ADK Goat Club Meeting Reminder!

Don't forget --- There will be an ADK Goat Club meeting on Sunday, February 22, 2015 from 11am - 1pm at the Vermontville Town Hall. Please bring some food to share -- it's a potluck! There will be some games for the kids so feel free to bring your two-legged kiddos.

Gut Microflora and Coccidiosis Prevention -- Something to Think About

I work at an immunology lab and part of my week requires that I attend presentations of published research. One presentation I attended last week hit home with me due to it being about Clostridium dificile or as you may be familiar with it as the “CD” in the CDT vaccine. C. dificile is a bacteria that lives in the gut of most mammals. It is from the same group as the bacteria which causes tetanus, hence why you vaccinate for both tetanus (Clostridium tetani) and C. dificile at the same time. Normally C. dificile hangs out in the gut and doesn’t do anything nasty to the animal. But when the animal experiences an upset in normal gut microflora (the good bacteria that lives in the gut/intestines/rumen), C. dificile goes bananas and takes over. C. dificile in small amounts in the gut is not a problem but C. dificile in large amounts can cause major intestinal damage and death.

An upset in gut microflora can be caused by many things including gorging on grain or milk, major and sudden dietary changes, antibiotic treatment, deworming medications, and stress. Whenever the normal balance of gut microflora gets disrupted, the good and benign bacteria can be overpopulated by evil bacteria which cause major health issues. The major health issue that C. dificile causes is it produces an endotoxin which creates holes in the intestinal lining, allowing all kinds of bacteria to enter the goat’s bloodstream. C. dificile infection is very hard to treat because you can eliminate the bacteria from the goat with antibiotics but you can’t fix the endotoxin damage once it has happened.  C. dificile can cause death in a very short amount of time. The even worse part is that if the endotoxin damage doesn’t kill the goat, your animal will always be prone to illness and weakness due to the damage to the intestinal lining.

Sitting in this presentation last week, a light bulb went off in my head about some mysterious cases of death in my baby goats. I have read a lot about the importance of preventing parasites in baby goats. Tapeworms and coccidiosis are parasite problems that can cause slow growth, permanent stunting, and death in young goats. Many goat breeders recommend a strict program of preventative treatment with antibiotics and dewormers to try to limit the amount of parasite damage. I have seen some coccidiosis in my baby goats and I have had trouble with my kids not growing well. I have always assumed that parasite prevention was the key to getting ahead of the problem and the key to making big, healthy kids. Last year I had two Saanen kids born on my farm. I dutifully started to preventatively treat them for coccidiosis at 21 days old with Corid powder. I mixed the powder with water at the recommended dose for prevention and gave it to the kids as an oral drench. After three days of treatment with the Corid antibiotic, both of the kids became very weak and stopped eating. I assumed that they were suffering from coccidiosis even with the treatment I was giving them. I gave them more Corid, tried electrolyte and probiotic therapies, injected antibiotics, dewormers, etc. I threw the kitchen sink at them and the doeling died three days after showing the first signs of being sick and the buckling lived but has always been very weak. At the work presentation on C. dificile, I realized that I probably killed the goats with kindness. I was trying to prevent coccidiosis damage with an antibiotic but instead I probably encouraged C. dificile damage by disrupting their gut microflora with that same antibiotic. Any time you give a goat medicine (conventional or herbal), you run the risk of causing a disruption to the gut microflora. I had been blaming coccidiosis all this time for my troubles when, in reality, I should probably be blaming C. dificile.

This year I am going to concentrate on not disrupting the gut microflora of my baby goats. I am not going to use antibiotics for coccidiosis prevention. I am instead going to work on limiting their exposure to parasites by keeping their pen clean and dry and by mounting their food bowls, hay mangers, and water buckets up so they can’t contaminate them with poop or dirt. I do vaccinate my pregnant females with the CDT vaccine every year about 3 weeks before they are due to kid. This is supposed to allow some transfer of immunity to C. dificile from the mom to the kids, but it is not guaranteed due to the tricky nature of C. dificile infection.  

