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CAE - I practice CAE prevention methods such as feeding all kids heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk. I feel this has been very successful in my herd. Up until fall 2010, I had known CAE positives (but non-symptomatic) in my herd. As of May 2011, my entire herd is CAE negative. I test my goats once a year through WSU-WADDL. CL - I have test CL every other year through WSU-WADDL. The entire herd is negative, and I have no reason to suspect I have ever had CL in my herd, I just test to make sure they stay negative. Johnes - I started testing for Johnes through my local lab in 2009. The entire herd was blood tested and found to be negative. I have no reason to suspect I have Johnes in my herd, therefore I am going to begin testing every other year, next test date July 2011. I do plan to fecal test this year instead of blood test because it's more conclusive. Bruscellosis/Tuberculosis - I have been testing for Bruscellosis and Tuberculosis since the mid to late 90's. I am a certified/accredited free herd. My herd has been enrolled in the voluntary Scrapie program for several years. Milk Pathogens - In 2011 I plan to begin monthly milk pathogen testing for a wide varity of milk-borne pathogens. |
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PERFORMANCE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION INFORMATION DHIR - I have participated in the DHIR program for several years. It is, in my opinion, worth the cost to do it every month even for a few goats. I love having data on my animals and with the owner-sampler program there is not reason why any breeder should not participate. LINEAR APPRAISAL - I try and participate in LA at least every other year. Since I have kept my herd very small the past few years I've managed to do it every year even with stale does. It's a great tool to evaluate what flaws you need to correct and the strengths and weaknesses across the herd. |
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Here's a list of five catalogs I order from, links to those companies, and what I usually buy from them.
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FIRST TIME GOAT OWNER'S LIST OF STUFF TO BUY OR MAKE Refer to the column above for links to the places I will list of where to buy stuff. First you will need water buckets and feeders for hay and grain. WATER BUCKETS: Any old bucket will do for water, you need two or three at least - 3 gallon or 5 gallon work good. I love the five gallon pickle buckets Chick-Fil-A has if you can get them. You might ask next time you are there eating lunch. Otherwise you can buy buckets anywhere just make sure they're good and sturdy. HAY FEEDERS: Buy "sheep and goat" panels with 4" square holes. You can buy them at Tractor Supply locally or ask anywhere they sell cattle/hog panels if they don't usually carry them in stock. Use bolt cutters to cut them down and hog rings to put them together. You can make several variations of hay feeders using these panels. Keep in mind the size of a pad of hay out of a hay bale and go from there. Mine are large rectangular feeders hanging with wire from the ceiling. They are 3 squares wide and, oh, 5' long. when I cut them down shorter I used the 3 square wide leftover pieces to make the bottom and two sides so they are not the entire height of the panel. It's much cheaper to make the feeders than it is to buy them premade this size. The feeders I use are okay but kind of bad about waste. GRAIN FEEDERS: If you want to buy something already made, the sheep mini feeders are great. They can be found locally or at Jeffers, above. They hold about three quarts and hang on a 2" wide board. Hang them so they hang on the OUTSIDE of a gate/fence/stall front or else the goats will stand in them. The best feeder ever is a 6" PVC pipe (from Lowes or Home Depot) cut nearly in half but works best if you cut them so they're more than half left and just use one pipe to make one feeder not trying to make two feeders if this makes sense. You can make end caps, buy them (they're real expensive) or simply hang them without ends. They are my favorite. Again hang them on the outside of the gate/fence/stall front. As far as scoops go, anything will do. I generally use whatever is laying around here on the farm. SUPPLEMENT FEEDERS: Use the cheap black double chamber mineral feeders located in Jeffers catalog if you have PVC pipe feeders. They'll fit right in the 6" PVC feeder and you can use cable ties or baling twine or whatever to secure them. Or if you want to build something you can. Take some scrap 2X4s - a foot long is a good size. use one for the bottom. One for a front. Two short pieces for sides that meet up heigh-wise with the one you used for a front. You will nail this directly to a wall. Then build a "roof" for the feeder. The roof is simply two 2X4s angled to make the whole thing look like a triangle when you look at it straight on. This will keep hooves and poop out as well as anything else. OR you can use PVC pipe for this too but totally different than the grain feeder. There are plans for the PVC mineral feeders on the internet, I'm going to briefly explain it here but please consult other sites for better information. Take a 2" or larger PVC pipe, cut it to be about 2' or more long, then use a "Y" connector at the bottom gluing it using PVC glue. One of the tops of the Y should be what you are gluing to the pipe. Then glue a cap on the bottom of the Y. Leave the other "Y" hole open. Pour mineral in the top of the pipe, the goats will eat the mineral out of the open end of