When you have dairy goats, maintaining good udder health is the key to maintaining production and a healthy, happy doe. In order to be sure your doe’s udder is healthy and productive, there are a few key things to watch out for. Mastitis Mastitis is the number one threat to udder health, causing dairy producers…
Goat Keeping
Raising Goats: Selenium and Copper Deficiency
Once you begin the journey into raising goats, or even just researching raising goats, you will come across the fact that copper and selenium are an essential need in a goat’s diet for them to maintain their overall health. What a lot of goat beginners don’t realize is that the area of the country that…
Urinary Calculi in Goats: What You Need to Know
One of the leading causes of death in male goats is Urinary Calculi. It’s a painful, terrible way for a goat to die, and most owners don’t realize it’s an issue until it’s too late. If you keep bucks or wethers, it’s essential that you’re familiar with Urinary Calculi, and how to prevent it. What…
How to Show your Dairy Goat
So you think your goat is pretty fabulous and would rule the show ring. But where to start? Diving into the show world can be very intimidating if you’re just getting started and don’t have a good mentor to help prepare you. Registration and Tattoos Is your goat registered with the American Dairy Goat Association?…
Small Raw Dairy Farm: Our Story
It started with just two goats, as these things often do. A darling dam and daughter pair that seemed like a great deal and would give us a doe in milk for our family needs. Quickly we discovered that Totem (mom) didn’t want any part of being milked, and we weren’t willing to pursue it with…
Preparing Goats for Cold Weather
When Fall kicks off, it’s inevitable that people start worrying about their goats and how they’ll battle the cold. Living in Maine, we know cold winters. We know negative temperatures, and feet worth of snow dumping on us at any given time. But our goats always make it through, little worse for the wear….
ADGA DHIR Milk Testing
As we’ve gotten more serious about commitment to our goats and our breeding program, we’ve been participating in a variety of performance programs offered by the American Dairy Goat Association. As a herd who’d main focus is dairy production, one of the most useful programs we’ve participated in so far has been DHIR milk…
So You Want Dairy Goats
When livestock becomes a part of your self-sufficiency journey, having a dairy animal is usually a part of that plan. Having a reliable dairy producer on your homestead allows for a lot of food freedom. Dairy goats are great way to achieve this. As goat’s milk becomes more mainstream, more and more homesteaders and farmers are turning…
How to Make Money With Goats
Keeping goats has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. They provide entertainment, companionship, milk and more. My life truly changed for the better when I got my first goats. But let’s face it, goats can be expensive to keep, especially if you have more than just a few. Figuring out hot to make money with…
The Benefits of Goats Milk Soap
As the general public becomes more aware of what they’re putting on and on their body, goats milk soap and other, more natural, body products have been receiving a lot of attention. The Benefits of Goats Milk for Your Skin Our Nigerian Dwarfs have a very high butterfat content to their milk. This excellent fat translates…
You Might be a Dairy Goat Snob If…..
When you spend untold amounts of money to fuel your passion for goats, it’s only natural that you become particular about things. My good friend Cheryle at Old Mountain Farm coined the phrase “goat snob” and I just thought it was fitting for when goats become your way of life. You Might Be a Dairy Goat…
After the Kidding – Doe Care
Keeping your doe healthy and strong during their gestation helps ensure an easy delivery and healthy kids on the ground. While taking care of those adorable, fragile new lives is important, don’t forget about your doe – she needs your support after kidding as well. Right After Kidding No matter how quick and easy a…