Meeting!

There will be an Adirondack Goat Club meeting on February 22, 2015 from 11am to 1pm at the Vermontville Town Hall. Everyone is welcome! Feel free to bring your kids (two-legged ones) and your friends! It will be a potluck lunch so please bring a dish to share. The theme of the meeting will be "Getting Ready for Spring : Kidding, Milking, and General Goat Care". The meeting is free to attend.

We're Still Here!

Sorry about the radio silence lately with the Adirondack Goat Club blog. I have been super busy and haven't had time to dedicate to the blog. The ADK Goat Club is still alive and well. If you are interested in joining the email list for updates and club news, please send me an email at rosesgoats(at)gmail.com.

I hope to post more to the blog soon!
Thanks!

April Topic: A (Poorly) Illustrated Guide to Baby Goat Poop

Meconium: Black, tarry poops - Usually seen between 0 and 48 hours old. Totally normal. This is the first poops baby goats will have. They are extremely sticky and get all over everything. They are (mercifully) odorless.  

 

  Yellow, watery scours - Usually seen between 1 and 14 days old. Not normal. Watery diarrhea is caused by too much milk per feeding or milk replacer. To cure, lower the amount of milk per feeding until the scours stop. Or change the type of milk replacer. Baby goats do best on replacer made for goats, not "all stock" or cow replacer. NO medication necessary. 

 

Yellow, pudding poops - Usually seen between 1 and 14 days old. Totally normal. Since young babies are on a diet of pure milk, their poops will be yellow in color and the consistency of thick pudding. Be sure to clean the anal area of dried poop so not to cause blockage. This stuff is very sticky and smells like soured milk (probably because it is soured milk!).

No poop - Occurs at 1-14 days old but can happen anytime. Very common, but not normal. Since the first poops are very sticky, they can clog up the works and cause constipation. The best treatment is to give a warm water enema of 1 oz warm water and 1 tsp mineral oil. Put in a large syringe with no needle. Insert into anus and slowly push the plunger. You should see pooping within 15 minutes. Repeat enema as necessary. DO NOT give laxatives!

  

Yellow, grape clusters - Usually seen at 10-20 days old. Very normal. The pudding poops turn slowly into yellow berries as the baby's digestive system matures. They may be brownish as the kid starts eating grain and hay.

Smelly, green diarrhea - Occurs at 21 -30 days old. Very common, but not normal! This is the major symptom of coccidiosis infection. Coccidiosis is caused by a single-celled internal parasite that is not a worm and it is not killed by deworming medicines. You must treat immediately and aggressively with Sulmet, Di-Methox or Corid. These are sulfa-based antibiotics that will kill coccidia parasites. Kids can die quickly from coccidiosis infection and even if they don't die, they can be stunted for life due to the damage caused to their intestinal lining. The best treatment is to treat kids preventatively for coccidiosis by giving them a sulfa-based antibiotic at exactly 21 days old. Coccidia have a 21 day life cycle and killing them before they mature and cause massive damage is essential.

Smelly, green scours - Usually follows the green diarrhea of coccidiosis but can occur alone. Not normal. EXTREMELY FATAL. Very watery, very smelly greenish or brownish scours signals massive digestive system damage. Enterotoxemia is a likely cause. Enterotoxemia is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium perfingens. C. perfingens is found in the soil and does not normally colonize the digestive system of a healthy goat. If the kid is already sick from coccidiosis or bloat, enterotoxemia can occur due to C. perfingens taking advantage of an unhealthy rumen. The best treatment is large doses of CD Antitoxin, orally. This will help to neutralize the toxins produced by the bacteria. Give 10 - 20 cc orally every 4 hours until the kid improves. Vaccinating your pregnant goats with CDT toxoid at 4 weeks before kidding and vaccinating kids at 4 weeks old can help build immunity to enterotoxemia.

