If you want them for brush control, you'll need to cut back any foliage they have eaten through so that they can reach more leafy matter. For the homesteader and small-scale farmer, goats are a near essential.
This method of using goats to keep weeds to a minimum, called “mitigation,” helps reduce the risk of brush fires. They have fulfilled these important roles for thousands of years, enabling humankind to survive and thrive on just about every continent.
Here are some simple ways to ensure your goat's milk is tasty and sweet. In fact, it's completely avoidable if you follow proper processing. After much trial and error, we arrived at the process below to save our jars and ensure the best-tasting milk...
Udders: two mammory glands, or teats Tags goats Use these quick facts to better understand how your goats operate. Sub Goat Physiology Life span: 10 to 12 years, up to 30 in rare cases Heart rate: 70 to 80 beats per minute Respiratory rate: 15 to 30 breaths...
They piqued the interest of Dr. H. We're more interested in how much it costs to maintain does throughout the year and it costs less to maintain medium-sized does.” When asked what she likes about Myotonic goats, Lisa replies, “Myotonic goats don't...
In short, a clean-fed and properly cared for goat will produce a mild but effective manure each year without too much work on your part. The truth is, there's a place for most livestock poop in our gardens.
You can feed the concentrate at both milkings. Providing the right nutrition for your lactating doe means quality hay or pasture and a good grain supplement of 16 to 18 percent crude protein twice per day for a total daily intake of about 2½ to 3 percent...
That's why livestock-auction babies are an especially poor risk. Many breeders freeze it for emergencies, so ask around and locate some in case you need it. Alternately, use an oral IgG (immunoglobulin) supplement designed for your baby's species; they're...
It's Easier to Digest No one is quite sure why, but people (including babies) who have trouble digesting cow's milk seem to have an easier time digesting goat milk. Top Average Content of Goat, Cow and Human Milk Here is some detailed information on differences...
If you use a nylon longe line, all you have to do is sear the ends with a flame and smooth the rough edges with an emery board. Maybe you'd like to teach your goat (or sheep or big, strong dog ) to pull a wagon or sled.
But like everything, it will get easier with practice. I've written before about what items you might want to keep in a goat medicine chest , but some of those things are useless if you don't know how to administer them.
It usually takes goats 150 days, plus or minus five days, to carry kids to term. We have two kid goats that are 6 months old. And are they both doelings (young females) or a doeling and a buckling (a young studly buck like me)?
It's an international Christmas treat. Nowadays, people tend to spell Donder's name “Donner.” Other writers, like L. May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, was a songwriter who specialized in Christmas songs, among them “Rockin' Around the Christmas...
No one knows for sure when cattle dairying began, though Dr. Evershed's team used the same technique to date dairying to 9,000 years ago in the Near East, 8,000 years ago in Eastern Europe and 6,000 years ago in Britain.
Recipe No. 1: Combine 2 cups white vinegar, 1 cup Avon Skin So Soft bath oil, 1 cup water, and 1 tablespoon eucalyptus or citronella oil in a spray bottle. Recipe No. 6: Combine 1 cup strong black tea, 1 cup water, 10 drops of citronella oil, and 10 drops...
Toggenburgs acquired some fame in the 1960s when the breed became a favorite of poet Carl Sandburg. Does are 30 inches tall and weigh 135 pounds. Eponimm/Wikimedia Commons The Alpine is the product of European breeders, who started selectively breeding...
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2014 issue of Hobby Farms. In addition to the two aforementioned symptoms, described clinical features of CAE syndrome, indurative mastitis (hard udder), interstitial pneumonia and progressive weight...
Some serious diseases you can bring home are strangles and flu in horses; hoof rot in cloven-hoofed animals; an incurable abscess-causing disease called caseous lymphadenitis in sheep and goats; and respiratory disease in livestock of all kinds.
Its body condition score should be about a 3 at this point. As with feeding cattle for milk and meat, the ideal goat diet depends on your farm management style and what feedstuff is available to you.
Sherman who wrote the book Goat Medicine, wattles “contain a central cartilaginous core, smooth muscles, connective tissue, nerves, and blood vessels.” They're covered with hair and are usually 1 to 2 inches or so long.
They key is to count them and know the actual eggs per gram to help make informed decisions on whether to medicate. This will let you know if your wormer is working. Step 4: Retest New Samples If you medicate, run a fecal egg count with fresh samples...
What experience do you have? Is there already a goat-milk soap business in town? Include your strategy for these in your business plan. Be specific, asking for makes and models of machines and materials they use.
Flehmening is when an animal curls its upper lip and appears to be laughing, but we're actually exposing the vomeronasal organ (also called the Jacobson's organ) in the roof of our mouths and drawing scent toward it—this gives us a better idea of what...
We rarely use these drugs, but they are good to have on hand if your goats get into weird plants that cause stomach upset or if you have scouring kids. When we have goats off feed for more than one meal, we generally boost them with a big shot of this.
And we love to climb on things, like cars, tractors, haystacks, the roof of your house or anything else that intrigues us. Scent and taste helps does recognize and bond with their newborn kids, too.
Milo stood on the couch with Mom while she read him a story called “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” and little Spike sat on Dad's lap during the interview. I was a really good boy and didn't pee on anyone! This week Dustin, Josh and Blair are going...
A goat's lifespan mirrors that of a large-breed dog, so it can be well worth the time and effort to train your goat to become a working animal. Various breeds are suited better than others for these respective tasks.