the Y. The main stem will be vertical not horizontal like the grain feeder. I've never made one of these myself so I can't help with exactly all the details - you might have to cut the open end of the Y down some, I don't know. BEDDING: I used to deep bed my stalls but last year and this year I have started keeping the stalls swept clean. Last year I swept the dirt, this year I put #78 gravel in the barn, put thin office carpeting on top and now I am sweeping that. It seems to be working quite well so far. MILKING SUPPLIES: You'll need teat spray or a good barrier dip, or you can use my homemade recipe of 1 tsp. ground thyme or ground oregano to 1/2 c. corn starch. A tsp of bleach in a one cup sprayer will work. Spray the very end of the teat after milking with this. Udder wash is optional for home milk production but a mild bleach water solution more like a tsp. to a half gallon or so and a tiny bit of dish soap would work fine. You'll need an assortment of milk pails. Always use stainless steel and glass when handling milk - never aluminum or plastic. The exception would be plastic if used once and thrown out. Even then I don't care for it for drinking milk. Please refer to the supply catalog section above for where and what to buy as far as milk pails go. You will find it easiest (and less wasteful when you're learning how to milk) if you milk into a small bucket and dump milk into a larger bucket. I still prefer this method as you never know when one might kick - even a well behaved goat will do it unintentionally on rare occasion. You'll also need milk filters to filter the milk. I've gotten lazy over the years, I buy the largest filters the livestock supply catalogs carry (I think they're 6 1/4" or thereabouts) and I fold them up so they're shaped like a funnel and filter the milk just holding the filter over the jar. It works fine. You can strain your milk into any glass container. I have some Wal-mart apple juice 1/2 gallon glass jars I'm fond of or you can use half gallon canning jars. You can buy cheese supplies too and soapmaking supplies once you get the hang of milking and have extra milk. Buy the direct-set cultures and follow the instructions on the package. Once you have mastered direct set, you can go on from there - the sky's the limit. You don't have to have any special supplies to make the soft cheeses but eventually you'll need to invest in or build a press for the hard cheeses as well as buy wax, etc. Along with milking supplies you'll need a milk stand. You need to plan on making or buying one long before your doe is milking. You should have one as soon as possible so that you can get your goat used to your stand, especially a kid or dry yearling. Don't expect them to automatically jump on the stand if they've never used one before so get it ahead of time and put them on the stand every chance you get. At the least I put my doe kids up there for every hoof trimming and give them their grain while in the stand so it's a positive experience. It's even better if you feed them there occasionally just for the heck of it. If you make one, you can make it out of wood or metal but make the platform they stand on out of expanded steel. It will keep much cleaner and be better footing for the goat. MEDICAL SUPPLIES: I will only list a short suggestive list of truly basic items, which you will likely never use, but if you don't have these items on hand and you have an emergency, you'll be wishing you had them. There are many more items to add to your medicine cabinet once you learn how to diagnose different problems should you ever come across them. It would be to your best advantage to find the name and talk to a GOOD goat vet before you purchase your goats so you can have one lined up in case of an emergency. Sadly good goat vets are hard to find so good luck. Probiotic gel (Probios Max is good, available through PBS) BOTTLE KID SUPPLIES: If you dam raise your kids you'll at least want a pritchard teat and a soda bottle around. Try to freeze some heat treated colostrum from your first milking doe or find someone who has some close by BEFORE your doe kids for the first time. Don't bother with colostrum replacements, there's no replacement for real colostrum and being without it means life or death for the newborn kid. If you decide to bottle feed kids, there are many ways to go about doing that. I free feed my kids for the first month at least but I have plenty of milk and if you are buying bottle kids outright with no milker you won't have any extra milk. So I don't really feel comfortable instructing you on a feeding method I don't use. You can read up on that elsewhere. At any rate you'll need a pritchard teat available locally or from any catalog and a soda bottle for newborns. There are various automatic type feeders available that are easy to make and use. Once kids are up in age I like using a lambar type feeder. You can also use the lambar nipples on soda bottles for older kids being hand fed. As far as milk goes, feeding them pasteurized goat milk is best but replacer can be used too. Avoid store bought milk because there is no clear information that shows that johnes disease is killed by commercial pasteurization. Milk replacers are safer as they have been dried usually by heat. The best in my opinion is Purina Kid Milk Replacer but it's so terribly expensive. Dumor brand ULTRA calf milk replacer unmedicated is good and fairly cheap. Merrick's kid milk replacer is okay but not great. Land-O-Lakes kid replacer used to be terrible but I tried some this past spring and they must've reformulate it sometime between when I