Meat Goat Blog

Goat Minerals Follow-Up Question

Post suggestion by Allan

I recently got an e-mail from a long-time viewer of the blog with some follow-up questions regarding a post I wrote a few years ago about avoiding Coccidiosis. Here's how the conversation went:

Matt,

I have several questions but first a little background. My wife and I bought a ranch as I retired ten years ago. It is in south Texas and adjoins her parents’ ranch. We have also taken over my father-in-law’s cattle operations.

However eight months ago, at age 89, he decided he would start a goat business. He knows little about goats so I have been trying to learn as much as I can from websites like your blog ever since. That said, I am very interested in learning better ways to do it both for helping today and to prepare me for tomorrow.

Your blog has me interested in Rumensin minerals. Would you be willing to give me some advice as to how you feed this product to your goats?

What period of the year do you use the SweetLix with Rumensin?

Do you control which goats have access to it?

How do you make certain all the goats you feel should have it actually get it? Our goats have a pecking order around the feed and I’m sure some don’t get any at all.

Do you have to get the doelings/bucklings you wish to sell off of the medicated feed for a defined period before they can be sold?

My father-in-law still has good forage available (50% south Texas brush, 50% pasture with mixed grasses/ weeds). The only supplemental food he puts out is corn. Initially it was to train the herd to come in every night. But as soon as we get a freeze things will change more.

Thanks,

Allan

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Allan,

Welcome to the goat business! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

I'm happy to tell you about what has worked for us; I'm not a vet, though.

We don't mix our minerals with anything. We just leave them out for the goats to eat whenever their bodies need them. We offer free-choice minerals year-round but mainly worry about Rumensin minerals from about a month before kidding until the kids are weaned. We offer minerals to every goat on the ranch but NOT TO HORSES. I've been told that goat minerals have too much copper for a horse and can kill them. I'm not sure if this is true for cattle. We give our goats Sweetlix 16:8 Meat Maker with Rumensin. I found an online store that carries it here.

Since the minerals are always available, the goats usually don't fight over them too much. Any goat that wants the minerals can walk over and get them. We have had to stop providing minerals for a few months occasionally; when we put them out again, the goats will sometimes eat a whole bag in about 48 hours. After a couple weeks, they slow down again. 200 goats will eat a 25lb bag about every 2 weeks. But, the rate varies wildly depending on the season.

I believe Rumensin is safe to feed to animals before slaughter. I found this FDA article that says it can be used to increase weight gain in slaughter cattle (among other uses).

We use a swivel feeder that we got from a friend to give the minerals to the goats. At the time, we never would have paid this much money for a glorified feed bowl. However, I would definitely pay for one today. We've been using ours for over 10 years and it still gets the job done. The fin on the top of the feeder turns the opening away from the wind when it's raining. This keeps the minerals dry. The swivel also prevents the goats from knocking it over. It doesn't take very many bags of ruined minerals to pay for the feeder. Here's a link to a similar Sydell product.

If we do give feed (separate from the minerals), we usually use 20% protein cattle cubes. The main reason they need feed is to supplement a lack of good weeds to eat when the property gets eaten down too much. Protein is the most important thing in bagged feed.

I hope this helps! Keep questions like these coming. I'll probably start turning them into posts that might help other people who have the same questions!

-- Matt

 

Pokémon Goat - Discover Adorable Baby Goats!

I may be a little late to the party...but all the millennials have been playing an iPhone game called 'Pokémon Go' where they walk around collecting digital monsters on their phones. Well, I finally figured out what all the buzz is about. The game is just like a goat rancher searching for new baby goats that have been born!

Just look at the similarities between 'Pokémon Go' and 'Pokémon Goat!'

• Goat ranchers and Pokémon players both get to collect fun new animals (I would argue that goats are more fun, though).
• Ranchers and millennials both get exercise while trying to find their new critters (baby goats are very good at hiding!).
• Goat herds and Pokémon collections can both include hundreds of animals (admittedly, goats aren't quite as pocket-sized).

