Meat Goat Blog

Baby Goats - Video!

There's nothing more relaxing than watching baby goats enjoying the springtime! Even if you didn't think the pictures were cute, this video will convince you - goat kids are adorable!

LGD's - Livestock Counselor Dogs?

There's a lot more to being a Livestock Guardian Dog than just killing coyotes and chasing cougars. Sometimes you've just got to be there to talk when one of the goats needs a friend. I imagine this conversation went something like this:

"Mr. Guardian-Dog, how do I get big like all the other goats?"

"Well, Little Goat, like I've told thirty times now, you just need lots of milk and a little time. Try to be more patient, you're giving me a headache!"

Tagging: Here Come the Kids!

With kidding season finally here, we've just set up our kit for "Open Season" on goat tagging. Though it varies somewhat from year to year, here's our general setup.

Each year, we select an seperate ID tag color for the bucklings and the doelings. The difference in color helps us easily sort them when we wean the bucklings in 60 days. The doelings' tag color changes every year so we can easily tell how old each doe is after they are grown. We keep the tags in seperate compartments in the kit, so we don't accidentally put the wrong color on the wrong gender.

We also tag each baby with USDA Scrapie tags. The tags are required if you plan to move the goats off your property (to sell, slaughter, or show). Since the USDA will provide the tags and applicator free of charge, we try to tag every animal we own - whether we plan to move them or not. Since we make a record of both tags, the Scrapie tag also acts as a backup ID tag - just in case the main ID tag falls out. By tagging early we don't have to worry about it on the day we sell them.

With those things out of the way, we still need a way to get hold of the little guys (they're very good at staying just out of reach). That's where our secret weapon comes in! We use a fishing net with a 6' handle as a giant butterfly net. It may sound funny at first, but it really works! The netting is lightweight (not the kind made out of rubber) and has very fine holes so they don't get tangled up. When the speedy kids are cutting back and forth, the net lets us keep up without moving our entire (significantly larger) bodies every time they move theirs. Plus, the extra arm length will often trick newborns into thinking they are safely out of range.

Finally, when we tag the kids, we will often see the mother nearby. This is an opportune time to write down the mother's ID number next to her babies' ID and Scrapie tag numbers in our cheap 50¢ notebook. When we get home, we'll transfer the 'field notes' into our herd records.

Baby Goats - Pictures!

Here's some more pictures of our babies! Whether it's the rose-colored perception of a parent (yes these are MY babies) or actually true, I think these little guys are about as cute as they get! Feel free to click the pictures to see them full sized!

By the way, I don't want to start a fight, but feel free to vote in the comments for your favorite. Each picture has a name that pops up with you scroll over it. May the best goat win!

Why So Many Bucklings?

It's a crazy thing with goats, sometimes they just won't let the dice of chance land the way you want them to. Take Number 1 for example; she had yet another set of beautiful twins this year. As we went over to tag them, my heart was set on a pair of black doe kids. But I guess my preferences really don't matter to her - double bucklings it is!

McCoy Meets a Goat Kid

We were out tagging kids earlier and saw our new Livestock Guardian Dog, McCoy, meeting this baby goat for the first time. At first we were afraid he might think of the kid as a 'new toy,' but he was as gentle as a lamb towards that little goat!

Goat Prices in 2013: They're Going Up!

MESSAGE TO STRUGGLING RANCHERS: Hang on just a little bit longer!

In case you haven't been watching some of the recent fluctuations in the agricultural market, here's a quick recap of some not-so-distant-history from a few years back:

• US economy still uneasy after crash.
  Result: Many cash-strapped ranchers, who have barely hung on to their animals for the last few years can't do it any longer, and have to sell their livestock for slaughter - pushing prices down.

• People start to relax about the economy. If the country was going to explode, it would have happened by now. Formerly cash-strapped ranchers buy replacement livestock.
  Result: Going rate for livestock was measured, not in dollars, but by the number of first-born children you were willing to trade for the animal. I still remember getting an e-mail from somebody with some friendly advice: "You need to raise your prices or else you're gonna sell out within two weeks."

• Agricultural regions of US hit by long periods of drought and natural disaster.
  Result: Many cash-strapped ranchers, can't afford increased feed and hay prices, and take their livestock to the sale barn to be sold for slaughter. Prices drop again.

 

Now I'm no weather man, but assuming the 2013 brings a couple drops of rain in with it, prices on feed are getting ready to go down somewhat. Result? Formerly cash-strapped ranchers buy replacement livestock and start over again. New ranchers take notice later in the year. Prices soar.

 

DISCLAIMER:  Taking advice from a guy who doesn't even get his boots on the correct feet every day may not be the best idea. I do not think, claim, or hope to be an economist. These are just my  observations and opinions.

Baby Goat Pictures

Here are a couple pictures of the first baby goat kids of the season. It's gonna be a great year!

What Kidding Season Means to Us

For a lot of folks, kidding season is a dreaded time of the year - late nights pulling kids, lots of miscarriages, long hours bottle feeding babies. I can definitely see how miserable that would be. In fact I have seen it! When we first started raising goats, we, like many people, bought Boers. The experience was not a pleasant one! We did our best, but they kept dropping like flies - especially during kidding season. We got so discouraged that we almost quit the goat business entirely! But then we heard about Spanish and Kiko goats. Needless to say, we are much happier now.

When kidding season rolls around, our problems are not burying dead babies, but trying to tag them before they get to fast to catch!  We haven't birthed a kid or bottle-fed a baby in years; we spend our time watching the kids running around, jumping on rocks, and exploring the world. Now that is what kidding season ought to mean!

The Kids Are Here!

Our favorite part of goat ranching has finally arrived! We had our first birth of the kidding season today! A beautiful set of Kensing Spanish twins. We can't wait to see what they grow up to be, but we won't have to wait very long - the little boogers shoot up like weeds! We'll wean them in April, when they're old enough to be away from their mothers. Between now and then, it sure will be fun watching them grow!