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!