Tj Dellinger

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since Nov 08, 2021
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32 years on 4 acres in South Louisiana. Goats & chickens & gardening, I just retired as of June 1st and am still figuring that out. Zone 8B per the USDA
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Zachary, Louisiana
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Recent posts by Tj Dellinger

To find goats in your area you may want to look at some of the FB goat groups. Sale animals will be posted as "up for discussion" "for consideration" or some thing like that. You will need to private message the owner/seller for price. This is due to FB rules. Be very careful on FB or CL - no money until you pick up the goat is a good policy if you don't know the person selling. Lots of scammers on both sites. I usually sell on CL, FB makes me crazy very quickly with the weird people responding.
Know before you goat shop what your plans are: Milking/producing dairy goats; pets; breeding. Different types and financial levels, different husbandry needs. Goats are the highest I have ever seen them in my area but feed is even higher.
Ask at your locally owned co-op or feed store for anyone with goats in your area. A local feed store can be a much better resource for information than TSC.

Check out the website webpage, it's a good & well moderated group with goat owners from all over. There are some sale goats but some members may recommend established ND herds in your area.

As for sheep & goats together? lots of people do it. Goats are browsers and prefer eating like deer, they are excellent fence cleaners but they don't head down graze until after they've eaten all the bushes, low tree limbs and tall weeds. Sheep are head down grazers. Goats need a lot of copper in their diets, most goat growers supplement copper in the US. Sheep can be poisoned by the copper levels that goats require. They may need separated access to minerals. Some people offer a sheep mineral (which is safe for both) and give the goats a weekly or monthly dose of a paste mineral (I use replamin every other week) or copper boluses (usually 2-3 times a year).
It's considered better to alternate graze sheep and goats, rotation can help with pasture maintenance and pest/worm control.
Good luck growing a herd!
2 years ago
Rizoma Field School looks very interesting. Food preservation where I live, in the deep south can be tricky, things want to grow mold, bugs or both. All the information is needed and welcome.
Are your courses scheduled regularly throughout the year? Are gift certificates available?
2 years ago
Does your local Ag Dept produce a market bulletin?  I have used the Louisiana Market Bulletin but the deadlines and time delay between sending the ad and the publishing can be a pain.
I quit selling to drive ups and driveway honkers and had to post "No Goats For Sale" signs to discourage stray people. I actually had tourists taking pictures next to my sign last week. That was weird.
FB & CL work quite well here, I prefer Craig's List and usually have my goats sold withing 48 hours of posting.
Facebook is okay but I find the rules & private messaging very annoying and I dislike having to check it constantly, not my happy place at all.
BUT - many of the FB people have some experience with goats, a lot of CL people have no clue.
I see goats for sale on some online groups but don't see them get sold very often. That may be because of the distances involved.
Goat people in other area use LSN (local sales network) , kind of like CL but I had no luck with that one.
Auctions vary. We have a Monday sale in Baton Rouge where random goats are sold, prices are actually higher right now that they have ever been.
Some of the Texas auctions are moving a lot of goats, prices pretty good.
We have at least 2 in state people who advertise to buy all sheep & goats and they say where they are going to be each week and line up locations for pickup.
I would call your local ag extension service and see if they know some names or locations.
A friend who raises hair sheep targets sales to ethnic/religious holidays and a local halal market helps her with this.
Are you raising pets, dairy animals or meat sales?
2 years ago
Didn't introduce myself...Hi, I'm TJ.
I'm somewhat old (officially retired on June 1)
I live in South Louisiana and have an old house & 4 acres.
I have been raising goats & chickens & a garden on this property since 1990.

Does this forum come with any directions? Maybe a quick start guide?

Edited because I found the Universal Start Page!
2 years ago
In South Louisiana I have a Chinaberry fence row (thank you, wild birds sitting on fence & pooping out seeds). As far as toxicity goes, despite all the warnings about it being poisonous to animals, I have raised goats here for 30+ years with no issues. The goats eat green chinaberry leaves but that's about it.
I read some references to chinaberries in this thread: is there any use for chinaberry seed balls? as a soap or anything else?
We actually call them sh**wood trees, attack them with chainsaws from time to time and cannot get rid of them.
Laundry soap would be good...
2 years ago
I bought a bunch of day old bagels, cut them up, tossed them in a light beef stock and dehydrated them. I printed up some cute dog treat labels and gave them to friends with dogs.
My dogs are partial to "Everything" bagel chunks - no beef stock needed. Whenever the surplus bread store has bagels, I stock up. They make a chewy treat much cheaper than the regular dog treats.
2 years ago
Hi, Leigh! I will be ordering a digital copy of your book and am looking forward to having it! I am still getting used to this forum but have been amazed at how much good content there is and how great the people are!
2 years ago
I work roataing shifts and probably won't be able to attend but would love to watch it after the fact!