For he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
And the sheep in his care.
Psalm 95:7 (HNV)

NIGERIAN DWARF GOATS

OUR HERD MANAGEMENT

Herd management should be an evolving process, no matter what level of experience one has with raising goats. There is always something new to learn, which makes raising goats a fun and rewarding hobby! As we learn either through personal experience, or from the experience of other goat herdsmen/women, we strive to constantly adapt our management practices for the benefit of our small herd. This page will undergo changes from time to time as we may make slight changes to our program. Here at Joyful Hearts Farm we protect our goats and birds from predators through management and our Livestock Guardian dog, rather than trapping and killing predators. We do not use chemicals to control pests and unwanted vegetation. We maintain good health with proper nutrition, tonic herbs, and a healthful environment, rather than relying on the routine use of antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals.

Please learn about goats before you purchase them.

HAY

Our doe's get high quality orchard or bermuda grass along with alfalfa hay fed to them free-choice. Our bucks get grass hay consisting of orchard and/or bermuda along with a bit of alfalfa. Additionally, we feed a product from New Zealand to all of our goats called FiberEzy and FiberPro which has now been discontinued in the USA. We still have enough to last us about a year. There is another product that is very similar I am told, but we haven't tried it. FiberEzy is a moist, fresh 50/50 alfalfa/ryegrass feed and Fiber Pro is 100% alfalfa, which is fed to lactacting does, kids and does in late pregnancy. The goats love it. Fiber Fresh, also known as ChaffHage in New Zealand, has been used for decades for performance horses and is top quality nutrition. Goats do very well on it and we have eliminated the dusty hay syndrome so common in this hot, desert climate. Much better for us and the goaties!

GRAIN

During the colder months of the year (Nov. through March) we used to feed Nutrena's Top Goat 16 and topdress with B.O.S.S. (Black Oiled Sunflower Seeds), and alfalfa pellets. We have now (as of 2008) gotten away from bagged sweet feeds and mix our own. The grain mix is fed to our milking does, and also to does in the very latter stages of pregnancy. The grain mix I make is made from Organic Dairy Pellets, B.O.S.S., Organic Rolled Barley and Organic Whole Oats, along with Alfalfa pellets. We offer this grain mix to our kids starting at about 2 weeks of age. They don't usually eat it at this age, but begin to nibble on hay and minerals and grain. Kids are kept on grain until approximately 6 months of age, depending on body condition.

Our bucks do not get grain until August when they go into rut. At this time they get about 1/4 -1/2 cup of Honors Non-Medicated Meat Goat pellets until about January. I also topdress their pellets with BOSS. I have found when they go into rut they will go off feed. They will eat their grain and the FiberEzy with gusto, and not eat much, if any, hay.

MINERALS

We now feed Sweetlix Meatmaker 16:8 Loose Minerals to everyone. This is made by Nutrena and everyone loves it. It has a high copper content, which goats need. Organic Norwegian Thorvin kelp is also offered free choice to all, as well as sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) as a rumen buffer. We have well water which we add raw apple cider vinegar to at least several times a week. I try to put it in the bucks water bucket every day to encourage them to drink adquate amounts of water. Everyone loves the ACV and this provides a variety of health benefits. We get our Organic Thorvin Kelp and raw apple cider vinegar from Azure Standard co-op. We also get our Organic Oats and Organic Barley from them.

TREATS

The majority of goatie *treats* that I give my goats are healthy. Since we "dry lot" our goats, they do not have access to a pasture or woods to obtain the variety in their diet that is natural for them. They are offered herbs ~ favorites include rosemary, a comfrey leaf or two once a week (never more as comfrey is high in alkaloids), plantain, they nibble on my lavender plants, and fresh sage leaves. If you know of other herbs your goats love, let me know. I'd love to plant more for them! Other tree leaves and branches they adore are eucalyptus, maple and Brazilian Pepper trees. We have an abundance of California Pepper trees here, but it's not their favorite. :o( They like ash, cottonwood and my lilac bushes! (which I have read might be toxic so I try to discourage that!), horse pasture *cookies*, fresh fruits such as apples, banana peels and citrus rinds (all organic please, no pesticides!), as well as the juicing pulp leftover from juicing carrots, apples and kale. I hope to make some *cookies* for them from this one of these days! They also get animal crackers *rarely*. Well, I did say most of the reats were healthy, right?! =) In the winter months I offer Hoegger's Herbal Tonic several times a week to help build strong, healthy immune systems. We have been very blessed to have healthy animals and strong kids. I definately attribute this to our management practices.

WORMING, COCCIDIOSIS & TESTING

We use Molly's Herbal dewormer 2-step program for all of our goats as a preventative deworming program. We do not give our pregnant does wormwood. We also use Ivermectin Injectable, given orally, after kidding and once a year to our bucks before breeding season arrives. There is no milk withdrawal when using the Herbal Dewormers which is a huge plus. With the Ivermectin Injectable, given orally, we do not drink the milk for about 4 or 5 days. I freeze this milk so none goes to waste. It can be used for soapmaking or feeding bottle babies.

