Lorien Larsen

Yes, farmers use round up to ripen many crops and it leads to many of us having glyphosate in our bodies. If possible use your own home grown grains. I believe that most birth defects are caused by these ag chemicals in our systems. Wheat and peas ive found sprout the best, but barley is still king. If you have space grow your own barly and wheat for more savings. The more i learn about our farming practices the more i work at being self suficient.

Goats will be finicky like that. I've found that its better to wait until the rain stops or to feed them in a roofed area. As to wet forage, let it set, they will come for it adventually.

I am just starting the seed sprouting adventure and after a visit to the local feed store and a visit to the local hydroponics store this is what i have set up.

I am currently building a green house but my boiler room (n.g. water system) has a nice big window in it so I am using that to sprout right now. I purchased inexpensive flat trays from the hydroponics store (got 14 trays for $20) but I am sure that if you are viligilent you can nab them up from your local big box building store for free when they are empty. I punched holes in one tray and set it inside another tray to catch the drainage. I soaked 2 pounds of oats for six hours (when placed in tray it is 3/4 of an inch deep) and then placed the oats in the tray. I plan on starting a new tray everyday, soaking the oats over night from the day before. I also used a 1/100 bleach mixture in the pre soak to inhibit mold growth. I currently have 7 days of trays to work with and hope that by day seven I will have serviceable sprouted grain/forage for my goats/rabbits/chickens/ducks.

My goats are currently on a diet of grass hay free choice (which they waste most of even with a small wire feeder) and about a pound each of alfalfa pellets made by stand lee. My goats are healthy looking (okay the pygmy is a little more than healthy looking) and I hope to replace some of the hay and alfalfa with the sprouted oats.

I will post again when I have 7 days growth and a picture.

Home Remedy for Scours
1 cup buttermilk
1 raw egg
1 teaspoon cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Bottle feed 1/4 the mixture every 2 to 3 hours, you can add a bolus of neomycin if you want, and don't feed any milk until the scours stops.

I have found that Scours tends to come hand in hand with formula feeding, natural milk almost never. I suggest that if you plan on breeding to keep at least one doe on hand to nipple feed the young uns, that way they atleast get a little of the real stuff.

I had the same problem with my goats. I built a stanchion (sp?) out of old shipping crates making sure to put a rail on three sides that came up to about the wither height. I then used an old horse girth with a clip on the ends to pretty much tie the middle of the goat to the rail. I used an over the fence feed bucket on the end of one of the railes to feed the goat being milked (and encourage them to jump up there on their own) it's work really good and after a few milkings I didn't even need to secure the goats with the girth. I used halters on the girls and used two ties at either end of the rail to keep their heads in place. Worked really good and was super cheap to make.