last used it and now. It seems to be okay now. Just make sure whatever you use smells sweet kind of like cake mix and mixes easily. If in doubt, take it back to the store for a refund/exchange. It's not worth using bad replacer and having a huge vet bill when your kid bloats or even worse dead kids. On the topic of medicated milk replacers, I avoid them. It's better to medicate against coccidiosis as needed instead of giving it to them all the time. Kids need to build a natural resistance to the coccidia oocyte and if you medicate them constantly their body is not able to do this. What usually happens in this case is when you wean them off the medicated milk replacer they will suddently get very sick with coccidiosis. So I prefer to medicate as needed or ever better move the kids off contaminated ground by using portable pens and fencing. I have done this in recent years and have cut the need to medicate for coccidiosis down to nearly zero.
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GRASS HAY - I feed and recommend high quality grass hay. Clean, non-moldy, non-dirty first cut is okay for non-working goats (adults not milking or late gestation) but try to stick with fine second or third cutting for young kids just starting out on hay and milking does. Second and third cut is usually less stemmy and is more palatable. It is also usually higher in protein and digestable nutrients. Second and third cut is okay for older dry goats too, you will just have to adjust their grain and give them less, if any. BEET PULP - I use lots of beet pulp in early spring when I have problems with my goats wanting to leave hay and eat spring grass all day. It's expensive but the alternative for me at least would be locking my goats off pasture. Spring grass early in the year is high in water content and not much else to it. This means my goats are not only not getting the roughage they need but they are also not getting enough nutrients period as I usually end up having to cut back on grain if they are not getting enough roughage. This of course happens right during peak lactation which makes maintaining the goats touch and go at times. Beet pulp can be added with their grain ration or fed separately or alone to help add some roughage. My does get a pint or more of no molasses added plain shredded beet pulp by volume twice a day in the early spring. I back them off of the beet pulp once the grass starts being more nutritious and tougher, about the middle of May. If you have a hard time finding good quality hay, you may use some beet pulp to supplement roughage but only as a supplement not as a total replacement. Beet pulp can also be fed to increase milk production but do not do this if the doe is too thin.
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I feed my goats differently at different times of the year but generally what I like to use is a foundation of excellent pasture, hay, browse when I can get them on it, supplemented with good quality feed and add some alfalfa pellets and beet pulp when peak lactation demands it. In the past I recommended and used black oil sunflower seeds but there seems to be some talk of a problem with them molding internally. Thinking back on some of the deaths I've had over the years, I believe that might have been a problem I was experiences and didn't even know it. I stopped feeding sunflower seeds last year and the sudden deaths stopped. I used to have grain mixed by the ton but stopped because I was not feeding enough animals to justify buying a ton at a time. Here's a list of commercial feeds I recommend listed in order of preference: 1. Commodity feed (it's part corn gluten, part soybean hulls and part wheat mids) Many breeders would turn their nose up at commodity feed but the proof is in the performance and my goats do the very best on commodity feed. That is because of the bypass protein it contains. They milk more on less feed and maintain body condition better AND it's the cheapest thing out there. This commodity-type feed is also contained in any high-end grain mix, listed as 'processed grain byproducts'. I have less digestive upset with the commodity pellets because it's not coated with tons of molasses - it's just a plain pellet - AND, it's got a lot of fiber to it, so it balances the protein nicely. The goats find it very palatable too. It doesn't contain bells and whistles like probiotics or chelated minerals but it doesn't have to - I give those thing separately as needed. You may feed this straight or use it as a basis in a hand mixed ration. Big Spring Mill is a local mill in my area so if you're not in the Roanoke or Blacksburg are then please disregard and move on to number three. Big Spring Mill's feed I am told is a fixed formula and their feed is always fresh and consistent and it's the least expensive of the textured (sweet) feeds I've listed. It has a bit too much molasses but most commercial feeds are like that except the pelleted feeds. If you do what you're supposed to and go light on the grain and heavy on the high quality hay/pasture you should be fine. Blue Seal is good because it contains yeast cultures and some proteinated minerals and I believe all three feeds are a fixed formula meaning they don't change ingredients just because one grain is cheaper from week to week. The other feeds I listed are usually pretty good quality too but not quite the caliber of Blue Seal. I cannot comment on any other kinds of goat feed. I always prefer a "fixed formula" that will not vary depending upon what is cheaper from week to week. I also like feeds that LOOK consistent from batch to batch.
