Is there a thread for the Basic care and information....

[SirDude]

Hi,

I saw that Poultry's forum has a thread for Basic care and Information, is there on for all animals.

And/or, is there a required reading section for raising animals or Homesteading in general? I posted that question in the book review, but no one's biting.

Since I don't have any animals yet, I was looking to for all the help I can get, but instead of guessing at what questions I should be asking, I thought a good website, reading would help get be past the basics.

Thanks,

SirDude

[Minelson]

I really liked www.fiascofarm.com for goat information. Lots and lots of reading, lists and pictures

[CaliannG]

Laurel Havens also has a good "Beginner's Guide" on the very basics, as well as some book recommendations.

Sorry I can't be more helpful...my beginner's guide was about 25 years worth of back issues of CountrySide Magazine.

[thaiblue12]

We all do things differently so there is no basic for us, we are ornery goat people

Fiasco Farm does give good info but then again I do not agree with at least 25% of the things they do, lol.

If you want to be very very basic..... Good food, good hay, good minerals, lots of clean water. Goats do not eat anything that gets dirty, they do not care for dirty water. Moldy hay is not good for them.

You can read through threads here and ask tons of questions. There are no stupid ones. I guess you can start with, do you want dairy or meat, or dual purpose?

Oh just do not ask us which goat is best as we are all biased to our breeds lol. I think Nigerian Dwarfs are the best of course

[Laverne]

Goatkeeping101

[SirDude]

Originally Posted by thaiblue12

We all do things differently so there is no basic for us, we are ornery goat people

When I say "basics" I was mostly referring to terminology, slang terms, etc. Something like this Basic Poultry Care and General Information

I know I can / will be combing the web looking for information, but since I am mostly here for now, I was checking to see if I missed this info.

So far I kind of get the biased thing, it's like asking what's the best truck to buy. LOL

As for my thoughts / plans for the goats. I'm not a huge milk drinker, but do drink some and cook with it. So I would like them to produce some milk, even two qt's a week would be more then enough for me, one person.

I like the idea of the meat on a small scale, instead of beef. I eat a lot, so this is something, but just like planning my garden, I am going to need to calculate "how much consumed" / "time frame." That I do not have a clue to yet.

If I end up with land that has a lot of brush I will mostly like them to be my landscapers. As I wrote somewhere else on here, I really like the idea of Goats (and sheep) as a natural lawn-mower.

So in the order that I would like / need them;

1) Clear brush
2) Meat
3) Milk
4) Other? Sell, other ideas????

Down the road, I am going to try to get into selling some home-made food items that has been a dream of my Mom's for years, but she's not doing well and I would like to carry that on since I was there as she developed the recipes. So I thought about using the goat meat in one of the recipes.

Other thing I know right now will help is, do some / which Goats do better in cold or hot weather then others? I'm choosing between two very different zones right now, one is FL and the other is CO.

Hope that helps people direct me a little. I'm not in a big hurry, I have a long road ahead of me with finding land, getting everything into place, etc, but having the basic understanding / "rule of thumb" etc I think can be useful right now.

Thanks,

SirDude

[thaiblue12]

Hmm let's see what I can think of.

Doe- adult female goat

Doeling- baby female goat under a year old

Buck- adult male goat

Buckling- baby make goat under a year old

Wether- Neutered male goat, of any age

FF- First Time Freshener, first time giving birth and coming into milk

COB- Corn, Oats, Barley

BOSS- Black Oil Sunflower seeds, very rich I use it sparingly, makes their coats nicer.

CD&T- Colostriduim Perfringes & Tetnus Toxiod ( I know I spelled that wrong! lol) a yearly shot given to prevent tetnus and overeating disease

Disbudding- Burning of horn buds on babies to prevent growth

Banding- Using an elastralator and little green "cheerio" to castrate a buckling.

Burdizzo/Emasculator- Crushing of cords to wether a buckling

Minerals- Much needed for goats especially copper.

Rumen- their 4 chambered stomach

Cud- what they bring up, cough up or hack up as they go about their daily life. Healthy goats chew on cud, unhealthy/in pain goats grind their teeth.

Ligaments- mythically "pencils" on either side of the tail, so when they are "gone" you know kidding should be soon.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Hopefully others will think of more.

Maybe Kinders are the way to go for you. I do not know much about them but they are dual purpose meat/milk. But might not be easy to find in your area so you might have to start from scratch to get them.

