warm IMMEDIATELY. When babies start to show signs of illness they go downhill quickly. DO NOT WAIT. Call your vet.

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Gauze bandage - good for your goat go bag. Obviously you can get this almost anywhere. This is just a reminder to have some.

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Spray bandage - good when disbudding kids or for open wounds that need to be covered to protect against dirt, bacteria, flies, etc. in a hard to bandage area. Or if the goat keeps eating their bandage.

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70% alcohol for wounds or to sterilize materials like tattoo supplies or scissors to cut umbilical cords, etc. (Why 70% is actually better than 99%)

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Sharp shears - These always come in handy. You never know what might come up. Something will come up.

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CD&T Vaccine - a necessary vaccine that needs to be given yearly to adults.

(Please see the item just below this one for more information)

This article is a good explanation of why the CDT vaccine is important above all others that you could give.

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Syringes with needles - There are a few things you will need these for if you want to avoid the cost of the vet for simple things. CDT vaccine yearly, for pregnant does and new babies.

Vitamin B injections, Ivermectin, etc.

It's easier to give an adult goat a shot then it is to make them drink something that tastes bad. Medicine doesn't usually taste good. Trust me.

If you teach yourself or have someone teach you how to give shots yourself then it is cheaper than going to the vet. By a lot.

Learn the difference between a subcutaneous injection vs. intramuscular. That's important!

What you can do yourself you should do yourself.

Just taking one goat to the vet is $35, without an exam. Just taking a "goat" has a fee.

It's $85 if the vet comes to your property. Again, this is before an exam or any treatment.

It's $18 for them to give the CDT shot at my vet. Yours might charge differently. Especially if you're not in California or are in a more rural area.

With 40 goats at $18/goat a yearly vaccine is $720 just for the shots. With 40 goats, I'm not taking them to the vet. My trailer isn't that big so, $85 on top of the $720 for the vet to come here.

It's almost $1,000 a year just to give my herd a yearly vaccine if I were to use the vet.

This doesn't count the additional shots for babies, they get two shots in the first few weeks. New babies have a $35 goat fee twice (because I will take babies to the vet instead of having the vet comes to us), plus $18/shot is $106. We had 18 babies this year so that's $1,908. Now we're at almost $3,000/year just for a vaccine.

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I am being very open and transparent here. From the sale of baby goats in 2023 I made $5,185.

If I had to pay $3,000 JUST for a yearly vaccine, even with our two jobs I couldn't afford to keep my goats.

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In 2023 I spent $5,000 at tractor supply and over $2,500 for the vet ($1,500 was bio security testing to make sure that I'm maintaining a "clean" herd. I am trying to lessen this expense. I'm going to teach myself how to take blood samples and I will mail the samples to the lab myself. That should cut this expense. This is a necessary expense as I do test my herd yearly. This testing is the responsible thing to do for any breeder.) This doesn't include the things I bought on Amazon (you can see from this page that the list of things I get from Amazon is extensive) or the hay we buy from The big feed store. I am not making a profit. This is NOT a good business model.

What you can do yourself you should do yourself.

If you have one goat it might be worth it to you to go to the vet for everything instead of taking the time to learn but with the number of goats I have, it doesn't make sense for us.

As a side note, this is ALSO why vets should have a farm vs pet fee. I should get a discount when I have 40 animals to visit instead of 1. Not extra charges. Vets in other states do this. In Southern California they don't.

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CDT is $13.99 for 10 doses at Tractor Supply (Times 4 for 40 goats) is $55.96 (not including tax)

It's $30 for a box of 100 needles on Amazon. It takes me about 2-3 hours to wrangle all the goats and give them shots.

$3,000 vs $100 and a couple hours. It just makes sense to take the time to learn how to give shots.

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This also is a small part of why the goats I sell are not $100 goats.

The real and responsible care of a goat takes a big investment of your time and money.

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There are people who sell $100 backyard goats. In general, these are poor quality goats who live poor lives. Likely they are inbred if they don't separate the males from the females and they likely have parasites, which they are not testing for. They probably are not trimming their hooves so the goat will develop leg issues, living in constant pain when they walk. This can lead to hoof rot and other infections that can eventually kill a goat.

This goat will not have a happy life and will die early in addition to the fact that some diseases that we test for can live IN THE GROUND. If you bring one infected goat to your home, it can infect and kill all of the other goats that you have. Then, if you buy more, the disease can still be there in the ground if you house them in the same area.

These sellers will not take the time to help educate you on how to properly care for a goat because they aren't doing it themselves.

Obviously there are times when a $100 goat is a rescue or someone just needs to get rid of it quickly for personal reasons. It might be the only goat they own so they do take care of it. There are exceptions to generalities. I'm sure people will have anecdotal examples to share where this is not the case (especially if you live outside California) BUT, most of the time you get what you pay for.

If a deal seems too good to be true, it likely is. This is why you SHOULD be able to talk to any breeder, ask questions, visit the goat before purchase if you can and ask for proof of testing.

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Syringes without needles - to administer liquids, vitamins, supplements, milk if a baby won't take a bottle, etc.

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Hair clippers - if you are going to show your goats, you'll need to shave them. There are probably better more professional recommendations out there but this is what we have used and they worked fine. This is one thing I have not researched much yet.

Bluelite - I give this, in warm water, to does after they give birth. They get dehydrated and need electrolytes. Also good if a goat is dehydrated for other reasons. It's supposed to taste good. All my goats like it.

Emasculatome - to neuter bucklings using the Burdizzo method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1EptS0zVYc

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Balloon Mouth Expander - to neuter bucklings by banding them.

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There are pros and cons to both methods. I've used both without issues in either method. Some people believe one or the other is more humane. I recommend doing research to see which method works best for you. There are specific reasons why it is good to neuter males and it's usually encouraged.