How do you raise your goats

SheepGirl

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Just a thread I would like to start to generate educational, thoughtful posts about goat production throughout the United States.

Please include:
Breed/s and/or type/s of goats being run
Purpose of the goat/why do you have them? (Meat, milk, fiber, pets -- hobby or business?)
How many, ages/sex
How much land they're on
Location
Diet
Breeding/kidding procedures
Weaning/finishing procedures
Maintenance of the herd
Herd management practices (milking/hoof trimming/health checks etc) and how often they are performed
Health problems experienced
Any other useful information pertaining to the way you produce your goats
 

HoneyDreameMomma

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Location
North Texas
BREED - Nigerian Dwarves
PURPOSE - Hobby - multiple purpose: super cute tax exemptions/pasture mowers, meat, breed and sell, but I must confess there is also a bit of a pet quality there...:rolleyes:
HOW MANY, AGES/SEX - Currently have 3 does that are 2.5 years and 3 that are 1.5 years, 4 doelings (4-5 months old) and 2 young wethers (also abt 4 months) that have been sold as meat goats, but are staying with us until late fall.
HOW MUCH LAND ARE THEY ON - We have a fenced goat yard that is a couple of acres, but we open the gates and let the goats walk with us/free graze on abt a 10-acre area at least once a day (usually 2-3 times)
LOCATION - North Texas
DIET - Free range; mixed grass hay (cut from our own pasture), a little bit of goat pellet sold by our local feed store, loose minerals, fruit and veggie treats on occasion
BREEDING/KIDDING PROCEDURES - Bring in a buck for 2-4 weeks until all girls are bred. Add alfalfa hay to diet when does are a few weeks out from kidding. Check does' ligaments, udders, vulvas daily when they are about 5-10 days out from kidding. Move them to the kidding stalls in the barn when they look a few days out. Assist with births as needed, supplement colostrum/milk if needed, but leave kids on moms, because we currently don't milk our goats.
WEANING/FINISHING PROCEDURES - Mostly let moms wean kids. If we sell a kid before he/she is completely weaned, we milk the mom as needed to dry her.
MAINTENANCE OF THE HERD / HERD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES - clip hooves as needed (varies from goat to goat), yearly CDT vaccine, de-worm only as needed; when we go out to feed the goats each day, we make sure they are alert and generally look in good health, free from scrapes, cuts or injuries that might occur when free ranging.
HEALTH PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED - bloat (minor case); stillborn (1 with 2014 kidding); brain damage/failure to thrive (1 with 2014 kidding)
ANY OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION - This has been said in many threads, but good stock is key. We don't show our goats or milk them regularly, and we don't care about them being registered, but we have found that good stock is important regardless. A goat with a good milking line is better equipped to provide her kids with the nourishment they need, a goat with a good body form/mass usually tends to stay healthier, etc.

Look forward to seeing how others respond to this thread - I'm still relatively new goat raising (less than three years), so I'd love any and all advice on how to improve things for our herd.
 

OneFineAcre

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Location
Zebulon, NC
Breed: Nigerian Dwarves

Purpose: Hobby. Showing is a family activity we all enjoy. But between show premiums, kid sales, and bootleg milk and cheese sales we came close to break even this year.

How Many: Current head count is 21

Ages/Sexes:
Does
(2) 5 y/o Ginger and Minnie
(2) 4 y/o Zamia and Rosemary
(3) 3 y/o Cookie, Cocoa, Coleus
(1) 2 y/o Taffy
(1) First Freshener Daisy
(2) Dry Yearlings Clara Belle, Moonpie
(4) Jr Does Molly, Opal, Nutmeg, Shea
Bucks
(1) 4 y/o Rocky
(1) 3/y/o Caspian
(3) Yearlings Moonshine, Hank, Big Brown
(1) Jr. Fortunato

Land: Just moved to 5 acres about half wooded and half mixed grass

Location: Zebulon, NC which is in eastern Wake County

Feed: Browse, Free choice grass hay at all times. The best I can get at the time. Been feeding oat hay for about 2 months now. Lactating does and kids get alfalfa when available. In the fall I usually stock up on peanut hay when it is available. We buy a 12% protein mixed feed locally.

Breeding: Even though Nigerians are year round breeders we try to breed ours from Oct 1-Dec 15th to have kids from Mar 1 to May 15th. We have a big show on Memorial Day weekend. We start discussing breeding schedule now. We have pens where we can put a buck with a couple of does at a time. There is a local organization that has a semen collection clinic where you can bring your animal to, we are thinking about getting a tank and collecting some from Rocky for preservation.

Weaning: We are lazy weaners. Will let the kid nurse about as long as they want unless we have a sale. This year we are milking more than normal in that we have 5 with no kids. But we have 4 with kids that are 5 months old. Best way to keep them in milk to state fair at end of Oct.

Maintenance and herd management:
We dis-bud all of our kids.
Hoof trimming as needed. Annual CDT booster given about a month before kidding. Annual selenium dose. Have previously given kids CDT around 3 months, but we are rethinking that. Going to start giving around a month and probably give 3 shots.
Health Problem: The only health problem we have experienced is with coccidia in kids around 5 weeks old. Lost one last year and 2 this year. No symptoms sudden death. Even though we were giving dimethox. Switched to Toltrazuril. We were very crowded and had very wet weather. Hoping it won't be a problem next year.
 
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