Brown berries - Usually seen at 2-4 weeks old or older. Normal. Yay! You made it! Miniature brown berries are the endpoint of a long road to adult goat pooping.

Learn to Make Goat Milk Soap!

There will be a Goat Milk Soap Making Workshop at the Paul Smith's Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) on April 6, 2014 from 1pm - 2:30pm. For more information and to sign up, please see: http://adirondackvic.org/Workshops-at-the-VIC-Soap-Making-April-2014.html

Goats For Sale Or Wanted

If anyone is looking for a goat or two, or has some goats for sale -- please email me the details of what you are looking for or what you have and I will post it to the ADK Goat Club email list. We have over 60 members currently. My email is rosesgoats(at)gmail.com.

March Topic: Making your own grain blend

I have been mixing my own goat grain blend for a few years. The results have been good with my herd. I have a few reasons for deciding to mix my own grain, instead of using commercial, pelleted, pre-mixed feeds. First, it is cheaper per pound to buy the ingredients and mix the grain at home than to buy bags of pelleted feed. Second, there's no molasses or fillers in homemade grain. Third, my goats look and act healthier on my grain blend than on commercial feed.

My grain blend consists of 70% whole, steamed, or crimped oats (I haven't found a difference between the three so I just get whatever is available), 20% poultry scratch grains (cracked corn, oats, barley), 10% black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS). I mix this up in a large tote bin. Any leftover grain gets stored in another tote bin until I am ready to mix up the next batch. It's important to have a secure and dry place to store your grain blend ingredients. Since I am mixing parts of different sacks of grain, I wind up with leftovers in the bags and have to have storage available.

I feed this grain blend to all my goats. My non-pregnant or non-lactating goats get 0.5 lbs of grain per day. My pregnant goats start gestation at 0.5 lbs per day and end gestation at 2.0 lbs per day. I then increase the grain to 3.0 lbs per day at 1 month of lactation. Depending on how much milk the goat is producing, I will increase to a maximum of 4.0 lbs of grain per day. I decrease the amount slowly as lactation decreases.

This grain blend is fed along with Chaffhaye alfalfa silage. It is extremely important to provide all goats with a source of alfalfa daily. Goats need calcium in their diets and alfalfa is high in calcium. Along with building strong bones and being a major component of goat milk, calcium also helps balance out dietary phosphorus to keep goats healthy. Too much phosphorus can lead to urinary calculi, pregnancy toxemia, hypocalcemia and other health problems. All grains and feeds made from them (corn, oats, barley, wheat, sunflower seeds, etc) contain high levels of phosphorus. Grass and grass hay is also high in phosphorus. Thus when feeding any grains/feeds and hay or pasture to goats, you MUST provide alfalfa. I use 2 lbs of Chaffhaye per goat per day. Due to our calcium-poor soils in the North Country, it is even more imperative to provide calcium-rich alfalfa to your goats because the goats will get very little calcium through grazing.

When feeding a home-made grain blend that doesn't contain any mineral supplements, it is very important to supplement your goats with the extra minerals they need. The best way to do that is to provide a loose mineral blend designed specifically for goats. Sweetlix Meatmaker 16:8 is a good mineral blend that goats will readily consume. It is available through special order at most feed stores. Leave a pan of it out at all times so the goats can eat it as they choose. Be sure to clean and refill the pans often. Do not use salt licks, mineral blocks, or non-goat specific minerals. These do not contain enough of the essential minerals that goats have to have. It is also important to add copper and selenium to your goats along with their daily minerals. In the North Country, most goats are copper and selenium deficient due to our poor soils. Copper can be supplemented by using Copasure boluses for goats every 6 months. Selenium can be supplemented by using Selenium/Vitamin E gel for goats every month.

