Topic of the Month: Minerals

This month's topic is a discussion on mineral supplementation for your goats.

All goats need mineral supplementation added to their grain, hay, and pasture rations. Due to goats being browsers by nature, they have evolved to eat a wide variety of different vegetation. This wide variety of vegetation supplies goats with a natural variety of vitamins and minerals. Sheep and cows, which are grazers by nature, have evolved to eat mainly grass. Thus goats need more mineral supplementation in a confined pasture situation than other ruminants.

The best form of mineral supplementation for goats is to provide them with loose, granular mineral blends that are designed specifically for goats. Goats have small mouths and soft tongues which make mineral blocks and mineral tubs too hard for them to utilize fully. This is why loose, granular minerals are most important. Mineral blocks use salt as a binding agent to make them hard. This means they contain much more sodium than a goat needs daily. Sodium is a limiting factor in the goat's diet so a goat will only lick enough of a mineral block to satisfy its sodium needs for the day and not its other mineral needs. Loose minerals do not have excess salt in them. While we are on the topic of sodium, some people put out baking soda all the time for goats to eat to balance their rumen pH. This causes the same problem as excess sodium in mineral blocks by satisfying a goat's sodium needs, causing them to shun their minerals. If you put out baking soda and loose minerals together all the time, the goats will eat the baking soda first and then not as much of the minerals as they should.

The loose minerals should be designed specifically for goats because other species of animals have different mineral requirements. Sheep can not have added copper in their diets. Usually, minerals that are labeled "All Stock" will be formulated with sheep in mind and will not contain enough copper to keep goats healthy. Goats need a lot of copper in their diets. Some people with sheep and goats housed together prefer to put out loose mineral that is formulated for sheep and then supplement their goats a couple of times a year with a bolus of copper. Copper boluses are large pills that you feed orally to the goat. The pill sits in the goat's rumen and slowly releases the copper that is in the pill. Unfortunately there is not a brand of copper bolus available specifically for goats so most people that want to bolus their goats must take cow Copasure boluses and resize them manually for their goats. 

A good goat mineral blend should have a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio. This ratio should be considered when feeding the goat its grain ration and alfalfa ration. Processed grains are high in phosphorus, alfalfa is high in calcium. If your goats are getting lots of grain or lots of alfalfa daily, then look for a mineral blend that will balance out the calcium to phosphorus ratio to 2:1. 

Another thing to consider when supplementing goats with minerals is the mineral content of the water they drink. If their water is normally very high in iron or calcium or some other mineral, then it is best to look for a loose mineral that is low in this particular mineral. This way the amount of the mineral the goat receives daily will balance out. Too much of one mineral in the diet will cause a deficiency in other minerals. Minerals compete for binding sites in the body and if there is an imbalance, the mineral in abundance in the diet will win out. A goat could be on a balanced mineral blend and still have a deficiency due to too much of a certain mineral present somewhere else in the diet.

Please post a comment if you have any additions or subtractions to the above information. I welcome any discussion on the topic!

Farm 2 Fork Festival!

The Adirondack Goat Club will be at the Saranac Lake Farm 2 Fork Festival on September 3, 2011. The Fest is located in Riverside Park in downtown Saranac Lake. It will be an all day event from 9am to 5pm. This event will be the culmination of the "Week Of Eating Local" celebration throughout the Tri-Lakes. The Fest will include samples of delicious local food, food recipes, workshops on growing and preparing food, and other food and farm related events. The ADK Goat Club will be there with some goats and goat information. We will also be hosting the "Goat Workshop" from 11:30am to 12pm at the Fest. Come and learn all about goats!!

Come support your local farmers and food producers by stopping by the Farm 2 Fork Festival for some delicious food and some education on how to grow your own food and where to get local food.

I hope to see you there!!!!

Hiatus

Wow, I bet you are wondering what happened to the Club? Well, it's not forgotten or disassembled. It's just on hiatus for the summer. With all the fun goat stuff going on during the summer it's hard to sit and plan a meeting. I hope to resume the Club in the fall and get some great meetings going.

