Weaning Your Goat Kids A Simple Guide (Goat Knowledge Book 8)

Here are some other natural behaviors that goats have:. Much of the success of your goat farming small business will rest on your commitment to keeping your herd healthy. Healthy goats have a greater ability to resist diseases, i. You can also appreciate the fact that providing early treatment for a sick goat will increase the probability for its recovery than would be the case if treatment is pursued when the disease is too far along. The following are some of the things you should do to keep your goats healthy:. An unhealthy goat will show some general symptoms ; always check for the following:.

It will be prudent for you to maintain a simple veterinary kit that will contain consumable medicines and equipment. Your kit should contain the following:. In terms of equipment you will need the following:. A list of the most common diseases and conditions and their causes that affect goats. Heartwater — The organisms blood parasites responsible for Heartwater are transmitted by Bont ticks which are mainly found in hot, dry bush areas.

Caseous lymphadenitis aka Pseudotuberculosis aka Abscesses — These are hot, red and painful swellings that result from a bacterial infection. The responsible bacteria Corynebacterium ovis are usually found in the dust or in manure. Pinkeye aka infectious keratoconjunctivitis — This disease typically occurs in hot, dry weather, and is spread by close contact and flies. In goats it is believed that rickettsia and mycoplasma are also involved. This condition is also referred to as coenurosis or gid. Scours or diarrhea — Diarrhea can be the symptom of a disease.

Scours result from many different causes and each of these can result in a different kind of running stomach. The most severe diarrheal diseases are colibacillosis and salmonellosis. The primary source of infection is the feces of infected animals and transmission happens via ingestion. Mange — This disease results in hair loss and skin irritation. Mange is essentially a severe dermatitis caused by an infestation of mites or lice. This disease mostly affects kids and lambs; older animals are typically immune but being carriers they are the source of infection for the younger goats.

Orf — This disease is caused by a virus in the soil; the virus gets into an animal via a cut on its skin. You should wear gloves as this disease can spread to human hands. During bloating the goat may lie down and be unable to breathe which can result in death. The udder will look distended, and feel hard and hot to touch. Abortion — There are diseases that specifically cause abortion e. Pregnancy toxemia aka pregnancy disease aka ketosis aka twin lamb disease — This is a metabolic disease of goats and sheep in late pregnancy.

The disease causes stiffness that leads to paralysis and then death. Infectious pneumonia Pasteurellosis — This disease is caused by a bacteria and will typically occur if goats are under stress due to exposure to adverse weather and mostly when they have travelled long distances. Parturient Hypocalcemia aka milk fever — This is a metabolic disease that affects does following kidding. The bacterium is aggravated by a sudden change of diet or when goats are stressed. Rift Valley Fever and Wesselbron diseases — These are extremely rare diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes.

They only occur where there is standing water. Peste des petits ruminants PPR — This is a viral disease characterized by fever, mouth sores, diarrhea, pneumonia, and sometimes death. Foot and mouth disease — A goat will have lesions in the mouth and on its feet resulting in salivation and lameness. Footrot — This is a bacterial infection that typically affects goats kept on pastures or under intensive conditions. It spreads easily between goats. Overgrown hooves — This condition affects goats that are kept on pastures or in sandy areas where there are a few rocks. Limping associated with abscesses — This is typically caused by ticks or wounds from thorns that have gotten between the claws of the hoof.

A foot swelling is hot, red and painful, and will sometimes burst open and ooze pus. Your goats can be affected by internal parasites these live inside the intestines and other organs or external parasites these stay outside of the animals. These are generally worms and flukes. Some of these internal parasites include:. Roundworms including wireworms — If not properly controlled these can cause considerable losses.

The most common external parasites include:. Ticks — In addition to physical damage ticks spread a number of diseases, among them the aforementioned Heartwater. Mites — These are the small organisms that cause mange in goats, a disease that results in skin inflammation and hair loss. Fleas — These are normally found on cats and dogs, from where they jump to goats and other domesticated livestock. The affected areas on your goats will be characterized by rubbing, scratching and hair loss. Lice — Two varieties of these are recognized i.