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I will list what I recommend below with links in order of preference. Balancing the calcium to phosphorous ratio is tricky - make sure to take water samples along with hay, pasture, and grain if you really want to get the balance right.1. Crystal Goat Mineral 2:1 - just started using this in 2010, seems VERY nice. All chelated and very high in copper as it should be. 2. Southern States Beef Maker Mineral with Availafour - I do not recommend their goat mineral. This cattle mineral is pretty well balanced. It is hard to get and would probably have to be special ordered in. 3. Ultralyx goat minerals - These people sell a nice goat mineral but their website has no information about it. I have used it in conjunction with the Southern States mineral (above). Sweetlix minerals - Fairly good quality popular minerals BUT they put too much molasses in it. Animals crave salt and will eat the mineral for the salt. KELP: I also mix a little bit of Thorvin Kelp with my minerals. Be careful not to use too much or they will get too much iodine and they will overeat it because they LOVE it. Sounds neat when they crunch on it. Seven Springs Farm in Floyd, VA and Countryside Natural Products in Harrisonburg, VA carry it. I use about 1/4 kelp to 3/4 trace minerals. SODIUM BICARBONATE (BAKING SODA) and DIAMOND V YEAST CULTURE: This is good when does are milking real heavy and eating a little more grain than normal. It helps increase butterfat and keep down on rumen acidosis. I mix it half and half and free choice it along side the trace minerals. DIATOMACEOUS EARTH - I mix this about 1/4 or 1/2 with my minerals. I don't think it does anything for worms but it does do a number on flies. It doesn't seem to work as well on the biting flies as the regular flies. If you start adding this in your salt a month before fly season, you will see a marked difference in flies in the barn. We use it with our sheep and beef cattle too and have seen a decrease in pinkeye in both herds. Try not to inhale the DE while mixing with mineral. COPPER BOLUSES - I have been experimenting with copper oxide wire particle (COWP) supplementation for several years now. I believe it has improved the general health of my herd, particulary in the area of worm resistance. Most recently I have been dosing the herd with six grams per adult goat every six weeks. After taking a liver sample to be tested in fall 2010, I have decided to change my supplementation slightly. This year, 2011, I plan to give them around 1 gram per adult goat and slightly less for kids, once a month. I have weighed out the COWPs and found that one '0' sized capsule holds just shy of two grams when packed full. For worm control, it has been tested and proven that .5 to 2 grams is an effective dose for parasite control, and I believe I will still be able to keep copper liver levels up high enough to keep their copper liver levels within acceptable levels. What is acceptable levels? I am not sure. Research is limited and mostly based on sheep. I have found a few references on what levels kill goats and the two livers I have tested in the past were not anywhere near toxic levels. Strangely enough, I had a sheep here on the property for one year, and she got my extremely high copper all chelated mineral free choice for a year. She was butchered and her copper levels were within normal range according to the lab. Even after seeing that, I am still not sure her levels were optimal. I do know one thing for sure, that Dorset sheep had the most wool we've ever shorn off a sheep, and it was long and beautiful. I know it seems strange to focus so much attention on a micro mineral which does not have a huge dietary requirement, but there are many well-documented references on the effects of severe copper deficiency, and anecdotal evidence strongly supports the scientific research. RC GOLD 4X - This is a probiotic, digestive enzyme and yeast product all rolled into one. I put 1/2 tsp on each doe's grain feeding 2x a day. It seems to help keep digestive upset at bay during times of stress (heavy lactation being one). |
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BO-SE (SELINIUM & VITAMIN E - prescription only - ask a vet for a bottle)
COVEXIN EIGHT
DOES - 3-4 weeks before kidding - 1 1/2 cc Bo-Se, repeat in six months around breeding season. Around my area, Bo-Se is not a critical thing to give but it does help with reproductive health especially the bucks and I've found if my does get it before kidding their births will be much cleaner. Covexin Eight - I give this eight way vaccine two times per year according to labeled directions but instead of the labeled once yearly booster I give two boosters six months apart.
