During a national livestock survey held in 2003 under the FAO/UNDP/SADC Project RAF/97/032, a total of 892 goat keepers completed questionnaires covering aspects of management and production. The majority of the keepers came from the communal farming areas (892), with 127 from the emerging sector and 13 from the commercial sector. The comparison of production and product development between the different farm sectors highlighted the necessity of improving management in the communal and emerging sectors. Herds in the communal sector were generally small with the 56.8% of keepers owning less than ten goats as against 10% in the emerging sector. Presented in this paper is the comparison of production systems, health and herd management, mortalities, breeding and choice of breed between the different farm systems.