Individuals born in this zodiac year have been supposed to share certain characteristics with other individuals also born in years of the same animal sign. Similarly, years sharing the same animal sign have been supposed to share certain characteristics, repeating over their 12/60 year cycle. The shared characteristics in this case are traits attributed to goats.
Due to the luni-solar nature of the traditional Chinese calendar system, the "zodiacal" year does not align with the Western calendar: new years are determined by a system which results in each new year beginning on a new moon sometime between late January to mid-to-late February. Goat aspects can also enter by other chronomantic factors or measures, such as hourly.
In Chinese astrology Goats are described as loving-peace and "kind" and "popular". With the addition of the wood element, the Goat characteristic is thought to love peace and to be helpful and trusting, but yet also to be "clinging" and of a nature resistant to change.' (Wikipedia)