I can't help but notice one difference, though. Goat ranchers get a much higher price when they sell their livestock at the end of kidding season! Well, at least I finally understand why everyone was playing. I'll be ahead of the curve when 'Pokémon Goat' goes viral in 2017!

Happy New Year from Meat Goat Blog and Post Oak Ranch!

How to Cook Goat Meat

Guest post

Goat meat is quickly on the rise and the demand for it is ever-growing both in the United Stated and the UK.  It is a leaner meat than most and is almost 50% less fatty than beef.  It is lower in fat, cholesterol, and calories making it the healthier option of meat to consume, lowering your chances of developing health problems.  The meat itself is very versatile and easy enough to cook. Due to its low fat content the meat does need to be cooked slower and at lower temperatures but done correctly the meat tastes great and is as juicy and moist as any other meat. Below are a number of ways in which you can cook your goat meat. 

Goat Burgers:

Everybody loves a good burger and goat meat is as good as any to make a decent one.  Due to the goat’s low levels of fat the burgers should be grilled slowly. They are an extremely healthy option and can be served medium rare if desired. 

Goat Sausages:

Goat sausages are a great alternative to pork or venison. They too are very healthy and will need to be grilled to ensure maximum taste. Goat sausages have a gamier flavour and work well with fry-ups, mash or in a sandwich. 

Goat Fillet:

This is the most succulent cut of the goat. It oozes flavour yet has a lot less fat in it than lamb does.  This cut of meat should be pan fried to ensure you get the best from it. 

Diced Goat:

Diced goat can come served on or off the bone. It works brilliantly for putting into curries and casseroles for a great tasting dish.  When using diced goat you should firstly marinate the meat so that it tenderises. The meat can then be cooked until golden brown in a pan with a little oil and then transferred into a pot with water and stock for up to 4 hours. This will ensure that the meat doesn’t dry out or become tough.  Ensure that you cook the meat slowly and at a low temperature. 

Goat Chops:

Chops are small but tasty cuts of meat and it’s no exception when it comes to goat meat. The best way to cook these is to marinade them in garlic and olive and choose from pan frying, grilling, barbecuing or oven cooking. The choice is yours.

Author Bio:

Emma is a keen writer with an interest in goat meat. She loves to write goat recipes and find out new ways of cooking the meat. 

Electric Fencing Tips from Zareba Systems

Whether you're learning a new trade or starting a new project, the result will always be better if you get some advice from someone with experience. So, if you're considering electric fence for your goat pen or buck pen, you should check out this information by the fencing experts at Zareba Systems. They have some great advice on chargers, posts, insulators, gate handles, and even a section on how to build electric fence for goats. Even though we don't use electric fence on our ranch right now, I definitely learned a lot from their information in case we ever need any!

The Benefits of Eating Goat Meat

Guest post

Goat meat is the world’s most popular meat with 75% of the world’s population consuming it. Here in the UK however the likes of beef, pork, lamb and chicken are most commonly eaten and goat is rarely thought of. Times are changing though and goat is on the rise both in the UK and in the United States. The health benefits of eating the meat are higher than those associated with eating others and therefore a demand for goat has risen quite dramatically.

The Health Benefits:

Goat meat is a lean meat that is extremely healthy to eat.  It is low in cholesterol, fat, saturated fat, and calories making it a great choice for those conscious about their health. It is in fact at least 50% lower in fat than beef and 40% lower in saturated fat than chicken. Despite this meat being lean and clean goat is in fact great tasting and full of flavour. 

Goat meat’s low levels of fat and high levels of unsaturated fat make it a very good meat for keeping the heart healthy.  It can in fact reduce your chances of getting cardiovascular disease and other chronic problems as less fat and cholesterol is consumed that can cause the bodies arteries to become blocked.  As well as being beneficial to the heart it helps benefit good blood cholesterol levels which can help to reduce and relieve inflammation problems.

Pregnant women can benefit quite significantly from eating goat meat. It can help to prevent women and their babies from becoming anaemic by increasing the amount of haemoglobin the mother gets and enhancing the blood supply to the baby. It is also rumoured that the meat can help to prevent birth defects and neural tube defects. 

