Goat Care

Goats are useful animals, providing us with milk , meat and wool. In the Western United States, the use of goats for weed control is becoming popular. Tags goat , goats Weeds are tasty to most goats, which are natural browsers.

The first is genetics: The only real way to determine a dairy animal's milk quality is with a pedigree, which you can obtain by purchasing a registered animal. Or you've tasted goat's milk from the store and wondered what on earth happened to it to make...

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

Most breed year-round, and twin and triplet births are the norm. Traditional miniature fainting goats can stand as little as 17 inches tall measured at the shoulder and weigh no more than 50 pounds.

Personally, I prefer goat manure because it's less work: Just sprinkle and wait a few weeks for it to break down. You can try side-dressing crops with raw chicken manure—nitrogen promotes leaf growth, so it's particularly helpful for leafy greens—but...

That's why livestock-auction babies are an especially poor risk. It first appeared in the March/April 2008 issue of Hobby Farms . Neonates' immune systems remain nonfunctional for weeks to months, depending on their species.

H – Rear Shoulder Strap: Cut one 34-inch piece of longe line. It's made of soft 1-inch webbing from a 30-foot longe line designed for horses . There's no bridle because someone walks alongside the goat and leads him with a rope or leash attached to...

Then insert the needle into the little tent you have made, from the top. The easiest way to achieve the right position is to either straddle the goat or stand beside the front legs and put an arm around the neck.

We want to breed them for milk . Due to their larger size, single kids can be a problem for a young, immature doe to deliver. They might have a stringy vaginal discharge, but that doesn't happen every time.

Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer made his appearance in a booklet written in 1939 by Robert L. Now, Prancer, and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!...

Then people in several scattered parts of the world domesticated cattle . In June 2012, a team of scientists led by Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol in Britain released the results of a study they did on pieces of ancient pots recovered in...

They like hot, sunny conditions and feed up to 40 times per day. Horseflies Pathum Payasekara/Flickr Horseflies are the B-52 bombers of the biting-fly world—if you've been nailed by a horsefly , you know it! Horseflies have stout bodies and are up to...

The coat is a rich red-brown with distinct black markings that include a dorsal stripe, a black belly, black legs, and black facial -markings and ears. The largest of all dairy goats, bucks can stand as tall as 35 inches at the shoulder and weigh 160...

Any joint can be affected, but the carpal joint appears to be most commonly affected. No vaccine is available for either CAE virus or OPP virus; therefore, control is dependent on herd testing using a reliable laboratory and strict bio-security when adding...

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. People bring their animals to sale barns to sell them fast, but they're not good places to buy.

Feeding dairy goats is very similar to feeding a dairy cow. Additionally, it should be provided with the proper vitamins and minerals prior to kidding and during lactation. This keeps the animal healthy as well as reduces the chance of the kids dying...

Mom is house training all three kids. Jimmy and Esme are Experimentals. They're also called waddles, toggles, tassels, waggles, lassies or cutaneous cervical appendices. According to Mary C.

You can ask a vet to do this for you, but learning to do it yourself will ultimately save a ton of time and money, as well as make you a better herd manager. Routine, unnecessary use of chemical wormers is the primary reason most wormers no longer work...

Writing Your Goat Farm Business Plan bentancourt/Flickr Once you've decided what type of business you are hoping to start, the next step is to actually sit down and write out the business plan.

Mom says it's perverse when I pee on her, but I think it's fun! Some bucks also try to breed their human handlers. Bucks in rut are hard to ignore, and the ladies love it! We also spray thin streams of urine along our bellies, on our front legs and chests,...

Keeping goats, like all other endeavors, is easier and more enjoyable when you are prepared. In addition to basic first-aid supplies, here is a list of things I like to keep in my goat medicine chest at all times.

My daughter, Simka, is a champ! When alarmed, we curl our tails tightly over our backs and snort a high-pitched sneeze-like sound. Instead, we position ourselves a few feet apart while facing one another, rear onto our hind legs and then swoop forward,...

It was fun! See us in the group picture? That's Uzzi and me posing with (from left to right) Josh Dubois, Dustin Schirer, Mom and Blair Vance. Wow! They chose Mom because she writes to support us animals instead of using her money to buy conventional...

Like any animal, though, they will first eat the “preferred” forage before eating the coarser or less desirable species. Male goats of any breed can typically pull more or carry more weight than the female of the breed, but it's advisable to start...

That doe is tired. It took all of my strength to get the head out, and the doe looked 100-percent relieved when that happened. Just be sure to pull in a downward motion. Nothing beats watching happy, healthy, bouncy kids find their footing and their jumping...

In addition, avoid feeding odiferous vegetables such as cabbage, onions and garlic. Goats love a schedule and prefer to be milked in the same order every day. Using a milking stanchion, feeding the grain ration on the stanchion and always milking from...

Most working goats are castrated males (wethers), but as long as a doe doesn't have a big udder full of milk, she can be a working goat, too. Mom is writing an article for the September/October 2013 issue of Hobby Farm Home that will show you how to make...