A Few Things That Work for Us

Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian nor do I play one on television. What you will read below is what we do. Everyone's experience is different! These are just idea's and guidelines and they are not to be interpreted as hard and fast rules. I am always happy, ready, and willing to help, but please do not wait until it is too late! A well stocked cupboard is the best prevention!

Raising goats is an always changing experience. What works for us in this very northern climate won't necessarily work for you in your climate. The information I am providing is how we handle very hot humid summers and very cold dry winters with lots of snow and sometimes cold that is unbelievable! Spring tends to be cold, damp and muddy. Fall is rainy with winter hot on it's heels.

WORMING: Living in cold snowy Maine makes a big difference in what works for us and what works for others. We keep to a very rigid worming schedule. We use several different types of wormers. Ivomec Drench for Sheep, and Safeguard for Goats are our two "go to" wormers. We raised Angora Goats for nearly 20 years and a third wormer was always in use for these guys, Ivomec Pour-On for cattle. It never did much to kill worms in them, but it did do a fantastic job on lice!

When our kids are just a few days old, we use Safeguard on them. If you purchase Safeguard for Horses in the small tube form, it has a nifty nozzle that fits right into the little ones mouth! Also, it's apple flavored and the kids love it. With the Angora babies we would also put a small squirt of the Ivomec Pour-On in each arm and leg pit.

Ivomec Drench MUST come into contact with skin.

FEEDING: We use grain specifically formulated for Goats. That's it in a nutshell. Grain companies have formulated grains so that the animals get what they need! Why fool around with it? And, please, please, do not feed general animal grain to your goats! They need copper and selenium in their diets. The amount of copper needed by these wonderful animals would kill sheep, so don't feed a goat and sheep grain to your precious goats!

SHEARING ANGORAS: Twice a year, yields some massive amounts of mohair! We normally sheared prior to breeding in the fall, and prior to kidding in the spring.

WASHING FLEECE: For small amounts, use your kitchen sink and proceed this way; pour a sinkful of warm to hot water and mix in some Dawn dishwashing liquid. Take about 1/4 to 1/2 pound of fleece and place it in the warm water. Push the fleece down into the water until it is completely covered. Leave it alone for a couple of hours or overnight. Next, squeeze the water from the fleece and remove from the sink. Fill the sing again with water the same temperature as what you just drained out. Pu the fleece back i to rinse the soap out. Squeeze the water out and put the fleece out to dry. DO NOT try to pick the fleece until it is completely dry. If you do, you can break the fleece. For large amounts; fill your washing machine tub with warm water and put in some liquid detergent ( I use Wisk). Put your fleece in and let it soak. Overnight is best. Next, put your machine on spin and spin the water out. Take the fleece out, and refill the tub with the same temperature water as you just drained out and let soak a few minutes, then spin it out once again. Let it dry and then it can be picked out.

Here are a few DON'Ts! Do not use different temperatures of water. In other words when you get rid of the wash water, check it's temperature. If it's warm, use warm rinse. If it's cool or cold, use that temperature water. A rapid change in temperature can cause felting!

Another don't: Do not let water pour on to the fleece. this will also cause felting. Some people double rinse their fleeces and add just a touch of fabric softener to the final soak. This will help with fly away hairs, it really elps a lot in the winter with static electricity. Spray on hair conditioner works pretty good too!

Some add washing soda (Arm & Hammer makes some, please note: this is NOT baking soda) to the wash. It helps out with cutting the grease. The best detergents to use either in the sink or machine are the ones that cut grease.

A great drying rack is an old non-metal window screen.

QUESTIONS

How do I know when my doe is in heat? This is a very good question asked many times by new goat owners. My answer to this is watch their butts! Look at them now and see what they look like then continue to monitor them on a daily basis until their back end looks like this photo! Besides the red irritated look there is sometimes a little discharge and there is usually a lot of tail wagging also called "flagging".

I'm getting my goats soon, what do I need?

Grain. Check with the seller to see what they are feeding your new goats. If you can purchase the same locally, go for it. If not, ask to purchase a few bags of the grain the goats are used to, and mix it with the grain you purchased. Here is how to do a proper mixing: The first two days use the grain they are used to. The third day, mix 3/4 of the old grain to 1/4 of the new grain. Two days later switch to 1/2 and 1/2, and so on until they are eating the new grain. No sick tummies this way!

