Good Goats

Friday, October 28, 2011

31/21 - just a few pics

Just a couple random pictures!

a little baby Mini Lop rabbit,

a Nubian doeling with very long ears,

and a cute little white kitten,

Hope you have a great day! It's a bit chilly out today here in Oklahoma, but it's nice!

Suriyah

Thursday, October 27, 2011

I thought I would share a few of the goat forums and lists that I am on and gather information from.

Dairy Goat Info Forum - this website has LOTs of info and some very knowledgeable people.

NubianTalk YahooGroup - while this group can get a little "off track" sometimes, they share a lot of good information and if I ever am in an emergency and need a question answered, I will send an email to this group as they'll get back quick.

Holistic-Goats YahooGroup - this is a great, very helpful group of folks who deal with natural remedies for goats, but most realize there is a time for "drugs" also. Been on this list for years and like it a lot.

Mid-AtlanticMinis YahooGroup - for all the Mini goat enthusiasts in the mid-atlantic. Very talkative and friendly group ;).

Oklahoma Feed & Hay Coop YahooGroup - last but not least, this is the group we run. Anything from feed, hay, nutrition, any farm related topic welcome. For Oklahoma and surrounding states.

Suriyah

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

31/21 - Hanunyah's Sweet Creations

If you are looking for some easy, yummy recipes that can also be allergen-free, you should go check out my sister's blog here - Hanunyah's Sweet Creations. She is doing the 31/21 October Challenge also, so is posting a recipe a day. She makes some very good things around here and takes awesome pictures of her food! Check it out ;).

Suriyah

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

31/21 - Feeding Article

Feeding

Whether you are a novice goat owner to an experienced rancher, it seems there are always the constant questions about what and how much to feed. After many, many changes over the years with our herd, figuring out what works best and what doesn't, I think we have finally narrowed things down for our herd. But as always, one thing is not going to work for everyone. Depending on what part of the country you are in, whether you are dry-lot feeding or pasture raising your goats, management and feeding issues are going to vary.

Goats have many nutritional requirements and are one of the harder to keep livestock, at times. Milking does and growing kids need calcium. The most common source of calcium for goats is good Alfalfa hay or pellets.

Remember when you are feeding goats, you are feeding the rumen. The goats rumen is a very complex system, and requires lots of nutrients from hay, pasture and browse. Goats are browsers, which means they eat lots of forage and cannot do well just off of a pelleted or grain based diet. Turned out in a lot with forest and grass pasture, typically the goats will go to the forest first and eat the leaves, bark and various things first before going to eat the grass. Whereas sheep on the otherhand, will not typically eat the leaves and bark like goats do, they'll go straight for the grass (which has earned them many nicknames, but this book isn't about sheep).

What we have been feeding our herd for years now, is this.

Milkers get Alfalfa or Alfalfa/Orchard grass hay twice a day. After the morning feeding, during the pasture months, they will go out and browse all day long. During the winter months, they get fed more hay. On the milk stand, each milker gets between 1 to 1.5 pounds of grain each milkling. So a doe, depending on production and size,will get a total of 2 to 3 pounds of grain a day. We feed a 14% protein grain, with 3-4% fat.

Kids get fed grain once a day and then are given lots of alfalfa or alfalfa/orchard grass hay. It is best for kids to have free-feed hay. I am not a big grain fan, so if the kids are growing well and don't seem to be lacking, they will not get any grain at all, only hay and milk. If you are bottle raising your kids, the longer you can keep them on the milk bottle, the better. They get a much better start in life this way. Our kids are typically bottle fed until 5 months of age.

Dry does and bucks get pasture all day (when it's there), and alfalfa or alfalfa/orchard grass at least once a day. If the pasture is not good, they get fed hay once in the morning and once in the evening.

If there is any animal that is thin for some reason, first start out with trying to figure out why they are thin. Worms, mineral deficiency, etc. Once you have that taken care of, you can give them Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, Rice Bran, Soybean Meal or Calf Manna as these are all very high in fat and protein.

Suriyah

Monday, October 24, 2011

31/21 - Soccer

Just some photos from our team's latest soccer game ;).

(I am the official videographer, LOL)

Suriyah

Sunday, October 23, 2011

31/21 - busy days

Well, sometimes things just don't seem to work out perfectly...(i.e. doing a blog post a day)... and that's what happened yesterday. I had a good busy morning and afternoon, and then a big storm rolled in and knocked our internet out. So that equals - no blog post yesterday. Oh well. Life goes on.

Things have been going well here. The old mama Boer is still alive, the weather has been b e a u t i f u l lately, does are (finally) getting bred, we are milking 13 does at night, 26 in the morning.... the 4 bottle babies are healthy and happy, running and playing.

Life is good. I am very blessed.

Suriyah

Friday, October 21, 2011

31/21 - 6 Goat Milkstand For Sale - $1,100

Posting for this for my brother.

Brand new 6 goat milk stanchion for sale. $1,100

Measurements are 9 feet long, 4 feet wide, 32 inches tall, the steps are 19 inches wide and about 15 inches tall.

For an extra $200 I can add 2 more head stalls on the lower steps...to make it an 8 goat stanchion.

I can also custom make any size you would like. The price will range from about $200 to $250 per head stall, depending on how many you would like.

918-598-4007 or email nf@goodgoats.net

*Note from me: The milking stand we use to milk our does is almost exactly like this, a few minor changes, but we like it SO much. It makes milking time much faster, and is an easy to clean set-up. Milking goats would not be the same without it!

Suriyah

Thursday, October 20, 2011

31/21 - Boer Kids

The Boer kids are doing good. There are 4 of them - the triplets and the orphan buckling - 2 doelings and 2 bucklings. The 2 bucklings have been bottle kids for about a week now. The momma to the 2 doelings had gotten hypocalcemia, and I treated her for several days. She recovered from that, but I think she is very old (do not know her history though), she just looks old. So long story short, she is not producing enough milk for the 2 girls. Last night I offered the girls a bottle and they both willingly took it, so obviously they were hungry. They are still nursing on their dam but I am giving them a bottle, really don't think that she is going to go up in production, although I wish she would. So it looks like we have 4 bottle kids now. . . really wasn't planning on having that many this time of the year, especially with all the milkers dropping in production!! Oh well. I think one of the bucklings will be getting a new home very soon here.