Both cause goats to itch and rub against objects. After the goat coughs, sneezes and shakes its head the bots are ejected and they later turn into flies. To rid your goats of these parasites you should routinely carry out the following health management practices:. Dipping — This is an effective way to prevent diseases that are caused by external parasites. Dipping should be done once every week during the summer due to high tick burden and once a fortnight during winter due to low tick burden.

There are several dipping techniques as follows:. You will either use a dosing gun or a long-neck bottle for drenching. Administering injections — This is done for purposes of vaccination or treating some diseases. Goat injections are administered in three ways:. All the goats should be regularly examined but you should only treat those adjudged to be anemic. You will also use the Five-Point Check to check if your goats are affected by one or more types of the major internal parasites.

Other ways to control internal parasites include:. You will need to trim such hooves to prevent injury. This can be done once annually before the onset of the rains. You should then dip the hooves in copper sulphate solution to make them hard and to prevent foot rot and cracking.

Deadly nightshade, Lantana, and Forage Sorghum , incidences that are typically fatal. Condition scoring is the process of assessing the body condition of individual goats. This has to do with body fat content and how it can affect breeding. Your does should not be too thin or too fat.

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In case of the former there is the risk of reproduction failure, low twinning rates, and low weaning rates. In case of the latter a doe can suffer pregnancy toxemia. Three different body parts will be assessed i. Ideas for housing at your meat goat farm. Ideas for dairy goat housing. Generally, the space provided per goat depends upon its size and pregnancy status.

You ideally want to provide an exercise area or paddock for each group of goats. Stock panels are a good idea but small horned goats may get caught in the fence. For purposes of optimizing bio-security you should house each group of goats in a separate shelter. In this regard, your dairy goat operation should therefore have:. The pens within each of these barns should house goats that are of the same age and size. Goats that grow slower than others of the same group should be transferred to pens housing goats of their size.

There are several ways that you can provide feed for your goats including using:. Nevertheless, whatever form of feeder you decide to go with you should just ensure that it will keep food of the ground to prevent the goats from trampling and soiling it. You should ensure that the water troughs are placed in such a way that the kids can reach them without being in danger of drowning. Considering that refilling water troughs can be time-consuming you can invest in an automatic waterer. The goat handling facilities you have should allow for efficient handling of the animals without resulting in stress either to them or to the persons involved.

Your goat handling facilities should consist of the following:. To understand the feeding requirements of your goats you must first of all consider their digestive systems. Goats regurgitate food and ruminate, i. Maintenance requirement refers to the minimum quantity of feed that an animal which is not growing, pregnant or lactating needs in order to keep warm and maintain its body weight.

Mature, dry does and mature castrates are examples of goats that only have maintenance requirements. The weather will also have an impact on this i. Your goats will need you to supply them with water, protein, energy, and various vitamins and minerals. Critical feeding times for your goats. Supplements are available in different forms including powder licks , meal e. HPC , and blocks.

It will be advisable for you to offer one of these to supplement food from the natural vegetation. This will ensure that your goats will be provided with the nutrients that are lacking in the pastures.

Download PDF by Felicity McCullough: Weaning Your Goat Kids A Simple Guide (Goat Knowledge Book

Urea dissolves in water and can therefore be lost. Goats that drink this water can be poisoned.

After your goats eat certain foodstuffs a number of problems may occur:. To ensure that you will always have enough feed for your goats you can decide to grow fodder crops. When ready you can feed them fresh and also conserve some. Some of the green feed you can grow include:.

You can also grow:. The carrying capacity of pasture is the amount of livestock it can carry, based on the amount of food it produces. Naturally, an area that receives high rainfall, has good vegetation cover, and good types of grass, will have the most grass and be able to feed many animals. Your pasture management strategy should take into account the following factors:.