Mixing your own grain can be a positive choice for your goat herd. Be sure to do lots of research on goat dietary needs before planning to mix your own grain. If you do change your goats diet, be sure to watch for any signs of health changes. Change diets slowly and keep goats on the same diet for a few months to best assess the results. 

-Rose Bartiss

Asgaard Farm Kids for Sale and Kidding Party

Kidding season is here at Asgaard Farm! 

We have doelings, bucklings, and wethers available. Our breeds include American and French Alpine, American Nubian, American Saanen, and experimental. Our kids are raised under a strict CAE prevention program with pasteurized, whole milk. Kids are vaccinated with BoSe at birth and CDT at 4 and 8 weeks, and doelings and bucklings are disbudded. Contact Stephanie at farmer@asgaardfarm.com or 518-647-5754 for more information or to reserve your kids. Let her know that you're a member of the goat club!

We're also having a Kidding Day on Saturday, March 22nd from 10AM to 1PM. Bring the whole family to meet the kids and enjoy spring on the farm! Warm beverages and lunch provided. Email info@asgaardfarm.com or 518-627-5754 for more information.

Testing and Drawing Blood in Goats

Crystal over at Noodleville Adventures did a great "How-to" post on drawing blood for testing goats. Check it out at http://noodlevilleadventures.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-noodleville-how-to-goat-blood-draws.html. She has a great explanation at the end of why people should test their goats for diseases.

Eastern NY Goat Club and NYS Goat Breeders Association Meeting

Sunday March 9, 2013 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

ENYGC is hosting the New York State Dairy Goat Breeders Association meeting which will be held at the Saratoga County Extension Service building which is located at 50 West High Street in Ballston Spa.

Members are asked to bring a covered dish for a potluck meal and items for the White Elephant Auction to benefit NYSDGBA. For more information and to join the ENYGC, please see: http://enygc.webs.com/

February Topic: How much grain for a dairy goat?

While good quality forages are usually adequate, goats may sometimes need supplemental feeding, especially if they are producing high volumes of milk or during the winter. Goats need a proper balance of energy in the form of roughage or grain, as well as protein, vitamins, minerals, and clean water. Protein and energy requirements vary, depending on the type of goat and its stage of production. Dairy goats need both high-quality forage and supplemental grain to reach their full potential, especially during peak lactation or growth.

Goats can be picky eaters, and they may not immediately accept new feeds. Any feed changes should be made gradually to avoid upsetting the rumen microbes. Feeding very high levels of grain can also upset the rumen. Grain should never be more than 50% of the total diet, except for heavily-producing dairy goats. Table 2 gives guidelines for balancing protein requirements when utilizing pasture, hay and grain supplementation. Here are some general “rules of thumb” for supplementing lactating does:

1. Start the doe on grain a month before kidding and have her consuming about 1.5 pounds of grain by the time she kids. This allows the rumen organisms to slowly adapt.
2. After kidding, increase grain slowly to about 3 pounds per day by 4 weeks post-kidding.
3. After peak lactation, feed according to milk production. Feed 0.5 pound of grain for every pound of milk over 3 pounds milk per day, along with good quality forage. For example, a goat producing 8 pounds a day would get all the good forage she could eat plus 2.5 pounds (8 – 3 = 5 lb. x 0.5 lb feed/lb milk) of grain, split into two feedings.
4. Try not to feed a doe more than 4 pounds of grain per day (Smith, 1994).

For the complete article, please see:  http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/dairy/feed-and-nutrition/feeding-dairy-goats/?source=newslettergoat&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=February-20-Goat

ADK Goat Club WINS 1st Place in Parade!!!

The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Gala parade was a huge success for the Adirondack Goat Club. We won 1st place for an "Animal Group". There were 20 people and 12 goats marching down Main St. on Saturday. All the goats were dressed up in style with green hats, bandanas, and coats. The crowd loved seeing the goats and at one point both sides of the street were chanting "GOATS! GOATS! GOATS!".

