If you are kidding in a cold climate, a warming barrel can help keep your baby goats from getting hypothermia when they are very young. By cutting holes in a 55-gallon drum, you can make a place for baby goats to come warm up at their leisure. Securing a heat lamp in the warming barrel reduces fire hazard risk because the dam cannot access it.
If you have a box stall in your barn and are pressed for space during kidding time, transform it into two kidding jugs for your pregnant goats with these simple steps. This versatile, temporary arrangement will reduce the number of hay feeders, water buckets, and heat lamps you need to supply.
How to Convert a Box Stall to Two Temporary Kidding Jugs for Goats Read More »
You can create beautiful combed top by processing your mohair with wool combs. However, the combing process can be troublesome without a lubricant like combing milk. Here is a recipe for making your own mohair combing milk to cut the frizz and static while using wool combs on your goat fiber.
How to Make Mohair Milk for Combing Locks with Wool Combs Read More »
After shearing is completed, raw mohair fleece from an Angora goat will need to be scoured. Scouring the fleece removes oil and dirt so that the locks can be used for spinning, weaving, felting, or other projects. Here are two options for washing raw mohair for clean, shiny, usable fiber.
To keep an Angora goat happy and healthy, they should be sheared every six months. The equipment and supplies needed for clipping mohair from an Angora goat are shown and discussed. Techniques for shearing an Angora goat on a stand are illustrated.
If you want to have a successful kidding season, planning and preparation for breeding your does should start well in advance of exposing them to a buck. Provided here is a checklist of calendar items for the care for your does in the months before and after being bred. An example management calendar is provided to help ensure a healthy pregnancy and healthy kids.
Mark your Calendar! How to Make a Management Schedule for Breeding Goats Read More »
Before you bring home new livestock, there are a few housekeeping tasks you should have completed. If you follow this checklist, you will ensure the safety of your new animals and minimize the likelihood of them contracting pathogens from the animals housed there previously.
On our farm, the goats earn their keep. Not only do they pay for their own feed, but they financially support other animals and projects on our homestead. Here are a few creative ways that we generate income with our herd of goats.
Help your goats beat boredom and live their best lives with these fun ideas. Transform their enclosure into a goat playground with a few inexpensive additions. Something to climb on, rub on, or a change of scenery is all a goat needs to stay occupied and out of trouble.
How to Keep Happy Goats: 6 Goat Enrichment Ideas Read More »
Goats are browsers by nature and as such, are well-equipped for feeding on unwanted plants like brush, prickers, and weeds. Goats can provide several ecological advantages over traditional methods of vegetation management like harsh chemicals and machinery. Contract grazing is becoming more commonplace as landowners discover the unique benefits of the temporary presence of goats on their property.