What Not To Feed Goats

This innocent-looking little plant has the potential to overcome other plants in your garden and threaten native plants beyond your fences. Once it escapes its boundaries, controlling forget-me-not plants can become a major challenge.

You can avoid invitinginto your stands by covering young plants with row covers until they're established.have a special kind of notoriety about them. Strategically placed ant baits can help control the tiny farmers..

Alternatively, you can keep the pot blooming all summer by replacing the forget-me-not when it is done blooming with a summer annual. It is more typically used in perennial beds, as a border, or to fill in space around other plants.

They haven't resorted to sampling the boxwoods yet (it seems to be one of their least favorites around here), but I suspect it won't be long until they do, especially if the boxwoods continue to be the only unfenced plants sticking out of the snow.

You can collect the seeds and sow them in loose garden soil in full sun after all danger of frost has passed. If your plant comes up every year in the same spot, it is likely a perennial; but if the plant seems to migrate and multiply in other areas,...

These annual or biennial herbs are quite prolific; seeds can stay dormant in the soil for up to 30 years, when on a whim they decide to germinate. That said, they do contain some pyrrolizidine, a mildly toxic chemical that, if ingested in any great quantity,...

Instead, they only bloom in their second year, so it's important to stagger these plantings so your newly emerging forget-me-nots aren't all on their flower-skipping year. Let's take a look at what may be going wrong.No flowers on forget-me-nots is a...

Some pet goats have the easy task of simply providing companionship to another animal, such as a dog. “They are intelligent and affectionate and are easy to train, whether it's for milking or something like cart-pulling.

“There is very little formal training with a goat,” she says. These goats know the ropes and enjoy their job.” The type of goats typically used for packing should have a larger body type, sound structure and a willing disposition, advises Jan Huffaker,...

If you keep goats for dairy production, be aware that certain plant toxins and chemicals are secreted in a doe's milk. Given an abundant and diverse mix of quality forage, your goats may require little in the way of hay and grain for a good portion of...

There is varied opinion among goat farmers as to whether cross breeds or purebreds are hardier. Be sure they always have access to it, and refill water containers with any amount of dirt or feces immediately.

Weed-control goats must also have a good appetite — not overly fussy about what it eats. Some goat owners have started their own small businesses, hiring their goats out to land owners and even government municipalities for vegetation control.

That strong flavor is not inevitable if backyard dairy goats are your dream. Use a napkin or paper cup to dispose of the strippings, aka the few squirts of milk released from the teat before milking.

Color varies by breed and coat color. Udders: two mammory glands, or teats Tags goats Grows constantly. Tail: short and bare underneath; usually points upward Ears: hanging or upright, depending on the breed Eyes: rectangular pupil, good night vision.

The bucks are docile and the does are very protective mothers and easy kidders. Renee Orr, who developed the breed at Sol-Orr Farm near Lignum, Va., tells how these wee goats came to be.

Unlike its chicken counterpart, goat dung is practically odorless. Comparatively, swine manure was the second-highest, coming in at 1.79 percent. Your backyard livestock have more to offer than eggs and milk: They can provide fertilizer for your garden...

What If Babies Don't Get Enough Colostrum? What Is Colostrum? Colostrum is the thick, immunoglobulin-rich, first milk that all livestock babies need to ingest in order to survive. This article contains excerpts from Bottle Babies, by Sue Weaver, a Hobby...

The padding is homemade woolen felt Mom makes by repeatedly laundering pieces of a secondhand wool blanket in hot, soapy water. B – No. 1 Connector Straps : Cut two 6-inch pieces of longe line.

I'll cover SQ and IM today. There are three ways you can administer shots: subcutaneously (known also as SQ, meaning under the skin), intramuscularly (or IM) and intravenously (known as IV).

That's how Jadzia and I made Bijou and Biscuit . University of Wisconsin's “ Guide to Raising Healthy Goats ” says they must weigh 60 to 70 percent of adult weight and provides adult weights of dairy does as follows: Alpines : 135 pounds LaManchas...

Mom thinks the weirdest names for Santa's reindeer are the ones in Bob Dylan's Christmas song, “Must Be Santa:” Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

According to the University of Georgia Health Center, on average, 80 percent of Asian and Native Americans are lactose intolerant, as are 75 percent of African Americans, 51 percent of Hispanic Americans, and 21 percent of Caucasian Americans.

Hordes of black flies pose a serious threat to livestock, including goats . Midges USDA/Flickr Midges, also called sand flies, punkies and no-see-ums, are one of the world's tiniest biting flies.

In the early 1900s, the first group of Saanen was imported to the U.S., and the breed quickly became well-known among American farmers for milking. White markings are always present and include white ears with a dark spot in the middle, two white stripes...

Affected kids are generally humanely euthanized but oftentimes die of secondary causes, such as pneumonia. This article originally appeared in the July/August 2014 issue of Hobby Farms.

If you go to—and especially if you buy at—sale barns there are things you really should know. It should have a comfortable area of its own where it can see other animals but they can't come too near; 50 feet from the rest of your animals is good.

This keeps the animal healthy as well as reduces the chance of the kids dying or developing health problems shortly after kidding. While milk production will peak about eight weeks postpartum, the doe will still be in a negative energy balance for a few...