Meat Goat Blog

Wisdom in Raising and Breeding Goats

We want to be a little careful in discouraging others in providing their experience and learning about raising goats. After all, this blog is a means of helping others with information we feel is important to the goat industry. However, one point we like to emphasize is our lack of knowledge about medical issues involving goats. We don't want to know what other people have learned, but prefer goats that avoid so many of the problems we hear discussed by other breeders.

As an example, http://www.goatwisdom.com/ appears to offer a variety of articles about goats, diseases, illnesses, and treatments. We appreciate the willingness of the author of the web page to provide the material and commend the obvious knowledge. But we require goats that take care of themselves. Our goats don't have a fancy barn and a mid-wife to deliver their babies. They must raise their kids without our help.

Again we do not mean to knock the knowledge provided by goatwisdom and the well meaning intention to help goat breeders. We simply want to contrast the difference between raising healthy, strong, and hardy animals rather than the need to doctor, nurse, bottle feed, and baby sit livestock. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these things, we just don't have the time or the inclination to do it.  

If you find yourself with a problem with your goats, goatwisdom is probably a quick source for some self-help information from  people who might be able to help you with things we don't know anything about.

Oklahoma Goat Marketing Coop

Oklahoma meat goat producers received a letter and survey from J.J. Jones, Area Ag Economist, Oklahoma State University Extension office regarding the proposed coop to sell goats for meat production. The survey is very important to the process of forming a cooperative and Jones stresses in his letter that information is needed to evaluate whether a coop is feasible. A low response rate in the number of surveys returned or the lack of complete information would probably indicate the undesirability of the project. If you have any questions or comments, you can reach J.J. Jones at 580-332-7011. If you didn't receive a survey form, you can complete one on-line at http://meatgoat.okstate.edu. The answers are confidential and the survey takes less than five minutes to complete and return. We want to thank J.J. for spearheading this effort.

Oklahoma 2009 Buck Test Halfway Mark

The 2009 Oklahoma Buck Forage Test finished the first half with the ADG results posted. The bucks have all gained less than expected. Interestingly, the results of the buck test track the doelings on our farm. The summer has been a little unusual for Oklahoma. We hit 100 degree plus days in June and saw some 85 degree highs in July. Normally, we expect July and August to be the two hottest months of the year. The sea-saw effect seemed to stagnate our doelings for about 45 days which coincides with the bucks in the test.

Fecal and Famancha scores also seemed to hold some inconsistent results without much explanation. Test manager, Mary Penick reported new scores will be posted in a day or so. The information will hopefully give the contestants a better idea if the earlier scores were an aberration or not.

IKGA Convention Offers Seminar For Beginners

The IKGA, a recognized association and registry for kiko goats, has its annual meeting in September. During the meeting, there will be several conferences on goats  and raising meat goats. Jim Stoltz, News Department, for the group says:

"KikoFest 2009 will focus squarely on benefits for meat goat raisers
and those who are new to goats or now contemplating the possibility of
becoming involved in raising goats. There are 3 segments to the event.
Segment one is September 17 from 9:00am – 5:00 p.m. It’s intended
for “newbies” to the goat industry, those people new to goats or
those seriously considering investing in goats but have not made
“the plunge” just yet. This is an overview of the basics."

If you are thinking about getting into the goat business, here is an inexpensive way to learn from the professionals, have a great time, and make some good acquaintances.  

Garlic Doesn't Control Worms In Goats

Goat breeders are always looking for inexpensive natural ways to reduce and control parasites. We recall our first herd and people telling us oak leaves had tannic acid that would kill the worms. It was good news since our property was covered with post oak or blackjack oak. But, the oak leaves didn't work and we still had worms.

According to the Focus On Research section of the Wild and Woolly, garlic is another one of those natural goat wormers that doesn't bear up to the tests conducted by scientists. The article  describes two tests which were run and neither showed  reduction of parasites in the goats in the study. Oh well, granddad always said tobacco kept the worms away, maybe we can just feed some Cuban cigars. See article;

 http://www.sheepandgoat.com/news/PDF/Spring2009.pdf

Making Money With Meat Goats Video

The video about making money with meat goats with Dr. Frank Craddock  is  worthwhile for people interested in learning more about raising meat goats. He addresses the internal parasite problem. Although he seems to have some preference for boer goats, which is a mistake from our perspective as a commercial grower, it gives a good overview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC54UJnDgLY&NR=1