Understanding the UK goat sector in 2023

Goats were one of the first species to be domesticated with records going back to neolithic times – and worldwide they are one of the truly multipurpose species, kept for milk, meat, fibre, harness, as pets, for weed control and pasture improvement, and for fuel using dried faeces. Even within the small population of goats in the UK, this multi-purpose benefit is evident in the very diverse goat sector.

It is estimated that worldwide there are around 1 billion goats kept, with over 10% of this total kept in China, and other large populations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2023). Within Europe, Greece has the largest population of goats at around 3.5 million, followed by Spain with 2.5 million and France at 1.5 million. Populations in both Greece and Spain have declined in the past 10 years (Eurostat, 2023). In comparison, the latest UK figure is 111 000 goats kept on a total of 11 250 holdings (Animal and Plant Health Agency, 2022), giving an average holding population of around 10 goats. Taken in isolation, however, these UK figures can give a false impression of the wide variation in herd size, and how and why goats are kept. This article describes the different types of goat-keeping within this small population. Goat demographic information and population maps for Great Britain are available, based on Animal and Plant Health Agency 2020–21 data (Animal and Plant Health Agency, 2022).