It will be advisable to practice control grazing i. Sticking to this protocol will enable you to properly manage your herd and keep the goats healthy and productive. This breeding protocol will indicate when a doe will be bred based on number of days in milk and pounds of milk being produced. The criterion for selecting a buck and culling does will also be described.

Breeding must also take into account your plan for milk production. If you intend to produce milk all year then your breeding protocol must ensure that there will be enough does to supply milk. However, it also has several drawbacks which have to do with:. In case you opt to not use a breeding protocol , i.

Additionally, random mating , while being simple and cheap, brings about high risks of inbreeding and spread of diseases. The reproduction efficiency of your flock will also be important to consider. You can establish this by considering:. Your decision here will be about going for crossbreeding or pure breeding. This is will be straight-forward. The offspring will have the same traits color, size, and meat and milk production as its parents. There are four primary breeding systems that you can consider as follows:. You can also have two bucks of different breeds in the same pen; at least one will breed.

The buck must have sound legs and feet to facilitate breeding work. You should only keep does that kid annually. Management of the does before mating. You will need to ensure that the does have access to good browse or good nutrition during the three weeks before mating and for two weeks after mating. Supplementation may become necessary during winter.

During the mating season and for the two weeks that follow you should restrict handling to a minimum. Management of the does during pregnancy. Management practices at kidding. Raising female goats as replacements. Provided that you have been suitably growing your young does and keeping them in good condition they should be able to reach puberty, i. You should provide the pregnant doe with a clean kidding area with dry bedding stover or hay will do and the doe can be transferred to this area several days before kidding.

Separation will help to foster the bond between doe and kid. Soon after birth you should allow the doe some alone time with her kid, some two to four hours, to allow for bonding. During this time the doe should clean its kid and remove the membrane over its nostrils. You should however intervene when you neither see the doe cleaning its kid nor attempting to bond with it.

A doe should be healthy after giving birth and have enough good milk no mastitis or retained placenta, etc. You should provide green fodder for the doe so that she can stimulate milk. For the first few weeks to about one month you should keep the kids at home, more so if the does need to travel considerable distances to browse and water. The kids will need to be kept in warm and dry conditions and be protected from heat, cold and the spread of diseases. One of the ways to house a kid will be to keep it in a kid box made of wood or bamboo and measuring cm long, cm wide and cm deep.

Alternatively you can line the bottom of a large plastic tote tub with shavings or shredded paper. The lining should be replaced once the kids are completely dry. Colostrum is rich in antibodies which are useful in increasing the immunity of kids. You should however avoid over-feeding the kids with milk as this will result in scours. At the age of about 3 weeks the kids should start nibbling on grass and leaves i.

Ensuring that the kids have access to fresh clean water, as well as putting them on a vaccinating and deworming schedule will be important. This is also a good time to start them on supplemental feed in case the does have poor milk production and there are feed shortages. Alternatively, you can prepare replacement colostrum using the following ingredients:.

You should disbud the kids at between 3 and 14 days old while the bud is still visible. The main purpose of placing identifiers on individual animals will be to facilitate your record keeping efforts. Identification is also a legal requirement in the exportation of livestock and livestock products as it facilitates traceability. Ear tagging — Here you will need to place tags plastic or metal ones on the ears of your goats, preferably on both ears considering that a tag can be torn out and which will make identifying the animal problematic more so if you have a large herd and only one ear was tagged.

The information on the tags should be logical. Typically, notches on the right ear represent tens while those on the left represent units. The downside of this technique is that animals on other farms can have the same type of notches and which will make identification tricky if the herds are grazed communally. You should wean the kids when they get to a hundred days old on average and having attained a weight of between 8 and 12 kilograms. This typically involves separating the kids and the does.

Just before weaning it will be critical for you to vaccinate both the kids and the does against pulpy kidney considering that weaning is usually a stressful time for animals. Castration involves severing the spermatic cords of male kids thereby preventing them from mating with females. Doing this will also help to improve the quality of meat produced as the characteristic smell of the entire male will have been reduced.

