# Names of Goat Noises



## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

Goats obviously make all sorts of noises. 
I am wondering what they are all technically called. 
More importantly, I would love to hear everyone attempt to describe the various goat sounds :-D


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Ziegen said:


> More importantly, I would love to hear everyone attempt to describe the various goat sounds :-D


Somehow I'm thinking THIS is the true reason???? :ROFL:


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## ariella42 (May 22, 2014)

I believe goats technically bleat, bu that doesn't quite sum it up for me.

Our goats all sound different. Rose says Me-he-he-he-he. My husband says she's auditioning for the Bee Gees. Martha, the other little one, says Nyi or Nyaa, depending of how much she wants your attention. Our older mini Nubian says Mwaaah!!! (yes, there are always exclamations when she talks). Our Alpine doesn't say much at all and is usually drowned out by the cacophony of the mini Nubians anyway.


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

Fine.. I'll start with the fun then. I dont know what they are called, but here is my descriptions of what sounds my girls make - from the eyes of a new goat owner with two 6 week old kids:

1. "The scream" - mouth wide open. tongue sticking all the way out. no reverberation to it.. just loud, clear, high pitch scream. Usually done when i am going to make their milk and they are outside waiting for it. 
2. "The bleat" - the normal goat noise that you usually hear when they are hungry, or lonely, or just plain bored. mouth open, the normal reverb, tongue sometimes out, sometimes not. Loudness varied. 
3. "The bark" - a very quick bleat with no reverb. My girls dont do this one, but i've heard other goats do it, usually when waiting to be fed. An obvious complain to you for not going faster and to the other goats to let them know that they want first dibs. 
4. "The nicker" - similar to a horses' nicker. mouth closed, quiet to medium loud. sounds like the high points of a bleat, just with the mouth closed. This is what my girls do the most often just to talk to me. they are generally satisfied with what is going on, but want to know how things are going, wondering when the next feeding is, asking where my husband went to, etc. Usually quite friendly and seems inquisitive 
5. "The squeak" - similar to the nicker, but only done once. as the bark is to the bleat, so is the squeak to the nicker. Mouth closed and done just once. a quick "Hi!"


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

hahaa. love the descriptions ariella!


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Then there's the goat version of Cookie Monster's "Nom nom nom".

https://vimeo.com/91211898


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I don't think any sounds beat a buck in rut!

The "CHUCKLE": when pursuing a doe and chuckling in to her neck, typically combined with pawing of the front feet

The "BARK" and the frustrated "MOAN/GROAN" when the doe isn't quite in standing heat!

I had some guests stop by this weekend and our jr. breeding buck who is allotted one doe this year really gave them a good laugh with his broad vocabulary!


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## Hodgson (Jan 7, 2014)

Yes the buck moaning is pretty funny. To me it sounds like a cartoon ghost, WooooOOOOooo or like little kids sound like when they're making ghosts noises. Lol


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Ziegen said:


> Fine.. I'll start with the fun then. I dont know what they are called, but here is my descriptions of what sounds my girls make - from the eyes of a new goat owner with two 6 week old kids:
> 
> 1. "The scream" - mouth wide open. tongue sticking all the way out. no reverberation to it.. just loud, clear, high pitch scream. Usually done when i am going to make their milk and they are outside waiting for it.
> 2. "The bleat" - the normal goat noise that you usually hear when they are hungry, or lonely, or just plain bored. mouth open, the normal reverb, tongue sometimes out, sometimes not. Loudness varied.
> ...


 Ziegen you have linguistic talent!

Some of my girls grunt like pigs while eating.


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

nancy d said:


> Ziegen you have linguistic talent!
> 
> Some of my girls grunt like pigs while eating.


:ROFL:
Alas... I am an Engineer who is terrible at spelling, has a very small vocabulary for my education, and always hated English class. I do, however, enjoy languages quite a bit (especially germanic ones). :-D


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

That's funny cause I should have flunked German. The only thing I could say really well when asked at the beginning of each class was "Meine hausarbeit nicht in orgnung." (sp)
"Is your homework in order?"
"No, my homework is not in order."

Anyway everybody has their unique grunts & groans, one daughter has an awful voice just like her dam.


