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Goat weaning advice please!
I have a mama goat (Nigerian dwarf) with babies that just turned 8 weeks last week. They are with her all the time currently, I was planning to start separating them at night this weekend to start milking (and moving the buckling to a different pasture tomorrow). This morning when I was out doing chores she was louder than…
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Goat placenta delivery
I have a nigerian dwarf doe that gave brith to 4 kids last night. Shes still working on delivering the placenta 14 hours later. Its hanging out and slowly coming but I’ve never had a doe take thjs long. I’ve also never had a doe with quads before. Does anyone have experience with this? She’s nursing/mothering fantasticly,…
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A nomadic sheep farmer in the US?
Get a load of this guy!!! He is making me rethink everything! Wow!
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How old should whethers be before they can spend time with bucks?
I have a Nigerian dwarf herd. I am new to goats, and we got them for dairy. I have 2 mamas and 4 kids. The oldest kids were born 7/4 and the littler ones 7/19. I would like to start milking the mom of the 7/4 babies, and I know I need to separate them at night and milk in the morning. I don’t exactly have a way to separate…
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Keeping billy the kid from breeding
Hi there y'all, we are still awaiting the shipping of the burdizzo tool. So it may be banding the boys. We are selling one billy and he is so handsome we may leave intact whilst awaiting his sale to a new home. OR I may take him to auction this weekend. The question is, how do you seperate your intact bucks from your does?…
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Burdizzo
Hey y'all, do you castrate? I've read some negative things about banding and some good things about burdizzo. It clamps the cords and supposed to be humane. We are giving it ago this year? What do y'all do about this situation?
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Weighing kids
Good day y'all, We had 5 beautiful kids born this year on our farm. We are bottle feeding two of them as their mom wants nothing to do with them. Long story short...around 10:30pm on a saturday night. I just had a feeling to check the barn before slumber. I am sure glad I did! Two kids born and the doe didn't accept them.…
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European sheep and goat breeds
It was a very happy time backpacking Europe in what seems like a lifetime ago. I recall walking a lot of mountain and coastal paths in both Italy and Greece, especially some of the Greek Islands I noticed homeowners moving small mobs of sheep and goats around during the day to move them to new fodder and under shade. I…
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Soay Sheep
I learned about a new type of sheep today. More below.
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Great story on dairy sheep, cheese & vodka!
I recently saw this wonderful story on TV. Goes to show what you can do when you have a go and think outside the circle. Who’d have thought! Mind you the vodka is a little pricey for making tinctures!
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Increasing and decreasing milk supply
Aloha, I seem to be in a bit of a bind. I have one doe I'm trying to dry up and another who isn't producing as much as I know she's capable of. The one I'd like to dry up has been in production for 2 years. Even though I've taken her off of hot feed and don't milk her out completely, she keeps producing 1/2 gallon/day.…
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My Favourite FREE Goat Wormers
Over the years I have tried a variety of natural wormers. I started with the basic apple cider vinegar and garlic. I found however that it wasn't enough. Even though I continued to rotate the goats, our region of Australia has a parasite that can live for up to 12 months [so a local vet told me], which makes it mighty hard…
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Bitter Goat Milk
This is my fourth year milking Nigerian Dwarf Goats, and the milk has an odd, slightly bitter aftertaste. I've been milking for just a week and a half now. I think maybe not enough minerals, so I've been hand feeding them loose minerals. Also, we switched from a green sprayed hay to an unsprayed yellow hay. That could be…
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Extended lactation
I will be cross posting this to both goats & cattle. We do an extended lactation with our cows & then give the one milking a break (& get her bred) & milk the other for a couple of years, then get her bred. That is why we have more than one cow. A cow will give the most milk after calf #3. Yet this article says with their…
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Tips on Raising Goats
I had to look up how to tips a goat and found this site with some good articles on goat raising. I am sure these ideas would also work on sheep and some other animals. My buck has decided he want to be the dominate one on the property, so later today we are having a lesson or two on Proper Behavior.…
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Never heard of "rooing" sheep
It's a form of hair removal that isn't shearing. Although if I were the sheep in the first picture, I'd be crying too.
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My new mini goat herd
I needed new blood in my goat lines and I found a small mini herd, 5 goats at about 2 years old. The does are nigerian, the buck pygmy They are healthy, up on their shots and I checked out their housing and they have lived in good conditions. Its so icy here I'll pick them up next week but the deposit in down. I do have…
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CL in goats
Has anyone here had any experience with CL in goats? I have 4 healthy goats but one of them developed an abscess. I’m hesitant to lance it and risk exposing everyone in case it is CL, but also feel maybe I should test it. It seems there are two schools of thought if they test positive- cull the animals, or let them live…
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My new goat milk stand was dropped off
My frineds made me a milk stand. This should be intersting. New shy mom and she's never been milked. They did a nice job. I did not know it came with a bench to sit on
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Good to read if you have goats
Here’s an article with some good reminders I needed to do some troubleshooting!
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Pasture rotation
Hi all, we just finished fencing if the north pasture. The goats moved cautiously into the overgrown hay field. Then the chickens braved the new land. We have 4 areas fenced off. Two are larger, thes will remain hay/grass. The two smaller areas will be used to intentionally plant forage. We've got lespedeza hay, chicory…
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Raising Goats
Anyone know of natural things to worm goats with? Hate giving them chemicals besides my goats worms are immune to the chemical wormers.
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Goats and external parasites.
Good day, just wondering what y'all do for external parasites prevention. This is a first year with a small herd of goats. They are certainly a lot of fun and ornery. Haha We have a goat with thick beautiful winter coat. She has some dandruff. We haven't seen any insects. We treat with sulfur monthly. Just wondering what…
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New Raising Goat Certification Course!!!!!!
Has anyone else seen this new course in the academy?! I have already started it! Tasha Greer is the best!
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Valais Blacknose sheep: The most beautiful sheep I've ever seen
The Valais Blacknose sheep originate in the Valais region of Switzerland. They are a dual-purpose breed, raised for meat and wool. They are unique to the Upper Valais and are well adapted to the harsh mountain conditions, being extremely hardy, prolific and frugal. The black on its nose, eyes, ears, knees, hocks and feet…
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Has anyone let their goats grow horns?
It's so nauseating disbudding little tiny baby goats. I absolutely hate it. Does anyone here have experience with goats with horns? I may be relocating and I thought since I will have more space next time, maybe I can start all over with a herd with horns. Please tell me your thoughts if you have any experience with this.
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Goat Minerals
Hey there ya'll, how do you go about feeding goat's their minerals? We offer them free choice, however the goats have made the container tossing into a sport...we are considering top dressing their food with minerals or reinforcing the containers. what ya'll doing? Thanks for your input. I searched the livestock forum and…
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Dairy Sheep Anyone?
As my family and I work towards more sustainability, I wanted a source of dairy. Today I drive 50+ miles every other week to purchase raw A2A2 cow's milk from a dairy farmer I've come to know well. We only have 2 acres total and one full acre of pasture (although some of the other land could be accessed). So I looked into…
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Natural support for Goats who eat chicken feed
hello there! I wanted to share my successful approach to a scary situation! Please note there isn't much here that is based in science or good practice. I just experimented, and can't say that if you attempt this the results will be duplicated. Be sure to use common scense, your intuition, and go to a vet when necessary!…
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Have you ever had one of THOSE animals?
You know the kind, they can open any gate, any feed box, any latch, they get out of any fence, barn, holding pen. You name it, they can and will be on the other side when you come back. Well we have Mary, well her real name is Mary had a Little (not so little any more) Lamb. Named by our 2 yrs granddaughter This will be…