This technique is quick, easy to use, and requires no disinfecting. However, a kid can get a screw worm infection after the rubber ring and testicles have dropped. This technique is done between the age of three weeks and three months. When getting into the Boer goat production business it is advisable to follow a number of steps as follows:. Things to consider when buying your first goats. The typical costs of your meat goat business.

Herd composition and making the herd commercially viable. How you approach this will depend on your marketing goals i. Knowing this you can then determine how many bucks, does, castrates, etc. In as far as breeding females are concerned you should replace them after years. This will mean retaining enough maiden does so that you can adequately replace the culled does.

There are various milking doe facts that you should be aware of when setting up your dairy goat farming small business:. Your milking doe should have an eight week dry period ; if the dry period is too short the quantity of milk produced during the next lactation will be reduced. To dry off your doe you should milk her every other milking for days and then stop milking her. The purpose of dry treatment is to clear up any existing infections and prevent any new ones. You may need to give the doe a shot of BOSE selenium-Vitamin E supplementation but it will be prudent to consult with your vet about whether or not this will be advisable and if so what quantity will be enough.

Only does that show signs of high infestation should be treated; routinely treating all the does for parasites will reduce the efficacy of the worming medication used on your farm. Both milkings and the third if you prefer should therefore be withheld from the tank. If however your doe was dry-treated, her milk should be tested for antibiotics before being put into the tank. Your milk house will be the final on-farm site of quality control in your goat milk production process.

This allows goats to be raised alongside sheep, cows and horses, as they do not compete for food. Goats can also be used to clear rough land and get rid of unwanted vegetation. If you live in a green or wooded, rural location, feel free to put your goats out to pasture and let them forage for things like young shrubs and saplings, blackberry canes, poison ivy and clover, to name but a few. Provide your goats with hay and grain. Goats will not get all the nourishment they need from browsing alone, so they will also need a large supply of good quality hay or other forage crop.

You can supply the hay free-choice -- meaning they can it as much or as little of it as they like. Does that are pregnant or producing milk will have extra protein requirements, so they will also need a pound or two of grain each day. You should also supply your goats with a good free-choice mineral mix or mineral block, which is available in most feed stores.

In terms of treats, you can give your goats a wide selection of fruit and veg, including apples, pears, peaches, watermelon, banana, carrots, celery, squash and spinach. Just avoid giving them potatoes, tomatoes and kale, as these can be poisonous to goats. Supply your goats with plenty of water. It is essential that your goats have a constant supply of fresh water, especially during very hot, dry weather. It's a good idea to plan out how you will supply your goats with water in advance, as you don't want to be stuck carrying buckets of water back and forth to their shelter each day. If you don't have one already, consider digging a water line to your goat shelter or barn or installing a stock tank.

If you have a creek or pond on your land, this is a convenient way of ensuring that your goats stay hydrated. However, make sure to get the water tested first to make sure it is safe for drinking. You will also need to watch out for contamination or stagnation. Method 2 Quiz What qualifies as a goat-proof fence? Any fence that is at least three feet high. A fence bordered by trees. A fence with a trench around it. Breed your goats when the does reach maturity. When your does reach maturity - which happens when they are 6 months old or weigh at least 60 pounds for standard goats - they are ready for breeding.

Their yearly heat cycles usually begin around August or September. If you don't own a buck, you can either hire a buck or bring your does to a farm that has a buck. It can be difficult to tell if a doe is pregnant, so one of the best signs of a successful mating is a milky-white colored discharge coming from her nether regions. A goat's pregnancy lasts for days, or five months and most pregnancies will produce two kids, though sometimes there can be as many as four. Decide how you want to raise the baby goats. Immediately after the baby goats are born, give them a thorough rub down with a cloth to remove any blood or birthing material, or allow the mother to lick them clean.

From this point on, there are two schools of thought when it comes caring for and feeding the kids. Some people prefer to immediately separate the kids from their mother. To feed them, they milk the mother by hand then pour the milk into bottles to feed the kids. The reasoning behind this is that baby goats can be difficult to wean and cause the mother goat to produce less milk.