Goat meat is filled with proteins that are important for helping the body to repair and replenish itself. The proteins found in goat meat are part of the eight amino acids that cannot be produced by the body itself. Eating goat is therefore extremely beneficial to the health of your body making sure that you get all you need to remain fit and healthy.  

Cooking Goat Meat:

Because goat meat has a much lower fat content than other meats it can be more difficult to cook.  Often the fat of a meat helps to cook it making sure that it remains juicy and moist.  To prevent goat meat from becoming dry and tough you will need to make sure that it is cooked slowly and at a low temperature.  For best results either braise or roast your meat. 

Author Bio:

Emma is a keen writer with an interest in goat meat. She often writes goat recipes giving information on how to cook the meat properly. 

Sell No Goat Before It’s Time

Guest post by Greg Christiansen

"When should I sell my meat kids," is a question I am often asked.  My answer is always January, February, or March.  

My kids are born in April, raised on pasture, and supplemented as needed after the forage has been depleted in the winter months, usually by December or January. My aim is to get my kids to 70 – 75 lbs. by January. Last January the group of kids averaging 70 lbs. went through the sale ring and brought $2.20 / lb., that is $154 / hd.  A lighter weight group averaged 55 lbs. and brought $2.45 / lb. that is $134 / hd.  

It seems that 75 lbs. is the breaking point of diminishing returns, meaning that after the meat goat reaches that weight the price per lb. goes down rapidly, taking away the profitability of the added lbs.  

Now this only works in January, February, or March.  If you sell in October, November, or December, the price of the 55 lb. meat goat is usually less, maybe $1.75 / lb. putting $96 in your pocket, and the breaking point of diminishing returns may be about 65 lbs. Meaning that the 65 lb. goat may only bring $1.50 or about the same dollars as the 55 lb. goat. This is simply due to supply and demand in the goat market.  

Now if your goats are weighing 65 lbs. and it is August or just about any other month except Jan., Feb., or March, you need to sell them before they get any heavier. Usually after Easter the market price paid for goats will cycle down and then work its way back up through the fall and winter, and peak sometime in late winter.  

You can see how the market doesn’t pay you for creep feeding or spending any extra money to grow your kids faster. It doesn’t pay you to have them born earlier in the year and have them reach market weight before the peak market.  For most commercial goat producers it is going to be less labor intensive to have them born in April after most of the winter weather is over and grow them on minimal inputs until January.

You can find more fencing ideas and other help in raising pasture meat goats in Greg's book, Raising Meat Goats In A Commercial Operation available on his website, in The Goat Rancher Magazine , and on Amazon.

Build Gates in the Corners - Quick Tips

I was looking at Zareba System's Expert Electric Fence Tips the other day and was reminded of some easy advice that took us a surprisingly long time to figure out on our ranch. When you build a goat pen, put the gate in the corner. It's a lot easier to herd the goats when you can pressure them against the intersecting fence lines!

How to Turn a Cow Fence into a Goat Fence

Guest post by Greg Christiansen

One of the obstacles to enlarging your goat herd and increasing your goat acres, is the cost and labor involved with fencing large acreages for pasturing goats.

By utilizing even an old broken down cow fence that hasn’t kept cattle in for years, and a couple electric wires placed 6 to 12 inches in front of it, you can do as I have done and successfully keep hundreds of goats in the pastures where they belong.  It is rare that I get the dreaded phone call from one of my neighbors, or worse, the sheriff, that my goats are out.

This is not only economical, about $.08/ft., for your post and wire, but also the least labor intensive method I’ve found to fence goats.  That’s a win, win.

There are a few things I’ve learned in stringing electric wire over the years that make it easier to build and more efficient to maintain.

I always use 12.5 gauge hi-tensile wire.  It carries electricity better than smaller wire and is much tougher and longer lasting than cheaper wire.