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

I actually didn't do well in German class early-on. There are aspects of german (specifically gender and word endings, etc) which can be very difficult. Thankfully, those are also not all that important in day-to-day usage. Once we got past that aspect of it and concentrated on other parts of grammer at school, it went a lot better. I ended up living in Germany after high school for a year and got to learn all sorts of fun things. I wish I was still as fluent now as i was back then!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

I think the buck is more of a "blubbering" when he's in pursuit. LOL 

My daughter was born and grew up in Germany (until she was 7 anyway). She attended a German Kindergarten and was FLUENT when we left. There isn't anyone in our area that really speaks German so she has lost most of it. I'm hoping she'll go to a college with German Language Class and then should pick it up quickly again


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## kmarar (Oct 13, 2014)

This is literally my favorite thread so far.

I have an alpine doe who seems like she's constantly mumbling under her breath to herself


I do commissioned hand drawings of pets (especially goats!) check out my site kennamarar.wix.com/creativecommissions


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

My LaMancha buck hoots. He does it when he's annoyed by someone else. I can't even describe the noise well but you can hear the whining "that's mine" in it.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I have 9 young bucks in a big pen- all are roughly 6 months old. They mumble to each other-
it sounds like a bunch of old men without their teeth in. Someone was here the other day and kept
looking around, I asked what was wrong, he said, "I hear mumbling!" I said, "those are goats",
no way, he said, they sound like old men mumbling!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

GoatsRock what a colorful description!


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## Goat_in_Himmel (Jun 24, 2013)

Well, there is the martyr's sigh...sort of _hufffffff_...when I'm doing some painless but annoying thing, like trimming hooves.
There's the blue-murder scream, when I'm about to kill them by giving them a shot or a pill or constraining them when they don't want to be.
The old gal will *BA-AA-AAA-AAAA-AAAAA* at full volume when running from pursuing buck.
She will also _ba_-aa-aa! in a soft, happy voice, when I do something that meets her approval--like bringing a young goat kid to her pen, to visit. Doesn't even need to be her kin, she just seems to think (as I do) that goatlings are cute!
The nickering sound, when I bring her oats--sounds just like when horses are offered oats, sort of a closed-mouth chortling.
And piggy grunts, when someone's elbows-deep in the hay feeder.

Of course, everyone also has their own basic call: me-he-he-he, _ba_-aa-aa-ah, bla-ha-ha-_ha_, ba-_ha_-ha, etc., either uttered continuously as for sonar location, or rarely, but unique to each goat. Don't even have to look up, to see who's talking!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Oh my, I used to have one of those ba _ha_ ha goats. The middle ha was delivered at about 500,000 decimals. She doesn't live here anymore.


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## nigies4ever (Sep 19, 2012)

I know this is an old thread..but my breeder has a Nigie buck who does what I call the "Pac-Man"...it's when he's pursuing a doe and starts sticking out his tongue and blubbering..then all of a sudden he just starts making noises like he's eating, like om-nom-nom noises. :lol: For some reason, he bears a striking resemblance to Pac-Man when he does this. :ROFL:


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## ChrisM (Jan 13, 2014)

I want a yep yep goat. If you don't know what I am talking about, youtube "yep yep goat" and you will see. I personally think it's the cutest goat video on toutube.


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## BlaqueUnicornAdventures (May 14, 2014)

My orphan goat, Moesha, proved yesterday she still occasionally does this; she "sings" which is a very loose definition of that word mind you, because a word doesn't exist for his truly awful her Xtina Aguilara impersonation is!

When we are out on hikes, she hums excitedly and CHEERFULLY to herself (which is super adorable!) 

But she used to love to get in the middle of the room and try to get everyone go watch her and then bleat, SCREAM, CHORTLE, and then there was this sound she discovered that pounds like a strange cross between a walrus trying to use farm equipment, and entire flock of angry geese, and a nuclear war siren. It's truly horrid, and so loud, but worst of all is how proud of it she is! She thinks she is the second coming of Whitney Houston (and maybe she is, but pleasant is the last word you'd describe her "singing" with this time around I'd that's the case!)

I thought I'd gotten rid of it with the squirt bottle whe she was a baby... Because she is so proud of it, she used to like to look you dead in the face before making it... And I'd spray her with the water bottle in the mouth when she did. I hadn't heard her make the sound in months, until randomly last week when she was playing "king of the mountain" with the herd.

