Herd health questions for the keeper
Individual goats only tell half the story; the herd's health status tells the rest. Ask whether the keeper tests or monitors the herd for the common chronic infectious diseases of goats, whether it is a closed herd or animals come and go from shows, sales and borrowed bucks, and whether there have been recent unexplained deaths, wasting or abortions. Ask about the keeper's worming approach and whether it still works on their ground, since resistant worms travel with bought-in goats. A keeper who answers openly, shows you the whole herd rather than a selected pen, and is happy for your vet to call theirs is the kind to buy from.
Hands-on checks on each goat
Run your hands over every goat you intend to buy. It should carry a moderate covering over the ribs and spine — neither sharp-boned nor over-fat. Pick up each foot: overgrown, misshapen or foul-smelling feet and any lameness are warnings. Look for bright, clear eyes, a dry nose, smooth breathing with no coughing at rest, and a clean rear end with no scouring. Feel along the jaw, neck and in front of the shoulder for abscess lumps, check the coat for lice and bare patches, and if you are buying a milker, feel the udder for lumps and asymmetry.
Age, identity and breeding status
Ask each goat's age, then check it against its teeth — kids erupt their adult teeth in a sequence over their first few years, and a goat sold as a two-year-old with a full older mouth is a discrepancy worth raising. Confirm ear tags or tattoos match any paperwork, ask whether females are horned or disbudded, and ask the essential question for females: have they been running with a buck, and if so, since when? An unplanned pregnancy changes your feeding, housing and timing from day one.
How the goats have been kept
Ask what the goats currently eat — hay type, any concentrate, minerals — and get enough detail to keep the diet steady at first, because abrupt feed changes upset goat digestion badly. Ask when they were last wormed and hoof-trimmed, what shelter and fencing they are used to, and how they are handled: goats that are used to people are dramatically easier for a new keeper than semi-feral ones, especially at kidding and milking. Ask, too, why these goats are for sale; surplus kids and genuine herd reductions are normal, persistent problem animals being moved on is the thing you are screening for.
Settling and quarantine at home
However healthy the source herd looked, keep new goats separate from your existing stock for several weeks, handle them last, and watch appetite, droppings and condition daily while they settle. Introduce their new feed gradually alongside what they came with. KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles make the paperwork side of the move just as orderly: the seller transfers each goat's profile to you with its age, breeding history, health notes and feeding routine attached, so what the keeper told you at the pen is still on record months later.