Why not CD&T??? I used to use CD&T but found that it did not remain effective against enterotoxemia for much past a couple months. Covexin Eight has been found to last more like six months. I believe it is working as I have no more sudden enterotoxemia deaths. That is the main reason I use Covexin but it also covers tetanus. Enterotoxemia can strike at any time for no particular reason - it's just not worth it to gamble with this one particular disease. It's naturally occuring in the gut of the goat however all it takes is a sudden change in weather or even just the stress of kidding for a goat to get sick with this and it's usually an extremely excruciating, fatal disease.
About Covexin: Covexin is bad about giving the goats a quarter sized abscess at the shot site. It is always given to my goats behind the left elbow so as not to confuse the shot site abscess with contagious abscesses which usually occur around the lymph nodes. In all the years I've shown goats, I've never had a judge penalize me for a shot site abscess, nor have any show vets questioned the shot abscesses. I have, however, made sure to give all the shots behind the left elbow and no other place, and I do make sure my vet notates on my health certificate that my goats may exhibit shot site abscesses behind the left elbow. And that covers it. The Covexin abcesses can be lanced and drained of the puss they are filled with once the hair falls off of the lump. Not all goats will get a lump and not all lumps will fill with puss. The lumps are unsightly but not as unsightly as finding a lovely doe dead as a hammer with very little signs anything was ever wrong with her the night before.
DRY YEARLINGS / DRY DOES / BUCKS / WETHERS - Same as above, I just give their shots during when I do the milking does. Follow the label on Covexin to start the animals on their first shots as kids. If you ever have problems with neonate enterotoxemia, I would recommend contacting Betty Longman at Longman Nubians and ask her about her vaccination schedule for young kids. |
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Thanks to monthly copper wire particle bolusing and Fir Meadow's herbal wormer blend, I no longer chemical worm my goats. If you prefer chemical wormers, here are several options that might work in your herd. Whatever you choose, stick with it until it stops working. Don't switch products every month unless you are trying to treat something like a meningeal worm or specifically target tapeworms. Ivomec products - I give this at three times regular strength. This is another alternative that might work in your herd. I try and avoid this because it has such a long milk withdrawal. Valbazen - I give this at twice the labeled strength. Same family of wormer as Levasole and Safeguard. Safeguard - You should give this at three times the labeled dose - even the goat product needs to be tripled. In order to really gauge worm load, you need to work closely with a breeder and learn how to read your animals for worm overload. It's best not to worm prophylactically without the animal having a worm load that it can't handle. Even if a fecal test shows a heavy worm load, if the animal is handing the worm load and doing well it should not be wormed unless the animal is suffering from anemia or showing other signs of not handing the worms well. There are several signs of worm overload. I first look at the lower eyelid to see if the animal is becoming very anemic. You must learn how to do this from experience - consistently keep an eye on eyelids throughout the year and get a feel for when they are pale vs. good pink coloration. I also note how well the animals are eating. A gradual drop in feed consumption when nothing else is wrong can mean worm overload. A gradual drop in milk production is a good indication in a milker. For those of us on DHI testing, an increase in somatic cell counts with no evidence of mastitis is a sign of a heavy worm load. My husband says he can smell worms on his sheep's breath but I am not able to determine worm overload by smell. He can also taste "worminess" in the milk of a wormy animal. Again I'm not that sensitive. If you can develop these two senses they are just two more tools to use. Once I suspect worm overload I sometimes follow this up with a fecal exam which nine times out of ten will show a heavy worm egg infestation if they are showing other symptoms. There are instructions for doing the fecal exams on the internet and it's not hard or expensive to do. Lastly if an animal EVER gets an unexpected soft swelling between the chin and the jaw (not the same as a milk goiter in a baby goat but instead a swelling that just shows up overnight), worm the animal IMMEDIATELY with Ivomec ONLY. If you use Levasole to worm you might cause hemorrhage in a case like this. I have trialed the herbal wormer product sold by Fir Meadows for several years. Overall I like this product and I think it does work pretty well. I would not recommend it as an end-all to worms, but as part of the equation it does have an effect and is worth feeding to your milkers should you wish to avoid chemical 'binge and purge' worming. Plus it does appear that since I started on it a few years ago Kat has reformulated the product so that might make it