...it's what I get for naming her after a pop music star...
*makes a face* 
Be careful what you name your goats, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I have a yearling doe that has the most gravelly voice, like an old lady's whiskey/cigarette voice- Maaaa! It is a really annoying noise! She does it a lot because she is the absolute lowest on the totem pole! So, she is constantly being shoved away- and yelling! (But she is so cute! and the others just hate her!) 

Another yearling "tells" on anyone that is doing something she doesn't like. Especially, if one gets out. Dancer lets me know! She will maaa, look at the perpetrator then look at me. She does communicate well!


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

I have one that goes "ooooohhh" like a ghost haunting something and even does. It in that quiet voice
I have one that goes "maaaa maaaa maaaa!!!" Really loud.
One that says "mom!" When she wants my attention
Then there are the "ahhhhhh" screamer that sound like she is being murdered! Haha 
Then there is the one that loves her daddy and it sounds like she call out daaa! When he gets home from work 
They are my odder sounds. 


From Australia and breeding australian miniature goats and boer goats. Plus I have horses for eventing and heaps more animals!!!!


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

I have one that always goes Mmmmmmm. That's her sound. 
And one of my little boys started doing the "what what" sound the other day... I love that one!


Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

One of my yearlings mumbles when she talks - it's like she always has her mouth full haha. "Muhblhmmbluh?" But when she yells she's my loudest one!


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## BlaqueUnicornAdventures (May 14, 2014)

My Pygmies also make weird sounds, they kind of croak like toads. Their version of the goat scream is not the same as the other goats in my herd...
I wonder if that is a breed trait or I just have ones with deep gravely voices


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

kccjer said:


> Somehow I'm thinking THIS is the true reason???? :ROFL:


 That's what I was thinking lol, but it is quite entertaining.

Right now the main noise I'm hearing is "uhhhhhhh......uhhhhhhh" usually while in the resting position and they're oozing everywhere....they have some monstrous baby belly's and they still have a month to go!

I can also confirm the buck chuckle/gurgle noise.... kind of like a "blupblupblupblup" (sort of sounds like yup yup yup, too) followed by a "mrrglggggglllllblup" and then points with his leg. :crazy:

The "Mmmmmm?" that's sounds a bit like a question and or non committal observation..lol

Then there's the ever pleasant, ground rattling, barn shaking "BLAAAAAUUUUUHHHHHHHH" from my Nubians when they see me and the Holy/Sacred bucket go out of their line of sight.

and this last one requires a photo, because it's a combination of both and a visual will add emphasis, I call it the "marshmallow face". It usually requires a "MMM", in a somewhat persistent manner. Only ends when a sufficient amount of marshmallows are given to her majesty. (she's herd queen)


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## MoKa-Farms (Jun 19, 2013)

The OMGWHATWASTHAT? We have a goat who is incredibly paranoid and is literally afraid of her own shadow. When she is startled, she makes a low-pitched Bluuuuuuuuhh!


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## ChrisM (Jan 13, 2014)

I am an idiot. It's a "what what" goat that I want. And it's "what what" that is on youtube. I have no idea why I typed "yep yep". Insert handsmacktheforeheadrepeatedlysmileything here.


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## REBurwell (Jul 22, 2014)

Hahaha our buck sounds like "Mep Mep Mep Mep Mu hehhhhhh" Cracks me up


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## Serenity Woods (Apr 2, 2012)

I'm loving reading about all the different sounds y'all's goats can make. Most of ours sound pretty normal. A nice, respectable "Ma-a-a-ah". But we have one who consistently says "Moo!"


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## Waldo (May 12, 2014)

Today, I heard my 8-day-old, Belle, say, "Buababababa," which was followed by tongue flicking... at my key lanyard.


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## Hodgson (Jan 7, 2014)

I have one that sounds like Shakira. That awful, fake phlegmy sounding thing she does with her voice when she sings, my doe's voice sounds just like that tone, all the time. It's horrible. Lol


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## rebelINny (Feb 7, 2014)

I have one doe that snorts at my cat all the time with her hackles up lol. She also snorts the whole time I milk her. Almost like blowing air out her nose trying to frighten the cat.


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

one of my girls snorts like a pig whenever she is hungry or being fed. she also has taken up humming


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## OutdoorDreamer (Mar 29, 2012)

I have a Nubian buck that roars/howls at my other buck when they are being fed together.


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