It is also believed that bottle-fed goats will be be tamer and friendlier. They allow the mother to feed the babies herself though you will want to keep a watchful eye to make sure none of the kids are left out and will only separate them when the kids are ready to be weaned, between 8 and 12 weeks old. Decide what to do with the kids.

If you aren't interested in significantly increasing the size of your herd, you will have to decide what to do with the kids. Young does are usually easy to deal with, as the demand for milk-producing does is high and you can sell them on to other goat owners as soon as they are weaned. If you like, you can keep the female offspring of your best milker, as she can take her mother's place in a couple of years time. Bucks are slightly more difficult.

The majority of young bucks should be castrated by the time they are three weeks of age, as they will ultimately be sold for meat. You can do this as soon as they are weaned, or wait until they have reached maturity. If you want, you can keep one buck as a breeding sire. Understand the lactation cycle. Once a doe has produced her first offspring, she will start producing milk and will continue to do so for approximately days following delivery. The milk flow is usually highest 2 to 3 months after giving birth then tapers off towards the end of the lactation cycle. The doe will require a two month "dry spell" before she gives birth a second time and begins producing milk again - an event which is known as "freshening" in the dairy world.

If you have never milked an animal before, it is important to get the technique right. Rather than tugging on the teat, you need to wrap your hand around it, cutting off the milk supply at the top using your thumb and forefinger. Then you can use your other fingers to squeeze the teat and extract the milk.

At first, you might find milking to be somewhat slow and awkward, and it could take you up to 30 minutes per goat. But once you get the hang of it you'll be able to do it in a jiffy! You should milk your goats once in the morning and once at night. During peak production, standard-sized goats will produce up to 3 quarts of milk per day, while miniature goats will produce slightly less. Method 3 Quiz When will a doe start producing milk? When she first becomes pregnant. After she has had her first baby.

After she is 60 days old.

When she is around other milking does. Protect your goats from predators. It's important to be aware of the predators in your area so you can take steps towards protecting your goats. Common goat predators include dogs, coyotes, cougars, and birds such as ravens and vultures. Some of these predators will carry your goats especially the kids away, while others will injure them so badly that they will need to be put down.

The best way to keep your goats safe is to lock them in a secured building with no open windows or doors every night. If you need to deter vultures specifically, the USDA recommends hanging a vulture carcass which doesn't have to be real from a tree or post. You should also avoid tethering your goats, as this makes them an easy target for any predators. Leaving them loose in an enclosed space with a high fence is much safer. Learn to recognize the signs of a sick goat. You will inevitably have to deal with a sick goat at one point or another, so it's important to be able to read the signs: Some of the most common and visible symptoms of a sick goat are: The sooner you call the vet to treat your goat, the greater the chance of restoring the goat to full health.

Your goats will also need yearly vaccinations against tetanus and enterotoxemia an overeating disease and you will need to watch out for parasites like lice and ticks. Keep your goat clean and trimmed. In general, goats don't require too much grooming except for the long haired varieties , but you will need to give them some attention every now and then in order to keep them clean and comfortable. Goats should be brushed at least once a year preferably at the start of summer when they're shedding with a firm-bristled grooming brush.

This removes dandruff and loose hair, stimulates blood flow, and gives you a chance to check for any lumps on the skin or other signs of diseases. Bathing your goats is not strictly necessary, but it helps to remove lice and makes clipping easier. You will need to clip your goats hair at least once a year, to help them stay cool throughout the summer. You may want to clip the tail and udder regions of female goats more frequently, to help keep them clean during milking and kidding season.

You will also need to bathe and clip them more frequently if you plan on entering them in shows. You will also need to trim your goats' hooves about once a month, otherwise they will become overgrown and hard to walk on. This is a relatively quick and easy process, which you can do with a packet or roofing knife. Method 4 Quiz What is the biggest threat to a tethered goat? All of the above Not quite! Yes, mine are friends. They can get along, but make sure the dog doesn't try to eat the goat!

