Goat Care

PLEASE NOTE: 

What works for us may not work for you. This is just our way of caring for our goats, there are many different opinions and styles out there. As our farm grows, we have been testing out different methods, and this is what we have found to work best for our farm at this time. Please do your own research and see what might work best for you, your location, your animals, and your overall farm goals. We are located in the Pacific Northwest in the high desert. You are responsible for judging what practices might fit your farm best. The Internet is a great tool to use to find answers to your questions, but it also requires some effort on your part to judge how accurate that information may be. We have linked to some products we use or have found to work well, feel free to shop around to find better prices. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which might give me a percentage back when ordered, at no additional cost to you. 

Feeding:

Our goats get fresh water once a day and their water buckets/tanks/troughs get scrubbed once a week or as needed.

All of our goats get free choice grass hay and free choice minerals daily along with access to various fresh produce and time to graze with miscellaneous plants to forage around our property. 

Our growing kids are fed a grain mix as a supplement which includes alfalfa pellets, whole oats, rolled barley, yellow split peas, black oil sunflower seeds, and wheat germ oil. Our milkers are fed a grain mix with everything the kids get plus a 16% protein dairy goat pellet. Does begin getting grain about the last month of their gestation, then they get grain AM and PM on the milking stand after kidding. We give our milkers alfalfa hay for 1/2 of one of their feeds each day starting at about the last month of their gestation through the end of their lactation. 

When bucks are in rut, they are supplemented with a grain mix of alfalfa pellets, whole oats, and black oil sunflower seeds to help maintain their body condition.

Worming

Our goats are wormed once a month the day before, on, and after a full moon with Fir Meadow's DWA and GI Soother. We also use an essential oil blend to help with deworming once per week. Bella's Naturals is another dewormer we have used before. 

Essential oil blend of: Oregano, Orange, Lemon/Lemongrass, Ginger, clove (not for pregnant does), and cinnamon (not for pregnant does). 

We mix 1 drop of each mixed with 2-3cc of olive oil for our adult goats and for our kids that are younger than 6 months we mix 1/2 a drop of each mixed with 2cc olive oil. We use a drencher to deworm like this one or this one. 

This method is used as a maintenance and preventative for any stomach parasites.

Sometimes we mix up their wormer and supplements to form little treat balls or we mix it up in applesauce. Adding Slippery Elm Powder can help cover up the bad taste that often comes with herbs. 

If you have an acute problem, then more needs to be done.

We worm during the full moon because of  'circalunar' reproductive cycles common in nematodes/helminths including parasitic species. Just like marine worms tend to form reproductive swarms as the moon approaches the fullest, terrestrial ones tend to as well. So we feel this is the best time to wipe out adults and eggs while they're in the lower bowels to breed, so they can easily be eliminated without causing the host problems.

Pre-natal Care for our Pregnant Does:

Before our does are ever bred, we evaluate their overall body condition. When we are sure our girls are ready we put them in with the buck of our choice. We let our animals breed naturally, so sometimes this process takes a couple of months. 

Gestation for Nigerian Dwarf Goats is about 145 days. For now, I just observe my does very closely during breeding season that way I have a good estimate of when our girls are due. We are beginning to complete our health testing right after breeding season, this way we can get blood tests to confirm pregnancy. 

At about 28 days before the expected due date, we give our pregnant does their CD&T shot, a hoof trim, a sanitary trim, some Selenium/Vitamin E gel or Replamin Gel. This allows enough time for the dam to pass the immunity of clostridia and tetanus to her kids before they are born. We give Vitamin E to help strengthen their uterus in preparation for birth. At this point in pregnancy, we also start our does on Alfallfa hay to ensure they're getting enough calcium in their diet.

At about 21 days before their expected kid date, we give them more vitamin E and Fir Meadows PreBirth Late Pregnancy Support herb.  

At about 14 days out, we give another dose of selenium/vitamin E, their PreBirth herbs, Primrose Oil and calcium carbonate. Primrose oil helps to ripen the does cervix and calcium carbonate helps prevent prolapse. At this point in pregnancy we begin feeding our does 1 cup of grain in the evening. 

At about 7 days before kidding, we give them their PreBirth herbs, selenium, primrose oil, and calcium carbonate in the morning. In the evening, we give them vitamin E, PreBirth herbs, primrose oil and calcium carbonate. At this point, we increase their grain to 2 cups each evening.

