Can’t find goat feed anywhere (Southern Ontario)!

[cassie]

ShannonR -

I could not agree more! And yes, I’m sure there will be many who disagree.

If we were keeping these guys as pets it would be a different story; the aim would be all about long term health and longevity.

No, they aren’t vaccinated and won’t be. We have lots of space for rotational grazing but we’ll likely do a deworming just to be on the safe side and because I can buy it really cheaply.

I’ll scope out some local farmers for hay - is it better to stick with a mostly grass hay or alfalfa is fine as long as they’re adjusted slowly? I’m a horse person, not a goat person (yet!)

I am curious as to why you do not want to vaccinate your kids for enterotoxemia. Depending where you live, you might get away with not vaccinating your goats but if you are going to be feeding them grain to fatten them out, in my opinion you are taking an unnecessary risk by not doing so. Are you at all familiar with entero? I can tell you that it strikes without warning and the affected goat will die within two hours screaming in pain. The vaccine is cheap insurance, but they are your goats and the decision is yours.

 

[Coopsmom]

I can appreciate that point of view and will look into the vaccine. Not sure where you live but around here a farm call alone is about $75. Sadly our feed stores are no longer permitted to carry vaccines or even penicillin.

 

[cassie]

I am not familiar with Canada. I live in the United States. The part of California where I lived, entero was so common and so deadly that if a goat became ill, you first treated it for entero and then worried about what else may be wrong with it. In other parts of the country people never see it. A state vet once told me that it had something to do with the pH of the soil and I am sure he was right. That said, I have been fortunate in that I have always lived in an area where I could do a lot of my own vet work and used the services of a veterinarian mainly for consultation and advice and of course to handle emergencies that were beyond my abilities.

 

[Coopsmom]

I used to be able to a lot of my own vet care of my animals (horses) but they just don’t allow it any more. It’s so expensive just for the preventative things you want to do for your average house pet, never mind a small herd!

I’m still going to check with my large animal vet and see if she’ll let me buy those vaccines though - if I can do it that way it will be worth it!