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Meat Goats Blog

  • Making Sense of Feed Labels Part 2: Balancing major minerals in your goat’s diet

    In Making Sense of Feed Labels, Part 1: Balancing trace mineral deficiencies in your goat’s diet,  we learned how to determine if your mineral supplement balances deficiencies in trace minerals, such as copper, zinc and selenium. Daily mineral requirements for goats were based on diets for large breed diary cattle adjusted for differences in body […]

  • Making Sense of Feed Labels

    Part I: Balancing trace mineral deficiencies in your goat’s diet   You are at the feed store looking for a mineral supplement for your goats because you have heard that grass and hay in your area are deficient in minerals. You read the label of a recommended supplement with a “guaranteed analysis” expressed in terms […]

  • 10 Tips to Prevent Barn Fires

    I remember that Sunday afternoon as though it were yesterday. Looking out the kitchen window, seeing the smoke, realizing that the goat barn was on fire. My husband and I ran out the door, horrified at the sight of flames shooting out from the doors and under the walls. The barn was fully engulfed.   […]

  • Culling – the ‘sooner or later’ of showing goats

    Sooner or later, one of the less talked about aspects of goat husbandry will rear its ugly head – the need to reduce your numbers by culling animals.  Whatever prompts the decision, it is never easy to let your babies go. While often sales are prompted by the desire to improve your herd genetics or increase your production numbers, unless you have […]

  • My essential goat first aid kit

    I sell a handful of goats throughout the year and new owners invariably ask me what they should have on hand in their goat emergency first aid medical kit – just in case.   I highly recommend having one of these, and I recommend even more vehemently that you should put it together BEFORE YOU […]

  • Using Goats in a Therapy Program

    I love my goats. They always make me smile. I am a registered nurse and sometimes my days can be a little stressful. One little therapy doeling really brightens my days. Her name is Baby. Baby is a Fainting goat. Every time I look at her she brings a smile to my face. This got […]

  • Blood-Sucking Parasites in Your Goat’s Stomach!

    This article was originally provided via a link in a comment to Shannon Lawrence’s Farmyard blog “Goat vs. Barber Pole  – don’t let the worms win” (August 2012). Because of the popularity of the link we decided to publish the full-length, updated version of this article.   I’m back with everybody’s favorite topic – worms, […]

  • Kidding complications

    Most of the time our does have no problems kidding; however, sometimes we must lend a helping hand.   This article will discuss the differences between Milk Fever, Pregnancy Toxemia and Ketosis. They all have some of the same signs and symptoms, but yet they are very different and require different treatments.   We will […]

  • Why I chose the Kiko goat

    I live on a small 20 acre farm. We used to own cows but they have long since been sold. After I came home from college, I looked at my childhood home. The fences were old and rusted. The pasture was taller than I am with sage and blackberry bushes. I knew we had a […]

  • Introducing New Goats Into a Herd

    Bringing a new goat into your established herd? Here are a few tips for helping new arrivals feel at home.   1.       Quarantine all new goats – Regardless of where your new goats come from, it is a good idea to quarantine them from your other animals for a few weeks. This quarantine period is […]

  • An Epidemic: Mineral Deficiency in Goats

    If you cruise the Craigslist goats for sale pictures or the various Facebook goat health groups around the United States, one common theme you will see in a lot of the pictures and descriptions of goat problems is mineral deficiency. Mineral deficiency is a widespread problem and I am calling it the single most dangerous […]

  • Getting does ready for kidding

    Many of you already have kids on the ground, while others are patiently watching the baby bumps grow. Here are some tips for getting your pregnant does ready for kidding:   Mineral supplementation – Ideally, you should start supplementing your does with the proper minerals before breeding for the best results. Goats need a lot […]

  • Tips for keeping goats warm in the winter

    Probably by the time you read this, the ‘Artic Vortex’ will have disappeared and there will be a major heat wave across North America. Regardless, this information should be relevant for anyone raising goats where temperatures tend to dip below freezing.   Here are some tips for keeping your goats warm in the winter:   […]

  • Essential Kid Care

      I don’t know about you, but here the girls are getting fat and itty bitty udders are appearing from under all the fuzz. Looking forward to spring babies, so learn all about kid care here.   There is nothing better than a baby goat unless maybe it is two or three baby goats! I […]

  • Does this udder make me look fat? – Putting weight on your dairy goats

    Would you believe me if I said that the first rule to putting weight on a goat does not involve grain? You will probably think I am really crazy if I said that grain isn’t even in the second rule, either. A common question that many goat owners have is how to put weight on […]

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