Feeding Basics
Bucks and Wethers:
Our bucks are fed primarily hay during Spring, Summer, and Fall. For winter, they get a handful of grain (Dumor pelleted goat feed) each to help they stay warmer. Always free choice minerals, lots of hay, and fresh water. Wethers are only fed hay and graze/browse. We feel they stay healthier with fewer urinary issues when maintained on this diet. Obviously, if they aren't maintaining condition then we look for the reason and may use grain on an as needed basis to bring them back to a healthy weight.
Does:
Our does are fed Liberty Feeds 16% Lactator ration. It's a non-GMO feed using locally grown grains, but we have fed conventional feed (Noble Goat Dairy Parlor 16%) in the past without issue. We feed the does as much as they can eat while they are being milked. It ends up being around 1lb of feed per every 2lbs of milk.
Always free choice minerals, all the hay they can eat, and fresh water.
Kid from birth to weaning:
Kids born here are fed raw goat milk and raw colostrum from their moms via bottle. We bottle feed for numerous reasons, but mostly because it makes the kids super friendly and easy to handle and their dams get into their milking routines easily. A lot of breeders practice CAE prevention, which is a fantastic way to ensure the kids don't have a chance at obtaining CAE. We do not, we find the raw milk seems to offer some level of protection against coccidia which relieves us from using coccidia prevention. BWe use lambar nipples from Caprine Supply with at first, a pop bottle, then over to a bucket once they get the hang of it. Our kids are born at an average weight of 7lbs, so we try to start them off with 4 oz of colostrum, 4 time a day. Gradually the colostrum changes to milk and we increase the amount they get as they tolerate it. Usually by the end of the first week, we have increased the feeding amounts and we are ready to continue increasing the amounts while decreasing the number of feedings. By week 2, they are on a lambar getting 2 feedings a day- working their way up to a quart of milk per feeding. We wean wethers around 8 weeks and doe kids anywhere from 12-16 weeks. I rarely keep a buck kid, but a buck kid intended for breeding, I would wean around 12 weeks.
Our Hay
Our hay is home grown. I selected the Cisco Seeds Midwestern grazer blend with added alfalfa (30lbs to every 100lbs of MG Blend). This blend grows well for us, the animals do well on it.
Our bucks are fed primarily hay during Spring, Summer, and Fall. For winter, they get a handful of grain (Dumor pelleted goat feed) each to help they stay warmer. Always free choice minerals, lots of hay, and fresh water. Wethers are only fed hay and graze/browse. We feel they stay healthier with fewer urinary issues when maintained on this diet. Obviously, if they aren't maintaining condition then we look for the reason and may use grain on an as needed basis to bring them back to a healthy weight.
Does:
Our does are fed Liberty Feeds 16% Lactator ration. It's a non-GMO feed using locally grown grains, but we have fed conventional feed (Noble Goat Dairy Parlor 16%) in the past without issue. We feed the does as much as they can eat while they are being milked. It ends up being around 1lb of feed per every 2lbs of milk.
Always free choice minerals, all the hay they can eat, and fresh water.
Kid from birth to weaning:
Kids born here are fed raw goat milk and raw colostrum from their moms via bottle. We bottle feed for numerous reasons, but mostly because it makes the kids super friendly and easy to handle and their dams get into their milking routines easily. A lot of breeders practice CAE prevention, which is a fantastic way to ensure the kids don't have a chance at obtaining CAE. We do not, we find the raw milk seems to offer some level of protection against coccidia which relieves us from using coccidia prevention. BWe use lambar nipples from Caprine Supply with at first, a pop bottle, then over to a bucket once they get the hang of it. Our kids are born at an average weight of 7lbs, so we try to start them off with 4 oz of colostrum, 4 time a day. Gradually the colostrum changes to milk and we increase the amount they get as they tolerate it. Usually by the end of the first week, we have increased the feeding amounts and we are ready to continue increasing the amounts while decreasing the number of feedings. By week 2, they are on a lambar getting 2 feedings a day- working their way up to a quart of milk per feeding. We wean wethers around 8 weeks and doe kids anywhere from 12-16 weeks. I rarely keep a buck kid, but a buck kid intended for breeding, I would wean around 12 weeks.
Our Hay
Our hay is home grown. I selected the Cisco Seeds Midwestern grazer blend with added alfalfa (30lbs to every 100lbs of MG Blend). This blend grows well for us, the animals do well on it.
Maintenance
Parasites:
Goats are only treated when indicated by both microscopic fecal exam and by FAMACHA scoring. We do not routinely worm our animals, most experts agree that this leads to parasites that become resistant to wormers. We support our animal's natural ability to resist by twice a year copper bolus, Replamin Plus gel given when the animal is wormed, as well as other supportive nutritional care.
Hooves:
We trim hooves every 4 weeks, which includes the big stinky bucks.
Vaccines:
We do vaccinate our stock with CD/T (tetanus and overeating disease) , Lysigin (for mastitis prevention) and Pasteurella (pneumonia).
Goats are only treated when indicated by both microscopic fecal exam and by FAMACHA scoring. We do not routinely worm our animals, most experts agree that this leads to parasites that become resistant to wormers. We support our animal's natural ability to resist by twice a year copper bolus, Replamin Plus gel given when the animal is wormed, as well as other supportive nutritional care.
Hooves:
We trim hooves every 4 weeks, which includes the big stinky bucks.
Vaccines:
We do vaccinate our stock with CD/T (tetanus and overeating disease) , Lysigin (for mastitis prevention) and Pasteurella (pneumonia).