[SirDude]

FF- First Time Freshener, first time giving birth and coming into milk

"Freshener"? = So is there a "second time Freshener"? I'm sure someone's laughing and thinking he didn't just ask that, yes I did.

Ligaments- mythically "pencils" on either side of the tail, so when they are "gone" you know kidding should be soon.

What does "gone" mean?

Kid, kids, kidding? General term for any/either Doeling / Buckling?

(BOSS) Can you give goats fish oil to help their coats?

Are goats like dogs, in the way people say males clam down more once neutered?

[SirDude]

Ligaments- mythically "pencils" on either side of the tail, so when they are "gone" you know kidding should be soon.

Is this "pencils" on the tail something you feel, or are they "lines" or does it just hold their tail up, out, straight, etc???

Thank you for taking the time.

SirDude

[suzyhomemaker09]

http://fiascofarm.com/images/ligaments.gif

hopefully this helps locate ligaments

[Apryl in ND]

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery is a great book that I would recommend for homesteading in general. It also has a lot of good info on animal husbandry that will give you a good starting point.

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Apryl in ND

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery is a great book that I would recommend for homesteading in general. It also has a lot of good info on animal husbandry that will give you a good starting point.

Overall, I love The Encyclopedia of Country Living. It was instrumental in getting me off my duff and moving my focus from the 'burbs to a farm.

Carla's book is a great read, but it should also come with a caveat.

Sometimes, the information our dear late friend printed in her book was incorrect. And it's been a good five years since she passed on, so some info may be outdated.

Please be sure to do a reality check when you're reading it.

[Minelson]

Poop = berries
Vagina = Hoo hoo
Penis = wee wee

That's all I can think of on the naughty words

[Alice In TX/MO]

A doe "freshens" each time she gives birth.

Yes, there are first fresheners, second fresheners, ..... eighth fresheners, etc.

Do not give your goats fish oil. Do not give your goats any animal/fish based product.

You can top dress their feed with corn oil, if you have desperately dry skinned goats, but a small handful of BOSS is better.

[Alice In TX/MO]

The rumen is only the first stomach:

The goat’s stomach has four chambers: 1) the rumen, 2) the honey-combed reticulum, 3) the omasum, and 4) the abomasum or true stomach. The size relationship of the four chambers changes as the animal grows up. The abomasum gets proportionally smaller. To understand why this happens, let’s consider the function of each compartment and then review the goat’s diet.

1) The rumen acts as a big fermentation vat. Bacteria and protozoa in the rumen supply enzymes to break down the fiber in the goat’s feed. This is similar to how bacteria can ferment the sugars in grape juice to make wine in big wine barrels. The tiny organisms in the rumen also help to build proteins from the feed and manufacture all of the B vitamins needed by the goat. Many nutrients that help provide the goat with energy are also absorbed here. The fermentation process produces heat that helps to keep the goat warm.

When roughage is eaten by the adult goat, it is chewed on, soaked with saliva, and then swallowed. This bolus of food is called “the cud”. It goes down into the rumen to be attacked and broken down or digested by the micro-organisms. At regular intervals the cud is brought back up to the goat’s mouth to be chewed on some more and then swallowed again. This entire process is called rumination. If you watch the goat’s neck carefully, you can see him swallow and later regurgitate his cud. The goat will often burp to get rid of the gas produced by all the fermentation going on in his rumen. You can really smell the fermentation process on his breath. If something causes the goat to stop being able to burp up the gases, the gas will build up and bloat or swell up his rumen and he may become very sick with “bloat”.

2) Once the food particles of cud become small enough, they pass to the second compartment or reticulum. Here any foreign objects that may have been accidentally swallowed with the feed settle out in the honeycomb structure of the reticulum’s walls. Another name for the reticulum is the “hardware stomach”.

3) The fermenting particles then pass on to the omasum. The omasum removes the water from them and also absorbs more nutrients called volatile fatty acids that help supply the goat with energy.

4) The particles are then forced into the abomasum or true stomach. Here, the particles are digested by the stomach acid, hydrochloric acid (HCl). This form of digestion is the same as what occurs in our stomachs.

The remaining particles are then passed on to the small intestine where most of the nutrients are absorbed by the body and made available to the goat.

From:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/meat...atgoatfs14.htm

[Alice In TX/MO]

Here is the home page for Cornell University's Diary Goat 4-H project:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/dairygoats/index.html

It includes links to fact sheets.

[SirDude]

Thank you all for taking your time to share this info with me.

SirDude