Animal Care

Goats

Feeding the Goats

We feed 2nd or 3rd cut alfalfa/grass hay free choice year around in feeder made with the plans from Premier 1 (highly recommend for cuttingdown on waste hay). We feed Kalmbach feeds. The adults get 16% textured adult, and I do creep feed kis with Kalmbach Start Right Kid mini pellets. I also free choice Kalmback goat mineral with some Zinpro added in for additional zinc. I also give a dose or two a month of Replamin Plus and give Probios as needed. I very rarely need to copper bolus. Goats love fresh, clean water beyond other farm animals I've had They hate anything in it.

Housing Goats

Goats really like being able to get out of any wind, rain, etc, but it doesn't need to be fancy. They need at minimum a three sided shelter but really prefer it a bit more enclose. There also need to be good ventilation. I like to use the passive roof vents that spin in the wind. Fans and exhaust fans also really help move the air when it gets hot. If your designing your own new barn, I definitely recommend factoring in how to easily clean it, especially to make the doors and roof high enough for a tractor to get in. It is also important to have stalls for goats to kid individually or separate a wounded/ill animal. Stalls help with bonding and limit rejections. I recommend no climb horse fencing (2" x 4" holes) for any pen or pasture with nigerian baby goats. They can fit through 4" x 4" sheep/goat fence holes for weeks.

Goat Care

I do a whole herd check every 4 to 6 weeks where I trim feet, check eyelid FAMACHA scores, and body condition scores. This is very important to catch problems early before they become huge life threatening problems. After goats give birth, they can get a big worm load for a month or two after. This is also a big risk for kids as they grow too. The worms can make them very anemic. Barberpole worms are a problem later in the summer and can take an animal down quickly. It is important to breed for parasite resisitance to try to limit the risk and only deworm individuals as needed.

For kids, it is important to keep on top of coccidia for the first five months of their life. After that they usually get immune to it except during stressful times. I also find pneumonia and overeating disease (from high milking mothers) to be a problem for the young ones. So I highly recommend vaccinating their mother's for some immunity until they are old enough to vaccinate. I do both CDT and M. haemolytica shots which require two initial shots with yearly boosters.

Bottle Baby Care

I try to keep kids on their mothers, but I do pull kids if they are very small, a bit slow to catch on/have problems, rejected kids, or too many are born for their mother to care for (more than triplets). I feed a colostrum replacer for the first 24 hours (offering 4-5x/day), and then whole cow's milk from the grocery store after that. I start with three times per day at 2 days old until a month old. Then I drop to two bottles a day until 2-2 1/2 month old when I go down to one bottle per day. I give them as much milk as they want until they walk away. I do not limit milk intake at all. I generally offer milk until they are around 5 months old to maximize their growth, and they are about 40lbs. They also get access to hay and grain from a couple weeks old, so they are nibbling at it quite early. My goal is to get them big enough to breed in the late fall.

Sheep

Very similar to goats, but I'll make note of the differences.

Feeding the Sheep

We feed the same 2nd or 3rd cut alfalfa/grass hay free choice year around in feeder made with the plans from Premier 1 (highly recommend for cuttingdown on waste hay). We feed Kalmbach 15% Ewe Maintainer pellets with free choice 2:1 Sheep Mineral with Zinpro. I haven't found that creep feeding really helps with the lambs. They usually start nibbling on the pellets early enough with their mothers. They can not have the goat mineral or feed since that level of copper will kill them. If sheep and goats are together, you must feed sheep mineral and copper bolus the goats. I do put a pinch of goat mineral in the sheep mineral every other time because shetlands require a small amount of copper.

Housing Sheep

Sheep are fine with just a three sided shelter. Often times they don't even care to get under a roof during storms, but their lambs will care. It is best to have a small area to separate new moms with their lambs for a couple days from the herd.

It is also a good idea to have a small fenced area in a corner or behind the shelter where you can herd and contain the whole group. It makes health checks and vaccines much easier.

Sheep Care

Sheep need to be shorn once per year. At that time I check eyelid FAMACHA and body scores as well as trim feet. I do the checks and trims a couple more times per year, but generally the sheep are more parasite resistant and independant that the goats. I don't have problems with coccidia or pneumonia with sheep since they like to grass and spread out more. So I only give CDT vaccines and very rarely deworm individuals. I do deworm lambs once with Valbazen just to eliminate the tapeworms. Tapeworms don't make them anemic, but they do take nutrients and slow growth. The one thing to watch with sheep is their wool can hide body condition problems and wounds. So it's important to put your hands on them occassionally and watch for wool that looks weird/greasy in a spot since the wool can hide flystrike.

Recommended Equipment

- I like to keep multiple types of dewormer on hand including ivermectin, injectible ivermectin (for mites), valbazen, moxidectin, fenbendazole, and prohibit (as a last resort, to limit parasite resistance to it)

- Cyclence Pour On to treat for lice and biting flies

- A good pair of hoof trimmers. I love the ARS brand hoof trimmers

- Syringes and needles. I keep on hand 12cc and 3cc syringes plus 20 gauge needles. I also use the nylon feeding syringes for deworming since there are reusable.

- lamb/kid sling, an adult sling, luggage hand scale, and a bigger hanging scale. I regularly weigh kids/lambs and sometimes adults. It is sometimes important to get exact weights when treating an animal.

- Some general first aid supplies like iodine, vetwrap bandages, nonstick gauze pads, Catron fly spray for wounds, large syringes and feeding tubes for lambs if needed, hairdryer to warm up chilled lambs/kids

- Ear tags and applicator (make sure you get a USDA scrapies number), banding tool and bands, disbudding iron, tattoo supplies and ink

- Think about your own clippers and/or shearing machine. I love my Premier 4000 that I can change between the clipping and shearing head. I also keep a small adjustable clipper for doing little jobs.

Geese

The geese are very easy animals to keep. They aren't prone to predators like chickens, but they aren't invincible to them. Mine stay behind the sheep fencing which has stopped any loses. They eat mainly grass, but I offer them Kalmbach 20% Flock Raiser in the evening. They have it available 24/7 in the winter. I keep a kiddie pool and a water trough available spring through fall. In the winter I keep a 3 gallon heated bucket for them. They have full access to the 8' x 8' chicken coop I built years ago, but they only use it in extreme winter weather or when nesting/have young goslings. They are almost always outside. Many people just use very simple mini 3 sided shelters or even dog houses.