a bit more effective. I still have animals get fairly loaded with worms even given twice a week instead of once a week, but I do have a heavy grazing herd and I have never had anything get really overwhelmed with worms when using the product, I just have some that I can tell are chronically wormy and eventually I worm them with chemicals. But again, that's only once or twice a year I have to reach for the chemicals, and only on a few goats. I think if you are going to use their product, do so but keep a close eye on your animals and be prepared to spot worm as needed. That being said, I am still continuing to use their products. Overall I like the lack of "binge and purge" using the herbal products combined with the aforementioned copper wire particles. The animals are not stressed with overloads and purges so much and cost wise it's not too terribly much more expensive than chemical wormers, in fact at times since Levasole has become hard to find, and that was the cheapest chemical wormer. I do not recommend moxidectin. It is the newest latest greatest but has also killed a many animal in herds I am personally familiar with. Plus it's expensive. Not necessary unless you are having major worm resistance problems to all other drugs and if you have to use it, do so under supervision of a veterinarian. I suggest if you are having that much trouble with worm resistance that you have to slam them with moxidectin, you should instead think about looking at your management practices.
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HOOVES: NEW FOR 2011 - I am offering hoof trimming, disbudding and castration services to the Roanoke and Christiansburg areas. $15 per goat per service, no trip fee as long as you are willing to work around when I am 'going to town'. I suggest first you please contact a veterinarian to perform these services, however if you are unable to find a veterinarian who is willing to perform these services, you may contact me. I trim my entire herd about every other month, or whenever they look like they need trimming. A good pair of hoof trimmers is the difference between trimming 20 goats in a day or 5 goats in a day, so be careful of your choice of trimmers. I recommend the pruning shears sold at BigLots if you can find them. They are seasonal - try looking for them in the spring. They cost around $3.00 per pair, are very durable, stay sharp, and are lightweight. You do have the watch the quality on their trimmers, sometimes they pass off some junky ones instead of the nicer ones they carry. They will have sharp edges on each blade and the blades are about 2" long and straight. It's getting harder and harder to find the good ones. In fact recently I have bought the green handled ones from the livestock supply catalog.
Another breeder uses a Mikota grinder. I have never tried it but she has a LOT of goats and it must work well. If I had as many as she does, I would probably try it myself. I own a grinder but it's so loud I can't imagine using it on hooves. I CAN imagine it doing a great job though. Whatever you use, hooves should be trimmed regularly. Don't neglect this, or you could cause your goat to have permanent feet and leg problems.
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COCCIDIA: This is a major problem in young goats. Coccidiosis and enterotoxemia (see shots, above) are the leading killers of kids. If your kid gets diarrhea unexpectedly without any reason that you can think of, it is probably coccidiosis. Coccidiosis can be prevented by raising kids up off the ground on a well-drained floor and moving them frequently off contaminated land. I do this by raising my kids in a stock trailer, using electric netting fences and moving the kids around the yard. Sounds rather redneck but it works, I only have to treat my kids maybe like two times a year. Coccidiosis is not hard to treat. Here is what I do when I have to treat them: Alternatively you can dilute as follows and dose as needed: Mix 1 1/2 tsp. powder to one ounce (30 ccs) of water. Multiply weight of the kid times .15 (that's POINT one five - not fifteen). This will give you the amount of ccs you need to dose the kid by weight and you can just use a syringe and either put the mixture in their bottle or dose by squirting it in their mouth. 3ccs of this dilution will treat 20 lbs. of kid if you don't like doing much math. DECOX: I have used this once the kids are weaned. You can buy medicated feed and that will work okay but is usually not mixed strong enough for goat kids so be forewarned and keep an eye out for diarrhea. That being said, it is still okay to feed because of its effect of just reducing the amount of coccidia and not completely killing it off. Decox is a coccidioSTAT not a coccidiocide meaning it controls the coccidia the animal is being exposed to but isn't a total killer. It's best used after an animal has been treated with Albon as the Albon will completely wipe out the coccidia. The Decox is a great product though because it allows the young goats to do what they are supposed to do - develop an immunity to coccidia. Albon used too heavily too often will not allow this to occur. SULMET / CORID: These are good too and may be less effective or more effective for you depending upon the