Author: Frances Amend

As spring is drawing near, we’re taking a look at our herd and asking, “What is our next step? What are our goals for the future of our farm?”

Pondering on those questions, we’re thinking about which does need to move on in our herd. We will likely sell a few senior does this spring, so please keep an eye on Facebook and our for sale page. We decided to send Daisy to new pastures. We were blessed to be able to sell her to a perfect 4H and ADGA home in Eastern Washington. We know she will be loved there. Daisy is a beautiful girl, and she was hard to let go. However, we know that she’ll thrive in her new home.

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Today we gave all of our does selenium and vitamin E gel. One month out before kidding, they should get a dose of this, and routinely get it every thirty days. We use the durvet multi dose tube (see photo) and we get it from the local feed store. Each doe gets a dose of 4cc. Kids/newborn kids get 2cc. 

We’re also wrapping up giving the CDT vaccine to the five pregnant ones. They get it a month out from due date. See the CDT post for more information on administering the shot. 

The pregnant does have also been getting pregnancy herbs, a mixture of herbs beneficial to pregnancy. We are beginning lead feeding in the evening. 

Baby bumps are getting big here. We’re excited to see our first kids on the ground around April 16th. Follow our facebook page to stay updated on kiddings, available kids, etc. We usually put avaiable kids on there first before we do on our website.

If you have reservations, watch for an email from us announcing the arrival of kids!

And more good news, our first Oberhasli is finally registered after months of waiting. Be sure to check out her page. We will hopefully have our first Oberhasli kids in Spring 2024.

We would like to make public that we are not offering farm tours or visits at this moment for those interested about goats, our farm, and those wanting to visit with goat kids. However, if you are a serious buyer that has reservation(s) or has made deposit(s) on kids, then we will offer a farm visit for you.

Thank you.

Doe	Ring 1 / Norcross	Ring 2 / Cox	Ring 3 / Bice	Ring 4 / Clarke – Rupchis	Notes
Fern	7/20ish	4/20ish	–	7/20ish	Overheight in ring 3
Willow	7/22	4/22	Reserve GCH	2/22
Maiden	7/23	5/23	6/23	2/23
Missy	–	–	10/23	–	Sunburned
Rose	–	9	–	7

We use herbal remedies, not chemical treatments, whenever possible, to take a more holistic approach to goat health and well-being.

Worming your goats preventatively

We chose to use an herbal worm formula rather than the typical medicine. Should a goat come down with a severe case of internal parasites, we would use Ivermectin.

We use Molly’s Herbals for our wormer. Also on Molly’s website are some other great natural remedies to various goat ailments. Here are the benefits to using the herbal worm formula (from Molly’s website):

Molly’s Herbals Worm Formulas:
The original two part system, works holistically in multiple ways.

• By expelling live worms: the worms hate being around the herb so much they would rather leave the host than be around the herb.  Because of this, you may see worms in the animal’s poops after they have been wormed.
• By killing and expelling the parasites.
• By helping the animal build a stronger immune system so they can more easily fight an infestation.
• Working as a preventive: By helping the animal build a stronger immune system so that they can resist the parasite and thus not become infected in the first place.  Healthy animals are much less likely to get infected than unhealthy ones. 
• There has been no evidence to show that worms build up resistance to this herbal system like they can do with Chemical and Drug wormers.
• Molly’s Herbals Worm Formula is a two part system and, when used as recommended, is safe to administer to pregnant and lactating animals.

All of our kids that you purchase from us are wormed preventatively using the weekly herbal system.

Bottle Feeding Schedule

Age	times per day	Amount per feeding
1-3 days	5	1-2 ounces
3-14 days	4	2-4 ounces
2 weeks-3 months	3-4	6 ounces (4x, day) 8 ounces(3x, day)
3-4 months	2	10 ounces
4 months	1	12 ounces

Above is our bottle feeding schedule we use. We like to slowly transition the kids onto the bottle around 3-4 weeks, that way they have a healthy start (being dam-raised) and they get the extra milk when they need it (when we transition them to bottles). However, you can pull them from the dam at birth and bottle feed them from the very start (we have done this before if the dam rejects them or they need the extra attention)

Here are some great links to amazing goat how-tos.

• For a great video on shaving your goats udder for show, click here.
• For a video on trimming your goat’s hooves, click here.
• For a video on giving a CD&T shot for adults, click here (For goat kids CD&T, click here)
• For a photo tutorial on how to give the CDT shot for adults, click here
• A super helpful website on all things goat: FiasCo Farms

• Keep in mind you must have at least one other goat, or are purchasing a pair from us. Goats are herd animals and need to have a ‘buddy.’
• Just wanting to get some pets? We reccomend purchasing two (or three) castrated males (wethers). They are very loving, much less expensive than does (our doe kids are priced starting at $400) and are a great addition to a small hobby farm.
• Make sure you’re purchasing from a reputable source, so check and make sure that the herd you’re purchasing from is disease tested annually. Goats can carry diseases that affect them in the future.
• Head to this page on our website if you’ve already gotten goats and are looking for a complete list of maintenance tips!

We give our does their annual CDT vaccine one month before kidding. A few days ago was Fay’s turn.

After you’ve finished, pull the needle out and rub the area where you inserted the needle, so there isn’t a lump from poking her.