Imagination Goat Herd Health & Management

Having a well organized and designed goat herd health and management system is critical for a herd's success. We have developed our system to ensure our goats get the best care they can and the opportunity to stay and remain healthy through adequate prevention programs and constant monitoring and intervention should something arise that could threaten the health and well being of the herd.

We have a daily, weekly, monthly, semi annual and annual preventative program we follow that includes the nutrition and diet program we use. We also have a special system for kid care from birth to weaning, a plan of action for what we do when goats get sick, a specific set of diseases we vaccinate for and a similar list of diseases we test for.

Goat Nutrition - What we Feed and How we feed it

The goats enjoying hay on a snowy winter morning.

We feed our goats unlimited amounts of mixed grass hay throughout the year in hayracks in their paddocks and barns. Throughout the year the goats have access to our acreage to browse about.

During the winter all goats are supplemented with alfalfa hay flakes in their hayracks to keep condition. They are also fed a grain mix of 2 parts pelleted goat feed, 1 part rolled oats and 1/2 part black oil sunflower seeds during the winter in a feeder, the herd shares 2-3 scoops of this mix once a day.

Lactating does are fed freed choice alfalfa during their production along with mixed grass hay. They are fed the grain mix above with added beet pulp and alfalfa pellets as needed, amount of grain mix depends on the doe, all does are fed on the milk-stand to ensure adequate consumption.

Dry does, bucks and wethers do not generally get supplemented with grain during the late spring, summer, and early fall due to browse being available along with unlimited hay.

All goats have free access to Manna Pro Goat Minerals and Baking Soda in mineral feeders inside their barns. They also have access to clean fresh water changed daily in 5 gallon buckets. Water buckets are heated during the winter which makes happy goats!

We do feed treats and supplements from time to time including flax seeds, fruits and veggies from the garden, yogurt, molasses and so forth.

Housing

Our goats are housed in small 10 x 16 and 12 x 16 foot barns, they are tall and have ledges for sleeping and climbing, hay racks and mineral feeders installed in them for easy access and have electricity for lighting and heated water buckets.

We have two kidding stalls in a separate barn near the house which does are kept in close to their due dates, being so close to the house makes it easy to go out late at night to check on expecting moms.

All barns have windows which provide ventilation for the summer and can be closed in winter to preserve heat. We bed the floors with hay that falls from the hayrack over a layer of shavings. We change the bedding on an as needed basis to keep the barns sanitary. Does are housed with bucks during breeding season and a month or so before kidding the bucks are removed to their own paddocks and are not reintroduced until breeding season resumes. Young does who will not be bred are housed separately with the wethers until they are mature enough for breeding season. We use paddock board lined with no climb fencing for the buck and doe pens and use regular field fencing for the temporary and permanent wooded browse paddocks. Electric is also used as needed to deter the persistent fence challengers.

Our Preventative Program

This program was designed for our small herd of goats, we post it so visitors can understand what goat care involves and how we try to keep our goats healthy and happy. All goats are handled on a daily basis, we think it is very important to interact with them every day so subtle changes in behavior can be noted, a small change could indicate a brewing illness.

Daily

We monitor each goat's behavior and attitude, noting any changes.

We pet them and feel their bodies/coats noting any abnormalities

We lift a hoof or two to check to see if a trimming is needed

 

Weekly

Each goat is put up on the milking stand where we conduct a thorough review on the animal, checking hooves, mucous membrane color, lower lid color, palpating the abdomen, and a thorough scratch down to check for any skin abnormalities

Hooves are trimmed as needed

 

Monthly

Goats get a thorough physical like the weekly review

Hooves are trimmed as needed

2 cc's of selenium and vitamin E gel are administered to each adult goat

Copper bolus is given as needed, most goats are on a 4 month schedule for copper bolusing

External parasite treatment (lice) is administered as needed

 

Semi-Annually

Goats get a thorough physical

Hooves are trimmed as needed

Goats are clipped down in early spring and late summer

Goats get fecal tests to determine parasite load and are wormed with appropriate chemical wormer as needed

 

Annually

Goats get a thorough physical

Hooves are trimmed as needed

The Veterinarian comes out and vaccinates the goats

Blood is drawn for annual testing and sent off to the lab

Kid Care from Birth to Weaning

Keeping kids healthy and happy is our number one priority when our new arrivals are born. We developed this program for the benefit of our littlest goats and to ensure that when they leave for their new homes they have received all age appropriate care necessary.

Birth

We try to be there for every birth if at all possible to assist the doe if needed and to welcome the new kid to the world.

Navel cords are dipped in iodine, kid is well dried with towels

Kid is fed colustrum via the mother goat or by bottle if necessary

Mother goat is dewormed with chemical wormer

 

Birth - 1 Week of Age

Coccidia prevention is begun with Albon and is continued until the goat is 8 weeks old

Horn buds are evaluated on a daily basis and when appropriate the kid is disbudded with a Rhinehart x 50 iron.

 

Why do we disbud?

There's a lot of talk about goat horns, and no two goat owners have the same opinions about them. On our farm goat horns are considered dangerous and unacceptable for farm safety, a goat can easily impale another animal or get itself stuck due to its horns, as such we disbud ALL goats born on our farm and dehorn older animals that are brought onto the farm. We disbud when babies are only a few days to weeks old with a Rhinehart iron, when dehorning is necessary horns under 5 inches can usually be banded off with an elastrator band but any horns over 5 inches are removed surgically at the large animal vet.

 

We don't just disbud and dehorn our Nigerians we remove the horns from our Myotonic goats too, there are NO exceptions.

 

1 Week - Weaning

Goat kids are continued on the coccidia prevention treatment with Albon. They are handled on a daily basis and taught good goat manners. They are vaccinated for CD&T at 6 weeks of age and are ready for new homes after weaning. Bucklings who are destined to be pet wethers are not neutered until they leave for their new homes, we wait as long as possible to ensure proper urethra growth in the hopes of prevent urinary calculi in the furure.

 

How we Castrate our Bucklings

We use the Burdizzo to castrate our bucklings. FiasCo Farms has an excellent tutorial on how to neuter using this method which crushes the spermatic cord. We do an additional step than listed on the instruction page. After the initial crush on each side we crush again by clamping about 1/2"-1" lower than the original crush for a total of 4 crushes, 2 on each side. This is a way to doubley ensure that the neuter is successful, the kids usually don't mind the second clamp since the initial clamping cuts off most pain reception beneath it. We try to wait as long as possible to neuter in order to prevent urinary calculi due to insufficient urethral growth.

Our Sick Goat Plan

When a goat exhibits signs of illness such as coughing, an abnormal lump or otherwise we take immediate action. For minor issues such as respiratory ailments we will treat from home but for more major issues such as a lump or a case of urinary calculi in the boys we always contact our vet to come out and provide treatment. We have the ability and space to safely isolate contagious animals if necessary. We are very thankful to have access to an excellent farm vet and small animal vet.

Diseases we Vaccinate For

We vaccinate all goats over 1 year of age for CD&T and rabies. Rabies is extremely prevalent in the Virginia state area and since our goats have free access to many acres of woods we feel it is in their best interest to be protected against this fatal virus, our goats are vaccinated by our Vet.

Diseases we Test For

All goats over 1 year of age are tested annually for CAE, CL, TB and Burceollosis. New goats coming from untested herds are quarantined upon arrival and tested before introduction into the general herd. We do not test for Johne's as our vet does not believe the test is accurate enough to justify its use.