resistance of the coccidia. For instance I had to quit using Corid because it no longer worked for my goats. Maybe in another ten years I can use it again. . In 2011 I plan to try using Fir Meadow's herbal product for coccidia. I am not expecting it to make a huge difference one way or the other, because I usually do not have terrible coccidia issues. I will report back on my site how it performs.; DISBUDDING KIDS:If you plan on breeding your does, you need to make plans to disbud the kids at about one week of age. I recommend disbudding when small bumps can be felt where the horns would normally come in. Do not neglect this, if you wait too long, it becomes painful for the kid to endure. Disbudding them at about one week is very simple and quick, and subjects the kid to little or no stress. They will return to normal activities right after you are done disbudding. Some swiss breed buck kids need to be disbudded at one or two days of age, while I have had some Nubian kids (like triplet doe kids) go until nearly two weeks of age until I could feel a bump. So it is best to go by feel in most instances. Buy a Rhinehart X30 iron. They are available at any of the livestock/goat supply catalogs listed in catalogs, above. If you buy the X30, the tip it comes with is already the right size for a goat. You might also want to purchase a kid holding box or make one yourself. The goat supply catalogs above carry these boxes, we made our own out of scrap lumber. Or you can wrap kids up fairly tightly in a towel. Restraint is important because you are working with a hot iron. The actual process of disbudding is fairly quick and simple: Let the iron get hot enough to immediately burn/scorch a brown circle when held on wood. If it does not get that hot, you need to heat it with a blow torch right before using and do this before reapplying (this is why you want a good, hot iron like the Rhinehart). The heat of the iron is crucial. An iron that is too cool will take too long and you might risk cooking their brains. A real hot iron like the Rhinehart will burn them quickly and effectively. Trim the hair off of the area where the horn "bud" is. I trim hair off in a 1" area on and around the bud. You can do this while the iron is heating up. Restrain kid and place iron directly over center of bud. Press down with moderate force and twist the iron while counting to about eight OR until you can feel skull instead of soft skin under the iron. Try hard not to let the skin scoot around under the iron. Should you have to remove the iron because the kid is moving too much, reapply for the remaining seconds. Do the other side the same. Go back to the first side you did and attempt to pop the "cap" off (the inside area) with the edge of the iron. Be careful not to slip and disturb the skin around the outside edges. If the cap does not pop off, reburn the areas where you can see skin still attached. Try to do this as QUICKLY as possible. (NOTE: I don't look for the so-called "copper ring". I burn down to the skull.) When you have popped both caps off, you might have to use the edge of the iron around the edges of the ring to make sure you have burned all of the horn tissue off. If you don't, you may have scurs there later on. Bucks can have the scent glands burnt off, if you are facing the kid, the scent glands are above and to the inside of the horn area. I don't recommend burning scent glands. Before you let the kid out of the box, put a little blood stop powder around inside the ring. You can also use 1/2 c cornstarch plus 1 tsp ground thyme or 1 tsp ground oregano to control oozing. Sometimes the skin around the horn bud can get infected, especially if it gets milk in it from feeding off a lambar. I recommend reapplying the powder a week later. You can use some sort of spray disinfectant product if you don't like or have powder. Your kids might knock their scab off and start bleeding or in a rare case get an infection under the scab. Keep an eye on the scab to make sure no infection is growing under it and if they knock the scab off and bleed put more powder on the wound. If they do get a nasty puss-filled infection, treat it topically but also make SURE to put the goat on antibiotics. Penicillin usually works. If you don't see the infection recede switch to gallimycin or biomycin.
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Preparing for the show is not all about primping. Some training must be done beforehand. I know some of you have seen my goats wailing at the ringside and think this is horrible... I do work with my goats ahead of time. They do that because they want their mommy (me) to stay with them every waking moment! You can use a hair removal cream around the rear udder arch and foreudder if desired - not on the entire udder. Preclip the udder with a 10 or 30 blade and don't use the hair removal cream until a couple days after you clip up their udders. It takes practice getting the cream right where it needs to go to make a perfect rear udder arch but it can be done if you are careful. Use lots of hand or udder cream on their udder after you wash off the hair removal cream. After using the hair removal cream you will still have to trim up with a 40 blade.
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