Lets talk about goats!

[chicken pickin]

You might be suprised. Here is what I tell people when they tell me "goats eat anything". That's a myth, goats are like babies. They put stuff in their mouth to figure out what it is. So, it may seem like goats "eat" anything, when in reality they just "try" anything to see if it's food or not. If you put out baking soda free choice, they are all going to run up and hit it hard thinking "man, new stuff to eat!!' Then they will realize what it is after a few bites and leave it be unless they need it. Same with free choice loose mineral.
Now grain and stuff like that.. yes they will eat it until they just can't eat anymore.
If you try the baking soda and for some random reason they don't leave it be unless they need it, you can just remove it. Unless you have a situation where bloat is likely, they aren't going to really need it. So, as long as you recognize poss bloat situations and provide it then or are ready with some as a drench to dose them it's all good.

@cbird

If your goats are as big as a German Shepherd, then they probably aren't crossed with any of the mini breeds. I would be more inclined to guess Saanen x Boer or something along those lines. Although, they don't look very "Boer-ish", so I dunno.

A shelter and "hay hanger thing" (lol that's awesome) is a great place to start. Elevated water is great. Browse is great.
How much and what "goat pellet"?
You really should be giving them free choice hay if possible. You said you have the hay feeder, but nothing about hay, so let me know about that.

Any type of mineral block or bar is no good... they are comprised mainly of salt, not mineral. You want to get a good loose goat mineral that works for your area. I'm sure your TSC carries the Manna Pro goat mineral, and that would be an ok place to start. I would suggest checking around to see what you are deficient in your area and base your future mineral purchases off that.

So, goats need: shelter, water, mineral, hay (browse if possible), and some type of energy concentrate if the situation dictates. You've covered all the major parts, good job! Other things to consider are vaccines.. CD&T is the most common. I honestly don't vaccinate against anything else. If I started showing again.. maybe, but not necessary right now.

Make sure you have a few basic medcines/medical supplies on hand because goats don't get sick on Tuesday morning when every vet is open. They get sick on Saturday night when none are open, lol.

ETA: I forgot about wormer! Every once in a awhile you should get a fecal done or mail one off to have looked at. This will tell you if you need to worm your girls or not. DO NOT go buy the Safeguard wormer (liquid, pellets, any of the "goat wormer" products) 95% of the time it will not work. It's been over used and beat into the ground so much that everything is resistant to it. THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW WHAT WORMER YOU NEED IS TO GET A FECAL DONE. People just throw wormer at their goats because they won't spend the $10 for a fecal ( yes I realize a lot of vets charge more than that, but there is a place you can mail the samples to and get it done for $5 a sample) They don't dose it correctly, then you get resistant worms that are even harder to get rid of and you still need a fecal done. (stepping off the soap box now)

Where can one mail off a sample to?

 

[H Diamond]

http://www.midamericaagresearch.net/

Hover over the drop down for Lab Services For Parasite Diagnostics, then click on Small Ruminant/Wildlife submission, and it will open a download for the form you need to fill out.
There is also a link for instructions under that same drop down menu.

 

[goats rule 101]

Hi I have 2 nigerian dwarf goats and I was wondering if theres like a spray or something you guys give your goats to repel the mosquitos? Now that spring is here the bugs are back and my poor babies are getting eaten alive... Any tips to stop this? Also, I really want to bring them to bring them to the vet to see what type of wormers I should use and get CD/T shots along with anything else they should need. Anyone have any idea how much it should cost to bring two wethered goats to the vet for a renewal of shots and a checkup? Thanks so much!!

 

[H Diamond]

Hi I have 2 nigerian dwarf goats and I was wondering if theres like a spray or something you guys give your goats to repel the mosquitos? Now that spring is here the bugs are back and my poor babies are getting eaten alive... Any tips to stop this? Also, I really want to bring them to bring them to the vet to see what type of wormers I should use and get CD/T shots along with anything else they should need. Anyone have any idea how much it should cost to bring two wethered goats to the vet for a renewal of shots and a checkup? Thanks so much!!

That's highly dependent on your vet and varies by vet and location. Have you thought about learning to give the shots yourself? You can buy a bottle of the vaccine at TSC or similar for around $10 plus a couple more dollars for syringes and needles. Just a thought, I know it's not for everyone, but it is something you should learn to do in case of emergencies.
Also, you can send your own fecal samples to the link above for much cheaper than a vet.
I'm not telling you not to take them to the vet, just some other options.

 

[RoboDuck]

And on top of learning that stuff, check for large animal vets that do farm calls. We have one that is phenominal.

 

[goats rule 101]

Okay thank you! I actually wanted to bring them to the vet so they could show us how it was done so then in the future we could do it ourselves. And I actually want to be a vet when I'm older so I should hope I'll be able to give them shots lol!

Edit: okay so I edited to ask if there was anything I could do about the flies and mosquitos? I was just out there trying to clip some hooves and they were more resistant than usaul because they thought my hands were flies and quickly tried to shake them off. They're usual not very cooperative but today they were just way worse than usual. I aslo was watching them eat for a while and though I never saw any flies, I saw the goats stamping their feet and even bucking to shake off the flies. One of my boys has even rubbed the hair off his face from scratching so much. I felt all through their hair and skin and didn't see anything else so I'm still thinking flies. Any ideas on what I can do to help them? Thanks!

 

[GAMarans]

If there is rubbing to the point of taking fur off I would be inclined to look deeper/harder for some other parasite. Sounds like possible lice to me.

 

[goats rule 101]

Okay I will go look again.

So I looked a little deeper and noticed a few things.
1. They are shedding winter coats. (Not sure if that causes itching or not)
2. I didn't notice this on my white tri colored goat (could be because hes white and it blends in) but on my brown/black goat I saw white flakes a lot like dandruff. Could this be dry skin making them itch maybe? I'm pretty positive it was not lice.
3. They twitch and stamp their feet like theres flies and also sratch agaisnt posts and the fencing.

That was all I could see and I tried to be very thorough. They enjoyed me scratching them but otherwise didn't want to be touched. This is very odd behavior for them as they were bottle babies and love attention.

I think I once read that the flakes can be a sign of mineral deficiency. I'm not sure if thats true but that would make sense because neither of them have been eating the minerals (instead they've wasted and spilled it all on the floor) and I haven't put any out for a few weeks. I will put more out right away and we just bought a feeder that gets mounted to the wall to prevent spillage. What else should I do?

 

[michellemire]

only 12 more days to go

 

[michellemire]