With 1.17 out, players were graced by the presence of a brand-new interesting mob: the goat. It’s one of the more unique-looking mobs out there, and it was actually made in a program called Blockbench, which gives it that oddly realistic appearance. Goats are also one of the player-voted mobs to be included in the new update by Mojang.
While goats don’t have immensely engaging gameplay to them yet, they bring in just a bit more diversity when it comes to Minecraft’s roster of mobs. They work similarly to cows when it comes to breeding them and their basic utility, but they’ve also been seen to act dangerously towards players who aren’t aware of their surroundings. Here’s all there is to know about goats as of the 1.17 update.
9 They Live On Mountains
Mountains were one of the biomes that Mojang wanted to work on (along with caves) to change the world generation. Since mountains mostly had regular mobs like cows, pigs, sheep, and in some cases llamas, it was only natural the developers would come up with some more mobs that were unique and fitting for the cold mountain peaks.
Goats are native to mountains. They will typically spawn in groups of at least two when the world is first generated. After that, it can be pretty rare to come across goats. So if you do find some, make sure to start breeding them to have a good population of goats!
8 They Have A Unique Achievement
With new gameplay content, it was no surprise Mojang wanted to include new achievements as well. There’s actually a cool and somewhat weird achievement related to the new goats — in order to unlock it, players need to ride a boat with a goat inside of it.
The achievement is called “Whatever Floats Your Goat,” and it’s a pretty funny play on words, but bears no real utility or reward beyond the achievement itself.
7 Baby Goats
As with most mobs, goats also have a baby version of them: baby goats. There’s actually a small chance of a baby goat spawning into a herd of goats when the world is first generated, but it’s pretty unlikely. Baby goats are not much different from adult goats, barring their size.
Baby goats can also ram into players like regular goats, something which is detailed further below. However, baby goats are much less dangerous and will only knock the player back about four blocks. It’s still a good idea to be safe around them and not stand nearby edges.
6 Screaming Goats
There’s a special type of goat that can sometimes spawn among normal and baby goats. This variant is known as the screaming goat, and it’s probably the most dangerous type of goat there is. Screaming goats will attempt to ram into the player much more often than normal or baby goats.
Screaming goats also make a much louder screaming sound, so it’s easy to distinguish them from regular goats. When you find one, keep your distance because these goats can charge every 5 to 15 seconds, targeting any player or mob that has been immobile during that time.
5 They Can Jump Incredibly High
All goats have one special skill that sets them apart from the player and all other mobs. Since they live on mountains they have excellent pathing skills, including naturally avoiding powder snow and being able to traverse gaps and holes in the ground that would otherwise spell their doom.
Goats can jump up to 10 blocks high when avoiding some type of obstacle, and they’ll also naturally take way less fall damage compared to the player or other mobs. You’ll never see them fall to their doom, and even if they do, there’s a big chance that they’ll make it out alive anyway.
4 They Are Dangerous
Most goats are passive and peace-loving creatures, but every 30 seconds or so, a goat will decide to randomly attack a nearby mob or player by ramming into them. The interval at which this takes place is between 30 and 300 seconds, so it can happen at almost any moment. Goats will perform a charging animation before going in, so you’ll at least have some warning.
Goats will try to ram any targets up to 16 blocks away, so long as that target hasn’t moved in the last 30-300 seconds. The knockback is significant: 9 blocks, which can easily send the player falling to their death instantly if they happen to be on a mountain or next to a cliff.
3 Their Horns Don’t Have A Use (Yet)
This part is currently exclusive to Bedrock Edition. Goats are marked by their impressive horns, which can be dropped if they ram against something solid. The dropped horns can be picked up, and goats without horns will appear unique from goats who still have their own horns.
The horn doesn’t exactly have any utility as of now. However, holding the horn and using it actually allows the player to blow into it, which recreates the horn sound heard during Illager raids. It’s possible that in the future this will actually have a proper utility, perhaps somehow linked to Illagers.
2 They Can Be Milked
When killed, goats don’t produce any kind of edible food. That means they’re only good for their milk, or just for keeping around as farm animals or pets. Goat milk, despite coming from goats, doesn’t currently have any unique effects or uses that would set it apart from cow milk already included in the game.
Goats are milked the same way as cows by using a bucket on them. Their milk can be used when crafting a cake or in order to clear any status effects on the player.
1 They’re Easy To Breed
Goats are pretty easy to breed, and follow the same rules as cows and sheep. You can breed them by holding wheat in one of your hands and feeding two goats who haven’t recently been bred. Goats will also follow the player around when wheat is being held.
Similarly to baby cows and baby sheep, baby goats can be encouraged to grow faster by being fed more wheat.
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