6 Mouse-proof Grain Storage Ideas
To prevent rodent-carried diseases, contamination of your livestock feed, and wasting money, it’s important that grain be stored securely. Here are a range of ideas for keeping mice and rats out of your animal feed.
To prevent rodent-carried diseases, contamination of your livestock feed, and wasting money, it’s important that grain be stored securely. Here are a range of ideas for keeping mice and rats out of your animal feed.
I am pretty selective when it comes to allowing a buck kid on my farm to stay a buck kid. By far, most of my male goat offspring each year are wethered and become happy, healthy market animals or pets. The castration method I currently utilize, and have been utilizing for decades with much success,
Providing grain to livestock of different ages and/or sizes has its challenges. In a herd situation, it’s always the biggest, strongest, and boldest that are going to get the most food. For my dam-raised goat kids, this means that they have to compete with their mother and other mature animals during feeding time. While most
Sure, bottle feeding a baby goat is fun. There is nothing more adorable or rewarding than watching a bottle baby’s tail wag while you fill his belly with milk, but there are reasons why I prefer that the kids on my farm be dam-raised. I raise Boers and Nubians and have a herd numbering between
A while back, I wrote an article highlighting all of the reasons that I prefer to let my goats grow and keep their horns naturally. That is still true, and you can click here to find out why. There are, however, kids that we choose to disbud every year to meet show specifications. On our
On our farm in southwestern Michigan, kidding season kicks off in less than three weeks. Due to having one of the earliest county fairs, we kid in February so our wethers are market ready. This year we have 13 confirmed pregnant does, so it is time to make sure we have plenty of supplies on
I raise Boer and Nubian goats. Some of them have horns and some do not. There are definite pros and cons to keeping horned goats. Here, I will make a case for foregoing disbudding or dehorning and letting your goats keep their crowns of glory. Read on, and decide for yourself what is best for
You don’t need a veterinary degree to pull blood on your goats. With a review of anatomy, a helping hand, and some practice, this annual task can be pretty quick and easy! A blood sample is often required for herd biosecurity testing for diseases such as CAE, CL, Johnes, and Q-Fever. A blood sample can
I don’t buy meat at the grocery store. In our house, we eat home-grown beef, pork, goat, chicken, and rabbit (as well as wild game) from our freezers. In today’s over-processed food market, we prefer to raise our own animals to ensure that our family has the highest quality protein sources in their diet. Unless
For me, breeding season is just around the corner. The smell of rutting bucks is in the air and I know that it means soon I will be taking a break from milking so that my does can give all of their energy to growing strong, healthy babies. I am not one to just stop