Not Helpful 0 Helpful What can I put in a 3-week old baby goat's water to encourage her to drink it? Babies that young get most of their nutrients from their mothers. If the baby is nursing, make sure that fresh water is around and accessible. They will see their mother drinking and start playing at drinking it. Baby goats should not be weaned until a minimum of 12 weeks. This is the point that you will see them starting to actually drink the water.

Consider leaving hay and water at about 4 weeks of age. This way, by the time they are ready to be weaned, they are used to eating hay. Not Helpful 1 Helpful It depends on the cat. Some cats might be too aggressive or afraid of the goats. But the goats generally have no problem getting along with other animals. You can try introducing them to each other in a controlled environment, under supervision, and see how it goes.

Not Helpful 0 Helpful 9. Dairy goats have to be milked at least once per day. It is very unhealthy and painful for the goat not to be milked. Not Helpful 4 Helpful While a doe must be "freshened" bred and pregnant by being pregnant, the first two weeks is colostrum for the baby so you don't want to milk the doe until that is out of her system.

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After that, you can milk her for approximately days. This will usually be starting after birth and take you into two months before she has her next kid, Although some does only need "freshening" once a year, others have stated that their goat milked right on through for a couple of years. How can I tell if a baby goat is dying, and do I need to cut the horns of the males? They should be active and moving a good deal, but will also nap a lot.

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There are four common methods to obtain goats without horns. These are goats that are bred to not have horns. This is when they have the horn buds burned off, usually within the first few weeks of their life. Using a caustic paste to burn off the horn buds without the hot iron also called disbudding, I think 4. Dehorning has two main methods, either being surgically removed by a veterinarian, or by putting a tight band around the very base of the horn, cutting off blood supply.

Do you have to remove horns? Some people like them. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 9. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 8. That depends what you want the goats for. There are different breeds suited for pet goats, meat goats, milk goats, and fiber hair goats. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 7. I would recommend using a collar if you plan on leaving it on. If you are using halters, that's fine for while you're milking or moving your animal, but don't leave them on or it will cause the area that is covered by the halter to be rubbed bare. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 3. I want to raise a Pygmy goat with my small dog.

Can it have access to the inside of the house, like my dog, or do we need to keep it outside? Not Helpful 1 Helpful 3. What can I do if my goat won't eat anything but grass? Answer this question Flag as What can I use to make sure that northern goats are adapt to my environment and also what are the best plants for them to grow faster? How do I milk my goats using a machine? Can I still raise a goat if I live in a village? Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Already answered Not a question Bad question Other. Tips Goat manure is not "hot" like chicken manure and does not burn plants as easily. Goats by nature will waste a certain amount of hay. Once you learn how much they actually consume, do not overfeed more than necessary. Goats are raised for pets, dairy and meat. Never name an animal you are raising for meat. Your goat will likely be able to open the latch on your fence. Be prepared to change your fencing as necessary once you get used to your specific herd's abilities.

Goats prefer bushes and trees to weeds and grass. Make sure that any you do not want demolished are not within their reach. A large goat standing on its hind legs has a reach of ten feet. Say goodbye to any lower tree branches in their area.

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They will prune them right off for you. Though they can live to be teenagers, most dairy goats are not bred past ten. Doing so may shorten their lives. If raising meat goats, learn the preferences of consumers in your area. Latinos and Muslims can be good markets. Baby goats especially the smaller breeds that are taken away from their mother require a lot of human attention. Make sure you have at least 2 hours every day to spend time with your goat.

They will also be sure to call you when they need attention. Warnings Beware of neighborhood dogs running lose. If your goat is attacked by a dog or coyote, be sure to check the neck for hidden injuries. Do not get fooled by thinking they "just" have a broken leg. Do not get a male goat aka buck or billy goat as your first goat. They require more skilled handling and are not for first timers. Billy goats also have a tendency to develop a distinctly strong odor. However, it's fine to start with a wether neutered male goat.

Goats can be aggressive, so act bold around them, even if you don't feel like it. Deworming your goat is very important.