Goats have many different ways to express their emotions to other goats and to the people around them. And there might be more than one reason why they do a certain thing. Just like with cats, there are many reasons behind why they might wag their tails; so what are they?
There are many reasons behind why goats wag their tails, but the main ones are to show excitement and as a way for does to let bucks know that they are in heat. Just like many other animals, goats use their tails as a way to express a variety of their emotions and thoughts.
Some other reasons for why goats wag their tails center around how they interact with humans and with their mothers. It’s important to pay attention to the signals your goat might be sending you, such as by wagging their tail, so you know how best to help them. Below you will find some of the main reasons behind why goats choose to wag their tails.
Excitement
One of the most common reasons that your goat might be wagging their tail is simply because they’re excited! Just like dogs and some other animals, it’s their way of indicating that they are happy to see you. If you goat is wagging their tail for this reason, it will appear to look more like a frantic, quick waving back and forth, and the tail itself will be more level. Be warned, this type of tail wag can also mean a friendly incoming head butt!
Goats are creatures that tend to get excited very easily – as their variety of different noises and sounds proves – and if you’ve ever heard of fainting or screaming goats, you know exactly how simple it can be for them to get too easily excited. Wagging their tails because of great excitement is something seen more commonly in kids (baby goats). As they grow into adulthood, they will most likely grow out of this tendency.
If any of your goats view you as a part of their herd, wagging their tails in excitement could just be their way of welcoming you back home when they see you again. Yes, it’s not possible to be around your goats all the time, but they are always happy to know that everyone in their herd is safe and accounted for. So by wagging their tails, your goats could just be trying to be friendly and tell you they missed you.
If you are the goat’s owner, and they know that you’re the person who brings them food, they might be thinking it’s time for dinner if they see you, which causes much enthusiasm.
While this reason might not fall exactly under the excitement category, goats might also wag their tails before they begin to fight another goat, so it could be in preparation for the fight or apprehension before they charge.
Irritation
Though this isn’t a common reason for wagging tails, your goats could just be trying to get rid of some annoying flies or other insects around their body if they are doing it.
Also along the lines of irritation, some goats like to be petted or scratched by their tail but some do not. If they’re wagging their tail in irritation, they could just be trying to tell you you’re annoying them and they want you to stop scratching over there.
Sometimes goats will try to bite your hands while you are petting or scratching them, especially by their tails. This action can have mixed signals. Biting, for may animals, is actually a way for them to show that they like something. Try and take some time to observe the body language of your goat while you are scratching or petting by their tail to see if they like it or not.
They Are In Heat
The more common name for this type of tail wag is “flagging.” What this is, basically, is that when does are in heat their bodies emit a certain smell that humans aren’t able to pick up. So, a doe will wag her tail to spread out the smell coming from her body to let any and all bucks around her know she is ready to mate.
Yep, I know this isn’t exactly fun to hear about, but hey, it’s just a part of nature. Unlike when they are wagging their tails in excitement, this type of tail wag will probably be more upright, and rather slow and loose instead of sped up wagging. You will also be able to tell if a doe is wagging their tail because they are in heat by checking to see if they are letting out any discharge.
Bucks are able to smell a doe in heat from an incredible distance, about a mile or more, so it usually doesn’t take much wagging for the smell to distribute. If your doe is wagging their tail for this reason, they will also make a lot of noise because of their state. To fix this simply set her up to breed with a buck soon.
Almost every time a female goat wags her tail, it’s for this reason. If not, then there’s a good chance it’s for one of the other reasons on this list.
Recognition
Does can get rather antagonistic if a kid that is not their own tries to get food from them or tries to get something that she thinks only her kids should. A doe will smell the behind of the kids to see if they’re hers, because that is the scent she knows them by. The scent of her kids remains etched in her brain for almost 2 years.
It’s a form of identification because mothers are extremely possessive and will only allow their kids to feed from them. They don’t like thieves and can hurt a kid if it’s not theirs by kicking or biting them. So sometimes kids will wag their tails to distribute their smell faster when coming to nurse from their mother, so the mother can better guarantee that it’s them and won’t accidentally hurt them.
People have tried experimenting and masking the smell from kids with perfume or other strong smells, but the mothers are always able to recognize which kids are theirs.