A special thanks to all who brought their goats and to all who marched with us! Thanks to Janet and Mark for bringing their pony cart decorated with a rainbow and pot of gold!

Winter Carnival will be going to the GOATS!

The weather looks decent for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Gala Parade on Saturday, February 8 at 1pm. The Adirondack Goat Club will be marching in the parade with goats, sheep, horses, and maybe a llama! Everyone is welcome to march with us (even if you don't bring an animal). We will be meeting in the Aubuchon parking lot at 12-12:30pm and then heading to our spot in the parade line-up at 12:30pm. The parade starts at 1pm and marches down Main St. to the Town Hall. Please come and march with us or at least come and cheer us on as we march by!!!

4H Small Ruminant Presentations - Open To the Public!

Fantastic 4H Winter Horse Symposium! January 25, North Star Industries Building, Malone, 9:30-2:00 FREE to 4H members and families. 2 Vets- The Importance of Equine Dental Care and Recognizing an Emergency. 2 Judges/Trainers- Bits:Their History, uses, fitting. 2 Equine Nutritionists- Equine Nutrition and Nutrition for the Senior or "Problem" Horse. Plus many activities for the younger members! Make Your Own Sundaes donated from Stewarts! Open to all surrounding counties and the public. Bring a friend! — with Pat Banker. (Donations accepted from "The Public"...)

 

4H Small Ruminant (Goat, Alpaca, etc) session at the January 25 Winter Horse Symposium! Free-Small Ruminant Health Care, Feeding and General Care for New Owners to old pros. Rose Bartiss will give two presentations - 1st: Tips for Goat Keeping. 2nd: Breeding, Kidding, and Milking. 9:30-Noon. Message Pat Banker to register. Open to the public and all 4H members and families. Pre-registration required!

Goats on Parade!

The Adirondack Goat Club would like to put together a float for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Gala Parade on February 8, 2014. The parade starts at 1pm and goes through downtown Saranac Lake. The theme of Winter Carnival this year is "Celtic Carnival". Parade floats can win prizes and are judged on theme, music, choreography, costumes, decoration, creativity, and uniqueness. The deadline to apply for a float in the parade is February 5th.

The picture above is from the 2010 Winter Carnival Parade. My goat Martha enjoyed being in the parade and wasn't scared of the crowd, the noise, or the craziness. She loved it! People love seeing animals in the parade and I think a Goat Club float would be a lot of fun. If you are interested in joining the ADK Goat Club float group, please contact me (Rose Bartiss).

December Topic of the Month: Ethical Considerations When Breeding Goats

Something to consider when deciding which goats to breed this time of year is the question of: Is it ethical to breed these animals? When considering ethics in farming, you have to think about the components, and the products. The components are the buck and the doe that will be mated together. The products are any kids produced from the breeding. 

The components should be chosen carefully. You should not simply breed a doe just because she is of age for breeding and available. Almost every doe will come into heat and be fertile, but those should NOT be the only deciding factors in your breeding strategy. Other factors, like her potential to carry kids to term, her udder and milking potential, her temperament, her health and her genetics should all be considered carefully. If the goat gets bred but dies or aborts before the kids are born due to avoidable reasons, then the breeding should have not proceeded in the first place. If she kids but has a useless udder that can’t produce milk, or the kids can’t nurse, or she is known to be prone to mastitis, then breeding should not be considered unless you are prepared to deal with those complications. If the goat can produce kids but she has a terrible personality, the choice of breeding her should be weighed against the potential for the kids having terrible personalities too. Health at the time of breeding is a huge consideration. Even sick does will come into heat and get bred. There are some common diseases that does can carry during gestation and pass easily on to the kids at birth. Creating a new generation of unhealthy kids is not ethical. Genetics of the doe should be considered highly in the choice to breed her. Crossing a poor quality, ugly doe to a high quality handsome buck will only produce kids that are ½ as valuable because you can only clean up bad genetics with good breeding to a limited extent. The doe will have the potential to pass on her broken pasterns, turned out toes, lumpy back, fat head, and small udder to any kids she creates. 