Hay. Need I say more? Lots and lots of hay, and this is probably what most people forget! While you're at it, don't forget something to put the hay in! If the hay is left in a corner or just a pile somewhere, the goats will walk in it, soiling it and then they will refuse to eat it! Hay is expensive, so make sure your hard earned money is going into their bellies and not wasted on making your spring clean up more of a chore.

Lots and lots of nice clean water. Keep water clean and unfrozen!

These next items are a necessity, but can be purchased a few days after arrival.

Hoof trimmers

Wormers

Penicillin and syringes to administer it with. We use 22 gauge 3/4 inch syringes. Pennicillin is one of those things that you might not think you'll ever need, however, there is absolutely no place that you can get it at 3:00 a.m.! Penicillin is especially important to have on hand at kidding time.

Blood stop powder. This stuff will be as valuable to you as powdered gold if you need to use it! Goat's skin is thin and can tear easily. You can nick a hoof while trimming; a goat's horn can get injured. These are just a few of the reasons you might need this quick way to stop bleeding.

Blu-Kote. We keep this around as most people keep Bactine around for their children. Blu-Kote can be used on scrapes, bug bites, splinters, shearing nicks, on dis-budding wounds, and anywhere a quick first aid remedy is necessary.

Pepto Bismol. A great item for a quick fix! A slight case of bloat (gas), a light case of scours (diarrhea) and even when a goat has eaten something that is less than agreeing with her and she vomits her rumen (really yucky!).

12 cc Luar Slip syringes without needles. Great for drenching and for applying Ivomec Pour-On.

This list is based on what we keep on hand and what works for us. Everybody's management is different and many keep other items on hand. Of course there are other lists of items you will need for kidding.

And, finally, a little hesitant about having your goats, need more information and learning? Come to Goat School!

Should I let my buck stay with my does?

Do you want kids at any time, or do you want to be able to plan your kidding so that it's timely, logical, and you are there if needed? If you live in a colder climate, you can lose kids to exposure, have frostbitten ears, hoofs and testicles!

Coming up with a logical breeding schedule is important not only to the future of your herd but also your sanity! If you are set up with the does having a way to see and smell the bucks there will be no doubt when the doe goes into heat! You can then put her in with the buck, mark your calendar and know exactly when she is going to kid. If you want April to be your kidding time, start letting your does in heat go in with the buck in November. It's all pretty easy.

Also, do you really want your buck around new born kids or very pregnant does? They can play pretty rough sometimes. Also your doelings! They may go into heat and get bred, yet not be large enough to successfully kid and mother or be milked!

Your buck should be in a pen with a buddy. A wether (neutered male) or another buck. Don't keep him by himself, it makes for the beginnings of a bad disposition and you certainly don't want a bad tempered 300 pound buck. And, please remember, a four month old buckling can breed! If he can reach, he can do the job!

Necropsy

The purpose of our web site is to provide education and information. Our goats are our number one priority and keeping them safe and healthy is our primary goal. This beings said, we have decided to share these very private and revealing photos of a necropsy done on one of our breeding does.

This doe was a three year old fullblood Boer. She had been exposed to a buck on December 25th, 2004. She was due to kid on May 22, 2005. A big strapping girl who, though large in size, was not obviously overweight to the eye. Up until 5 days before her demise, she was very active and the picture of health.

Because her death was so unexpected, we opted to have her necropsied in an attempt to determine a cause.

The following photos were taken of her necropsy performed at the Foxcroft Veterinary Hospital in nearby Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, by Dr's. Kelly and McEvoy about 6 hours post mortem on May 5, 2005.

This first photo is of the uterus containing the pregnancy being exposed	As the veterinarian worked, it was obvious that the triplet bucklings were already quite large, though not ready for birth. These boys would have weighed between 8 1/2 and 9 pounds each at birth.
The vet is showing us how the expanding sack containing the kids is attached to the uterus. There were two kids in one horn of the uterus and one kid in the other uterine horn.	The three kids are laid out in front while she works on bringing the liver to the surface.
The liver is right below her left hand. It is quite pale and as she described, "caramelized".	After cutting the rib cage, there are now two veterinarians working to expose the lungs and other internal organs.
This was a real shocker! The pale substance you see here is internal fat. This doe was large, probably running around 180 pounds, however, she did not look fat from outward appearances.	An over abundance of fat, combined with a very large pregnancy quite possibly caused a total system breakdown which ultimately resulted in her death.
With all of the fat cleared away, you can notice her gall bladder (greenish colored thing in the center of the photo) and her intestines which appear sausage like.	Just before putting her into the cremation shed, we were once again astounded by the amount of internal fat this girl was carrying.

Enter supporting content here