I also begin the kids on the herbal dewormer program starting at 2 weeks of age. It has to be drenched until they are about 4-5 weeks old, then they are taught to eat the dosage balls I make. Many have asked how to get thier goats to eat the herbs. This is what I do:

I start off my kids at 2 weeks of age on the weekly herbs. I start them off by drenching them. They are too young to eat dosage balls. I use the mix without wormwood to get them used to this new taste sensation! :-) Wormwood is extremely bitter and I don't recommend getting anyone used to herbal dosage balls that way. Just mix the herbs in water to drench. I use a 6 cc syringe, minus the needle of course. I use 5 cc of warm water to 1/4 tsp herb and drench it very slowly, allowing them to *chew* it and swallow each bit.

At about 5 weeks old I introduce them to the balls. I give them 1/4 of a ball. I take that 1/4 ball and break it up small and shove it in their mouth. Rarely do they take to it the first time, but after a week or so, they gobble them up.

Something that REALLY helps when I bring in new goats that have never had dosage balls, is feeding everyone else their balls first. Of course my goats are CRAZY for them......so the new goatie(s) get extremely curious.......doesn't take too many weeks for them to also clamor for one! In the meantime, shove the ball (I break it smaller at first) way back in the mouth and I gently hold their mouth so they MUST chew it.....if it starts to come out the side of the mouth, I shove it back in, gently holding the head in an upward position. (I stand over the goat with its head between my knees, facing foward)

Another way is to mix it in something. I use juicing pulp for my milkers. They don't get balls.

For information on wormers visit Herbal Deworming. This is used as a coccidiosis preventative as well as inhibiting worms. We regularly check eyelids using the FAMANCHA system to see if our worming protocols are working as well. FAMANCHA is a process of scoring the anemia visible through eye pigmentation in sheep and goats. Since herbal deworming has worked so well for our herd for the past 3 years, we will no longer be chemically worming our goats once a year as we have been doing. We will continue regular fecal tests as always.

I want to share an excerpt from the chapter "Herbal Treatments for Goats" out of The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm And Stable by Juliette de Bairacli Levy:

COCCIDIOSIS:

In recent years, especially in America, this ailment (generally to rabbits!) is becoming increasingly diagnosed in goats, but in former goat books and old farming manuals relating to all types of livestock, this disease was never mentioned for goats. This new problem seems to me to stem from the increasing use of vaccines for a growing number of goat ailments which are all readily curable by simple fasting and herbal medicines. I NEVER vaccinate, never use a syringe for anything, considering it an outrage to a body not made for quick medications. I view with horror the advice of orthodox medicine for vaccination of whole herds ~ and repeat vaccinations.

My advice is to avoid all unnatural treatments and to us the treatment advised for sheep (see Scour). Then immunize naturally with remedies proved over the ages of antiseptic herbs such as garlic, sage, thyme, rue, rosemary, wormwood and southernwood.

I was interested to note that on the old farms of the Balearic Islands all of these herbs were grown and no others (with the exception of an occasional Anatolia plant) for health protection of man and animals. They should also be grown on modern farms.(End Quote)

I hope this encourages those of you who desire to have a more natural herd management system. This is the foundation of our own herd management for 3+ years. It works!

As of the summer of 2007 we began vaccinating against Tetanus. That is the only vaccination we give and we have decided to not give annual boosters of the vaccine. We regularly test our entire adult herd for CAE (ELISA/WADDL). In the summer of 2008 we also tested Neg. for CL. We also randomly test for Brucellosis, Tb and Johnes. We purchase animals only from those that test as well. We have tested Negative for 3 years in a row on all testing done. The U.S. Animal Health Association has recommended that it is no longer necessary to test goats for brucellosis in the United States. There have been no cases of brucellosis in goats for many years, although the disease is known in cattle, hogs, and even dogs. According to our State Veterinarian, Tuberculosis is all but unknown in goats in California. Testing is still recommended in areas which are not TB-free, but this disease is not usually a goat health problem.

PREGNANCY

We follow Sue Reith's protocol during pregnancy.
Hypocalcemia~ The Link between Calcium and Phosphorous in the Diet by Sue Reith as well as Fiasco Farm 's protocol. We give Red Raspberry Leaf to our does 5 weeks prior to kidding, about 2 heaping Tbs. We supplement with BoSe and Selenium-E gel, and give a Vitamin E capsule the last few weeks before their due date. We do not vaccinate our does.

HERBS & GENERAL CARE

We dam raise the babies born on our farm and sometimes will supplemental bottle feed if I have the time and inclination. It does make them *extra* friendly. As you can see, we strive to raise all of our animals as naturally as possible, using herbal remedies when necessary. We desire to feed and manage our small herd so that they will have strong immune systems to keep them healthy without having to resort to drugs or the false security of vaccinating, which has its own side effects.

Please remember that this is the way we do things and we are always open to hearing new protocols that work for other goat herders. There is so much to learn and I am happy that I've met some very nice Nigie breeders who have been willing and open to share with us. We desire to do the same! G*d bless!

Please visit my Links Page for more Self Study.

Page created on Sept. 1, 2005
Last Updated October 23rd, 2008

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Know that the LORD, he is God.
It is he who has made us, and we are his.
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3 (HNV)

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