The buck must also come under these same considerations. He is, after all, ½ of your herd. Bucks of all qualities are easily available during breeding season, so just using whoever happens to be easiest to get is not a good idea. The buck should be carefully inspected and his family tree should be evaluated closely for its good and bad qualities. If every doe in a family line has poor udder attachment, then using a buck from that line is a good way to have doe kids with poor udder attachment.

The products from any breeding must also be carefully considered. You have to evaluate what you are going to do with the kids even before they are a twinkle in the buck’s eye. When deciding on your breedings for the year, you must have a plan in place for the kids. Take time to think about how many kids you need, what you will do with them, what you hope to keep, what you hope to sell, what you may have to cull, what to do with the bucklings,  and what to do with the doelings. Unless you are independently wealthy and have lots of time to dedicate to your goat herd, you will probably not be able to keep every single kid that is produced. So if you have to sell some, be sure to evaluate the kid market in your area. Find out what breeds people are buying, what the average price is, and what level of quality is selling. It does you no good to breed expensive, high quality, specialty breed goats in an area where no one is interested in paying for them. The same goes for low quality, ugly, mutt goats. Be sure to plan on what to do about their horns. Most people buying dairy goats do not want them to have horns. If you are not prepared to disbud kids to stop horn growth, then you might want to reconsider breeding animals that will produce kids that require disbudding. Keep in mind that butchering is a viable and humane option for many excess goat kids. Think about the market in your area for goat meat and decide if you plan on selling kids for butchering or butchering them yourself. If you have moral issues with butchering goats, then it’s best to be careful about producing kids who may be sold to people who will be butchering them. Not producing those kids in the first place is the best way to ensure that they will not be butchered in the future. As the saying goes, “Abstinence is the best prevention”!

In conclusion, to be ethical in your breeding strategy, you should breed only the best animals to each other. They should embody good qualities that are an advantage to the goat species. Their kids should be positive additions to the future of goat farming and not contain qualities that detract from the species as a whole. We also have an ethical responsibility to provide care for the product of the breedings. Overproduction of kids that will not be raised humanely or treated with respect is not ethical. It is our ethical obligation as farmers to understand that since we are making the choices to breed these animals, then we are responsible for the future of the goat species. The creation of life should be taken seriously and all of the implications of that should be weighed carefully.  

NNY Sheep & Goat Week Programs December 3-5 in Watertown, Canton, Malone and Plattsburgh

The results of research conducted on three Northern New York farms to evaluate parasite control treatments for sheep and goats will be shared at programs organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension for December 3-5 in Watertown, Canton, Malone and Plattsburgh.

The research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and conducted on NNY farms evaluated alternative methods for controlling barber pole worm, a widespread internal parasite of sheep and goats.

Seventy-three percent of 273 sheep and goat farmers responding to a Cornell survey indicated problems with barber pole worm. Infestation can lead to livestock death.

Dr. tatiana Stanton of the Cornell University Sheep and Goat Program will present the results of treatment protocols tested on two regional sheep farms and one goat farm. The protocol involved the use of copper oxide wire particles, a treatment used with success by small livestock producers in the southeastern U.S.

The NNY Fall Sheep and Goat Week meeting in Plattsburgh will be held on December 5, 7pm, Cornell Cooperative Extension Clinton County office, Plattsburgh, Please call 561-7450 to register or email phh7@cornell.edu to let us know you will be attending.

The meeting presentations will also include discussion of deer worm controls and the use of evasive grazing techniques for parasite management.

Learn more about small livestock and other NNY agricultural sectors at www.nnyagdev.org  or contact Cornell Cooperation Extension in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, or St. Lawrence County.

