DIY Goat Toys: Cheap Toys to Keep Your Goats Busy

The other day I looked out my kitchen window and saw goats….outside of their fence just strolling around.  Yikes!  It turns out that bored goats are sneaky goats.  Goat toys can be a fantastic way to keep your herd busy and entertained during the day.

Goats can be very inquisitive and can get into trouble climbing fences and doing other naughty things especially if they get bored.  So, just as you prepare for keeping goats, build a goat pen, and make sure you choose the the right goats, you will want to make sure you have some fun toys that goats enjoy playing with.

If you don’t have goat toys and all of your other goat supplies gathered yet, hop on over to our Getting Started with Goats eCourse and get yourself prepared!

Once you have your everyday goat preparations ready, you may also want to think about what toys for goats you should get.

It is probably no secret that goats love to climb.  So, really goat toy ideas that enable them to climb make perfect goat toys.

Since we obviously had some goats  in need of a little entertainment quick like, we decided to slap together a few goat toys based on what we had on hand.  We are now the proud owners of a few homemade toys for goats; a goat play bench and a goat pallet tower.

Here are a few ideas for DIY & cheap toys for goats:

Used playhouses make great toys for goats

You can get them new (but they are rather expensive).  To get cheap play equipment, check out your local Craigslist or local yard sales.

These plastic or wood children’s playsets can commonly be found relatively cheap if you get them used.  Ones with ladders and slides are perfect toys for goats.

Pallets make for endless fun toy ideas

You can regularly find pallets for free at most any bigger store.  For example, our local farm store gives their used pallets away for free.  These work great for cheap toys for goats plus you are using recycled material so nothing goes to waste.

You can leave the pallets in tact and stack them at various heights.  Put the stacks together in one pile so that the goats can climb from stack to stack.

You can also add “bridges” by putting wood boards attaching stacks so that they can walk from stack to stack.

Tables, benches; & other platforms: Perfect goat toys for climbing

Another cheap fun toy idea is to take any scrap wood you have around from other building projects (such as chick brooders) and build tables, benches or other platforms for your goats.

We built a few simple benches to use as toys for our goats and they absolutely love them.  They jump up on them and the babies, like Bauer in the picture and this video, love to tap dance around on the top of them.

Need some help to keep your goats healthy and maintained? The G.O.A.T Herd Management Binder has you covered from supplies to routine care reminders.

Wooden Cable Spools: Goat toy training course!

You can sometimes find these at hardware stores.  They will often times give them away for free if they are empty of whatever product was on them.  Electricians may be another place to source them.

You can simply stack the wooden spools together for the goats to climb on.  Cascading different size spools make great fun toy obstacle courses. You can even create bridges between spools for extra fun goat toys!

Large Rocks

Again, anything goats can climb on make great goat toys. If you have any larger rocks on your property, you can make a rock playground.  You can also sometimes find people looking to remove them from their property.

Often times they will give them away but you will have to do the work to remove them, transport them, and then place them on your property. We also suggest to bury half of them to prevent a rolling stone from squashing a tiny baby goat.

The extra added bonus of using rocks is that the texture of the rocks will help keep the goats hooves worn down and you won’t have to trim their hooves as often. Which is great since that cuts down on the amount of herd health care you need to do.

Since goats are great climbers and jumpers, you will want to make sure that you place any of the goat toys in the middle of their fenced in area so that they they don’t climb up on the toys and then jump over the fence.

Tire Goat Playground

You can use old tires to make a tire goat playground. Simply collect tires of varying sizes. Then you can lay them flat so your goats can climb in them. You can stack them on each other so you goats can climb them like a ladder.

Or you can sit them upright (make sure you secure them to the ground by digging a hole or some other way) and your goats can climb on top or walk through them like an obstacle course.

Logs

You can either cut your own logs if you have a lot of trees on our property, or you can get logs from someone else.

You can bundle the logs together with thick rope so that they form a platform – try ones of different heights, so that your goats have to go and and down from log to log.

Or, you can simply lay the logs on the ground and let your goats climb and jump off of them.

Large Ball

Goats have been known to like pushing large balls around. They will kick, headbutt, push and just generally knock the ball around.

This is probably best used under supervision so your goat doesn’t get injured, or pop the ball and decide to try and eat it. Because although goats can eat a of things, goats cannot eat plastic.

Trampoline

A trampoline is a great addition for your easy goat playground. You can find these of varying sizes used for cheap or free.

Or, if you want to spring for a new trampoline, you can. You, your goats and your whole family can enjoy bouncing around.

Brushes

Sometimes, you might see your goats rubbing on branches, trees, or the side of their goat pen. They enjoy a good scratch.

So, you can give them some intentional scratching post spots by tying a hard bristle brush up at a height that they can rub against.

Seesaw

As you know, goats like to climb. So, a seesaw can be a fun interactive toy for them.

You can either make your own with a wooden plank over a log. Or, you can find used kids seesaws for free or cheap. Alternatively, you can also buy a new seesaw for your goats.

FAQ

What kind of toys do goats like to play with?

Goats like to play with all sorts of toys, from anything they can climb on, to seesaws, slides, and balls.

Do goats like to play with balls?

Yes, some goats do like to play with balls.

Do goats love to play?

Yes, goats love to play. They like to run and play with each other as well as their human friends and any toys or interactive things you provide to them.

Do you have any toys for your goats?  What goat toys does your herd like the best?