posted 7 years ago
For books Pat Coleby's Natural Goat Care is a great reference. I goes into a lot do detail on feeding them in a manner to avoid haveing to use chemicals for worm control. Goats are more like deer in their eating preferences than sheep or cows. They are top down eaters... Preferring to not eat off the ground. But... Most of us with a few acres and a few goats, they are in grassy paddocks and that is mostly what they get is grass of some sort. I do buy 'deer plot mix' seed mixture soon as it comes out in my local box store and plant 100# or so in a place l can keep them off of till it gets established. For mine I do buy a goat mineral, it is loose and since I don't have a reliable way to leave it out for them that they can't poop in it or keep it dry I offer some every couple days. Certain times of the year they go thru a lot, and other times they just have a taste and move on. I recommend you become familiar with FAMACHA, it's just pulling the lower eyelid down a bit to see the color of the membrane... Should be dark pink or red. If its pale you have a problem. Lots of info online. I check mine weekly. Babies more often... For wormer I use herbal mix... cayenne pepper and ground garlic mixed with molasses work fairly well given weekly. If your in the US theres a couple good herbal mixes available online/mail order. If chemical dewormer is needed l use something with moxidectin in it. (quest horse wormer) I give 3x the horse dose... 100# goat gets 300#s worth of the paste. It is rare that I need to go that route but sometimes its a last resort. Where l am is sub tropical and the barberpole worm is most problematic. I think those in dryer climes don't have quite the worm problem as here where it is frequently wet. Good luck with your goats! I milk a couple of mine and raise a couple kids for the freezer every year... And sell the rest. The only animal here that truly pays for its keep. With the right set up they can be a lot of fun!
.png)
1