As we get within a week of the doe's expected due date, we start to feel their ligaments periodically throughout the day. When ligaments are gone, we separate the doe into our kidding pens. 

After the doe has finished kidding, she gets a bucket of warm molasses water to regain her energy, and she is fed a banana with her grain that evening. We give our does an herbal wormer for the next 3 days using Fir Meadow's DWA and GI Soother.  

Kids:

At 3-7 days, if the kid is not polled (naturally hornless) we will disbudd them. Because these are dairy goats, all our goats will be disbudded. 

Since our primary goal is milk production, we separate our kids at birth and get them used to a bottle. We will be bottle feeding all kids moving forward as we prefer how friendly the kids are when bottle fed. 

At 3, 6, 9 and 12 weeks old, kids get Toltrazuril 5% to help prevent coccidiosis. Kids are given 1ml per 5 pounds of body weight. 

Kids get their first hoof trims at 4 and 8 weeks. We do our best to make sure all kids have freshly trimmed hoofs before they leave our farm. 

Kids are weaned when we feel they are ready for their new homes, we like to make sure they are a decent size and are eating solid foods and drinking water well. Since our kids are bottle fed we will often sell them as bottle babies. 

If a buck is going to be wethered, we band at around 12-14 weeks old. This allows time for the urinary tract to develop as much as it can to help prevent Urinary Calculi. However, if we sell a whether as a bottle baby we will band him before he leaves our farm. 

We do not give kids CD&T and leave that decision up to the new owners if they'd prefer to vaccinate their kids. We can give this vaccine if requested before they leave. 

Milking Routine:

At the beginning of our milking season, we do a sanitary clip on our girls.

We milk our girls twice a day both AM and PM, we aim for 12 hours between the milkings.

To begin milking we give our doe her goat ration, give her a rough brush, then use warm water which we bring out in this pail and a clean cloth to wipe the udder and surrounding area. Then we spray a homemade teat wash on the udder and wipe that off with a clean cloth dipped in the warm water. 

Our homemade teat spray is in a spray bottle we combine 20 drops of lavender essential oil, 10 drops of tea tree essential oil, and 2 tbsp of soap, then we fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake it up before each use. 

Then we strip the goat into a little cup similar to this one, or milk each teat once to clean out the plug and any bacteria. We do this in a little cup just to examine the milk to look for signs of problems such as mastitis. 

Then we milk the goat out by hand into a pail. Sometimes we have to bump the goats to ensure we get all of their milk to letdown. 

Once fully milked, we strain the milk into jars (These are our favorite jars - these, these, and these), and quickly put the jars on ice, and get them to the freezer to cool down as quickly as possible. 

After we finish milking we wipe the udder down again with our homemade teat spray and a clean cloth.

Other:

We give our goats Selenium/Vitamin E gel about once a month, we do this because our area is deficient in Selenium. We give 2 ml for kids and 4 ml for adults. We give this at the same time as we deworm them. Replamin Gel is the best option, another option is using a Selenium/Vitamin E gel like this. 

We give our goats Copper about quarterly, or about once every 3 months depending on the goat. We give about 1 g/22 Ibs. We give this at the same time as we deworm them. We use the kid version because we give it more often, you can use a higher dose less often such as this Adult Copper.

Medical/First Aid Kit:

This is a list of what we commonly have on hand and what some common uses are for the items. 

• Thermometer: 101.5-103.5 is ideal - Some options for these are this one, this one, or this one

• Hoof Trimmers: Trim every 4-8 weeks (we do it every 8 weeks, and increase to every 4 weeks if they are getting grain regularly) 

• Drencher: For deworming and other medicines

• Probiotics: For stressed or sick goats 

• B Complex: A boost of B vitamins for sick goats that will stimulate and help maintain rumen function

• Disposable Needles and Syringes: 3cc or 6cc Syringes with 22 gauge 3/4' long needles

• Rubbing Alcohol and Cotton Balls or Alcohol Wipes: For cleaning areas before drawing blood/tattooing/etc. 

• Disposable Gloves: Handy for blood draws, wound care, etc. 

• Lidocaine Aerosol Spray: Pain Killer

• Banamine or Baby Asprin: Pain Killer, Fever and Swelling reducer

• Alushield: liquid bandaid 

• Milk of Magnesia, Vegetable or Mineral Oil, Baking Soda: For treating bloat

• Activated Charcoal: To treat poisoning

• Apple Cider Vinegar (preventing) and Ammonium Chloride (treating): Urinary Stones in male goats