Goat Night and the next meeting

"Goat Night" at Ward Lumber last night was a great success! A special thanks goes out to Ward Lumber for sponsoring the event. They provided free pizza and soda, as well as four bags of Poulin goat feed for door prizes. The pizza was very good and even featured local goat cheese from Mad River Creamery, courtesy of Asgaard Farms. Don't forget that Ward Lumber in Jay has a great line-up of goat products available, from Poulin grains, to Premier goat fencing, to Sweetlix goat minerals. They can order anything you need for your goats if they don't already have it in stock. They also offer free deliver of feed and supplies every other week, direct to your farm. Just send them your order, leave a check in the barn, and they will drop off the stuff you need.

I presented a wide range of topics last night to help out the new and not-so-new goat owner. Goats are unique animals and special considerations must be made in the care and feeding of them. Goats can't be managed the same as cows, horses, or sheep. I presented what I felt were the major important points that every goat owner needs to know that makes goat care different from other species. I talked about proper mineral supplementation using loose, goat specific minerals. I spoke about feeding an alfalfa to grain ratio of 3:1 in order to provide a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1. I touched on the importance of constant access to fiber/forage/fresh pasture and access to clean, fresh water for a goat's health. I spent some major time talking about the different types of internal and external parasites and how to identify goats that are infested. Hoof and horn care were mentioned. And I spent the remainder of the presentation talking about the importance and reasoning behind testing your goats annually (or at least occasionally) for CAE, CL, Johnes, and Brucellosis using a blood sample.

The audience seemed to enjoy the presentation. There were a lot of great questions and comments throughout the night. I really hope I helped people understand their goats a little better!

The next ADK Goat Club meeting will be in September. The theme will be "breeding". I am hoping to get a list together of people who need a buck for breeding this fall and people who have bucks available to do the job. Even if you don't plan on breeding this year, please come to the meeting. It is always a good time to interact with your fellow goat owners. If you are interested in hosting the next Goat Club meeting, please let me (Rose) know.

Thanks!!