I used to attach the electric wire to the same post the barbwire is fastened to.  That seemed to result in the electric wire getting snagged into the barbwire and shorting out the fence on a regular basis.  Now I use a separate post, usually a 3/8 fiberglass, placed 6-12 inches in front of the barbwire fence.  This cost is less than putting “stand off” type insulators on your T – post and is much more trouble free.

When we run our wires to a corner and begin to turn the corner to go another direction, we start with another corner insulator and begin our wire again instead of keeping it in one piece and running it around the corner and on to the next leg of fence.  Keep the tail of wire long enough to reach the next run of fence. Put some bends or coils in the wire to make it more like a spring and slide an insultube on it for a handle, put a hook in the wire and use this as a jumper wire between the two runs of fence line hooking it across the corner. If there is a problem with the fence I can go to any corner and unhook the jumper and work on that leg of the fence without worrying about getting shocked. I can also disconnect the power to any pasture that we are not using at the time and direct our energy to another pasture.

You will definitely want to get a good fence compass so you’ll be able to quickly hunt down faults in miles of fence, when they occur.

You can find more fencing ideas and other help in raising pasture meat goats in Greg's book, Raising Meat Goats In A Commercial Operation available on his website, in The Goat Rancher Magazine , and on Amazon.

"Raising Meat Goats in a Commercial Operation" - Advice from an Experienced Rancher

To the 2 to 4 year goat-ranching-veterans who are feeling a bit discouraged:

Maybe your first year didn't go like you planned - but you shrugged it off because you just "needed to get the hang of things." Then you were waylaid by another discouraging season (of course, due to the poor conditions, none of your neighbors did very well either). But last year's lack-luster performance really doused your spirits and you're sick and tired of losing goats for no apparent reason. Well take heart! Maybe it's time to look at your operation through the eyes of someone with a little more experience.

Greg Christiansen, bachelor in Animal Science, has raised goats for over 12 years and he's picked up plenty of experience-based advice along the way. I just finished reading his book, Raising Meat Goats in a Commercial Operation, and, let me tell you, this book would have made life a lot easier if I'd read it a year after we started raising goats on our ranch! So if you're in the same boat I was, maybe some hands-on advice is just what you need to really turn your operation around.

In his book, Greg covers essential 'trouble shooting' tips for struggling ranchers and gives positive solutions to address the underlying causes. To hit the highlights, Raising Meat Goats in a Commercial Operation explains parasite management, kidding, mothering, fencing, predator control, cross-species grazing, nutritional requirements, and marketing. The book is an easy read and covers everything from the perspective of someone who's put in the time to learn what actually works (and doesn't). As you read the book, you realize that Mr. Christiansen makes his management decisions based on economics and logic - not what someone told him was the way he should do it.

From the onset, Greg Christiansen makes his ranching objectives clear: the animals "should be able to take care of themselves for the most part. [...] As long as they have feed and water they should be mostly trouble free." So, with that goal in mind, he explains how to effectively manage a goatherd that is too large (600 head) to babysit.

At the same time, Christiansen, as a full-time rancher, also knows the importance of helping struggling animals regain their health (if only long enough to take them to the sale). According to Mr. Christiansen, you should be active when identifying unhealthy livestock; "[y]ou must be able to spot a sick goat before he spots you." Otherwise the animal's defensive instincts for avoiding predators will spur them to feign good health - only to be dead 5 minutes later.

Despite all the information Raising Meat Goats in a Commercial Operation packs into less than 100 pages, I think my favorite most relatable section was Chapter 7's "Other ways to kill goats." In this section, Christiansen lists some of the ways he has lost or almost lost goats over the years. If you've been in the goat business very long, you know how creative goats can be at getting into trouble. Reading a section like this will allow you to think one step ahead of the goats as you, for instance, build a fence with holes that are big enough for a goat to get their head stuck.

Greg Christiansen's book is chock-full of useful information that would be a lot of help to someone whose operation is struggling. As I'm sure Mr. Christiansen would agree, none of the information in the book is designed to be highly technical or scientific - but you will save a lot of time and money if you listen to his advice.