Nigerian Dwarf goats break the usual farm assumption that an adult goat is mostly too big to bother. This miniature dairy breed stands low, weighs little, and produces kids so small they can be carried off, which means the predator list for a Nigerian herd includes animals that would never challenge a full-sized goat. Protecting them is an exercise in thinking small: small mesh, small gaps, covered spaces, and a healthy respect for how many hunters regard a dwarf goat paddock as easy pickings.
A longer predator list for a very small goat
Loose dogs and coyotes head the list, as they do for all goats, but bobcats find a Nigerian Dwarf well within their strength, and foxes that would only threaten kids from larger breeds can take a young Nigerian. Newborn and very young kids face danger from the sky as well, since a large hawk or owl can strike a kid in open ground in its first days. The breed's friendliness adds a quiet risk of its own: Nigerian Dwarfs raised as pets often walk up to strange dogs rather than fleeing, so the goat's own judgement cannot be part of your defence plan.
Fine mesh does two jobs in a dwarf goat yard
Fence Nigerian Dwarf pens with mesh small enough that a newborn kid cannot push her head and shoulders through, because the gap a kid escapes through is the same gap a predator reaches or squeezes through from outside. Check the bottom of the fence where small goats work at it and small predators dig, and keep the line tight to the ground across dips and gateways. Place the herd's beloved climbing structures, spools, ramps, and platforms, well inside the pen rather than near the fence, since a Nigerian that launches herself from a platform beside the wire can land outside it and alone. A covered or netted kid yard earns its cost in the first season, protecting the smallest goats from above while they grow.
Night housing for goats that cannot afford one bad night
Bring the herd into a barn or a firmly fenced night pen every evening and close them in, rather than trusting pasture fencing alone after dark. Nigerian Dwarfs bed down readily in a group, and a doe about to kid should already be in a pen near the house where you can check her through the night and keep her newborns under a roof. Clear afterbirth and spilled feed away from the pens, since both draw raccoons and other night visitors to exactly the place your most vulnerable animals sleep.
Small goats, close observation
Pick up kids daily, check does for scratches or punctures around the neck and udder, and notice the goat that hangs back from the group or stops competing at the hay rack, since a small animal declines quickly after a fright or a minor wound. Contact a veterinarian promptly about any bite or tear, however small it looks, because on a goat this size a modest wound is proportionally a much bigger injury. Walk the fence after storms and whenever a goat is found somewhere she should not be, and treat every escape as a predator report as well as a goat report: whatever let her out will let something else in.
Behind fine mesh, under cover as kids, and shut into a real barn at night, Nigerian Dwarfs can be as bold and playful as they like without meeting anything that sees them as prey. If one small goat still wriggles out and goes missing among neighbouring gardens, KinsLe's Lost Pet Alert System lets you alert nearby Circle of Love members through KinsLe so a finder can message you directly.