November Topic: Is my goat in heat?

If you have to ask that question, then your goat is NOT in heat! Most goats are very blatant about their heat cycles. Around the middle of August you will notice your does getting noisy and obnoxious. They will scream their heads off and drive you nuts even though they are fed, watered, and out to pasture for the day. You may or may not see reddening of the vulva or mucous discharge. If you have a buck on your property, the doe may become very interested in him and even escape from her pen to go visit him. Watch your buck! He will be driven mad by the smell of a doe in heat and may escape to go courting. 

If you don’t have a buck, then it may be harder to tell when your goat is in heat. The absence of a buck to trigger the doe’s hormones can make her less likely to come into heat or she may come into a “silent heat” where she doesn’t show obvious signs of heat. If you want to breed your doe and you don’t have a buck, you can help her come into heat by getting a buck rag from someone that has a buck. A buck rag is simply a rag that is rubbed on the buck to obtain his smell. Take the rag to your doe and rub it on her and leave it in her pen where she can smell it. She should start coming into heat after exposure to the buck rag. 

If you do have a buck and you do not see your does come into heat, then the most likely reason is because your does are already pregnant! This is true if your does are allowed to run unsupervised with your buck. Bucks are quick and many goats are shy about getting caught in the act so you may never see mating occur. Also be super vigilant about escapees during mating season. Bucks will get crazy and can hop a 5’ tall fence to get to a doe in heat. I have heard about some bucks who hop out of their pen, mate all the does they can find, and then hop back in their pen without the farmer knowing! One good rule to follow is to castrate any male goats that you don’t want to use for mating. It’s usually the one buck that you aren’t interested in using for mating who gets loose and breeds all the does.  

A doe will come into heat for 24-48 hours every 19-21 days. The egg is ready for fertilization when a doe is in a “standing heat” and she will stand for a buck’s mounting attempts. Trying to force mating by holding an unreceptive doe or by putting a doe and buck together when she isn’t in heat, will not result in pregnancy because the egg is not in the right spot for proper fertilization. You can bring a doe into heat artificially by using uterine implants. This method is commonly used in preparation for artificial insemination in order to make sure the doe is at the proper stage of ovulation for the procedure. 

If you notice any change in your doe’s personality during the fall, mark it on a calendar and then wait 19-21 days to see if she acts weird again. The calendar is your best tool for this time of year because you can track changes and trends to help pinpoint when your doe is ready to breed and when she is pregnant. If you breed your doe, wait three weeks and see if she comes back into heat. Some goats need a few attempts with a buck before they get pregnant. A doe not coming into heat is a good way to know that she is pregnant.

Hopefully your mating season will be uneventful and you will have a good crop of kids in the spring. Happy goating!

Asgaard Farm Meeting Summary

 The Fall Meeting of the Adirondack Goat Club was at Asgaard Farm and Dairy on Sunday, October 27, 2013. The meeting was well attended by goat farmers from Peru to Saratoga. We lucked out and missed the rainy weather. The meeting included a tour of the farm and dairy. The milking herd was out enjoying the lush pastures. 

 

We toured the milk room and got to see the multi-goat milking stanchion set up. 12 goats at a time can be milked in the parlor. The stanchions are set up so the goats can load themselves and minimal handling is required to get them in their spots for milking. Milking is done with a pipeline system that has a clean in place sterilization set up. The sucker units, pipes, and tubes do not need to be disassembled to be sanitized before and after milking. The milk goes into storage room where it is prepped for use to make many types of farmstead goat cheeses.

 

The farm and dairy have many beautiful pasture areas that boast views of the Adirondack Mountains. The goats at Asgaard Farm and Dairy are pretty spoiled!! 

A special thanks to the staff at Asgaard for hosting the meeting. Also a special thanks to them for the delicious goat cheeses, goat roast, goat milk mac'n'cheese, and goat milk ice cream for lunch!