Please stay tuned for future meetings. See you in the fall!!!

1st Meeting Wrap Up

Unfortunately due to the glorious weather on Saturday, June 18, not many people showed up to the inaugural goat club meeting. I don't blame them, it was beautiful outside and not a drop of rain in sight. For the few who did show up we had a good time and ate some good food and had a good discussion about all things goat. The raffle was post-poned until a better attending meeting is held. Added to the raffle items were the book "American Farmstead Cheese" and a DIY goat packing saddle kit. These were donated by the attendees.

Another meeting will be scheduled for a later date. I am thinking it should be a dinner meeting so that people don't have to take time out of the middle of their day to come. I will keep you posted! 

Topic of the Month: NYS Laws and Regulations

For those who are interested in playing by the book, here's a list of some of the New York State dairy and livestock regulations that might effect goat farmers.

Fencing laws -- These are terribly archaic and probably haven't been updated since 1900 but they still hold up in court and apply legally today. This link also has regulations that apply when your animals do property damage on someone else's property and vice-versa.
http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/fence/ny_fnc.htm

Dairy regulations regarding the sale of milk and milk products -- These are some complex laws that make it very hard (actually, pretty much impossible) for someone to legally sell raw or pasteurized milk or milk products from their farm.
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/di/DIBusiness.html#8

Of particular interest to goat farmers may be this set of regulations on production, processing, and distribution of milk and milk products.
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/di/Laws%20in%20HTML/PART2_milk_control_law.htm

Here are some specific rules on raw milk sales.
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/sheep_goats/Raw_Milk_Sales_Start_Up_and_Guidance_0508.pdf

Here's the rules on interstate transfer of goats.
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/sheep_goats/1NYCRR_Part_62_Cervid_Sheep_Goat_Llama_Import_Regs.pdf

These are the rules for showing goats in the State Fair and County Fairs. I believe these rules also apply to goats that are on public display and exposed to the public (petting zoos, local farmer's markets, etc).
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AI/FairRequirement.pdf

I am looking further into the issue of whether or not goats must be vaccinated for rabies if they are going to be exposed to the public. I have heard people say that it is a law that they must be vaccinated. The problem is that there is currently no vaccine for rabies that is officially approved for usage in goats. There is a sheep vaccine, but most veterinarians won't certify its use in goats because this is an "off-label" usage of this vaccine. It's a catch-22 because if you really do need goats vaccinated, you can't because there isn't a vaccine available. I will report back if I get a good answer from the State Health Department or Ag and Markets. 

Raffle Items!

I have wonderful raffle items for the ADK Goat Club meeting on Saturday at 12pm:

Hoegger's Goat Supply sent me a complete hoof trimming kit with trimming guide for the raffle. Thank you Hoegger's for your generous donation!

There's a new copy of "Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Cheesemaking" by Brad Kessler. Anyone who loves goats should read this beautiful ode to the dairy goat and small herd farming.

I have two jars of Bully Goat Jelly. This is a delicious sweet spread made from Bully Hill "Love My Goat" wine. It pairs wonderfully with fresh chevre!

There's an assortment of handmade Goat Milk Soaps made by me. The assortment will include one bar of Balsam Forest scent, one bar of Vanilla-Oatmeal scent, and one bar of Citrus Breeze scent.

I may add more raffle items as the time draws near, so come to the meeting to join in the raffle!

All raffle tickets will be $1 or 6 for $5. The proceeds will go towards funding for the club.

There will also be door prizes for lucky club members. Everyone could be a winner!!!!

Meeting Agenda

The agenda for the Adirondack Goat Club meeting on June 18, 2011 is as follows:

12pm - Potluck lunch (please bring  a dish to share)
1pm - Formal introductions for everyone -- a good way to get to know everybody
1:30pm - Business meeting -- updates on future meetings and workshops, raffle and door prize drawings
2pm - Open discussion on goat care basics -- what works for you, what works in this area, what's important for all goat owners to know
3pm - Farm tour


I hope to see everyone there!!!