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

 

How to Transport a Goat

As ranchers, most of the goats we sell get loaded in the bed of a pickup truck or the back of a trailer so they can reach their new owner's farm further down the road. Some folks bring rigs that look nicer than most houses; others have simpler setups that get the job done just as well. But, there are a few tips we like to give prospective goat breeders before they drive off with their new herd.

A goat trailer should be fully secured from top to bottom. In case you hadn't heard, goats are pretty good at jumping! Since goats like to lie close to each other on road trips, they make excellent launching platforms for any escape-minded travelers in the group. To avoid this, the trailer walls or truck pen should either be very tall (which often isn't practical) or they should have a ceiling of some sort. No one wants to see a flying goat in their rear-view mirror!

Also, a goat trailer should have some wind protection to keep the animals warm and to protect their eyes. The air moving through a trailer at 75 miles-per-hour can get very cold very fast. Goats will do fine huddling together for warmth in most weather. However, a trailer without wind protection can produce wind chills that are just too cold for their health. Furthermore, the air running through the trailer can damage their eyes with enough time. Fast-moving air will dry their eyes much faster than the winter wind ever did on the farm. With enough exposure, that can lead to temporary 'wind-blindess' or even long-term eye problems.

So, whether you've got a Hollywood mansion on wheels or a faded stock trailer with a dent in the side, make sure you take a few precautions so your goats will be in top shape once they reach their new home.

Good Bucks Have to be Sold Sooner

Here's a funny thought: if you have a really good buck, you'll end up selling him sooner than you'd sell a buck you don't like as much. You'd think goats would be like an old ranch truck you love to drive because it's gotten the job done for all these years. The more you use the truck, the more you like it.

However, with bucks, the more times you breed them, the more their genetics are present in the herd. This makes it hard to continue breeding without inbreeding. That's the unfortunate situation we have with one of our favorite bucks: Blue.

We've bred Blue almost every year since he was born and we really love the hardiness of the kids he produces. But, that means it's getting harder to breed him. Because so many of our Spanish breeding does are related to him (or his father), we're having to make the hard choice to put him up for sale now that he has finished this breeding season. It's funny how things work out - good bucks have to be sold sooner!

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!

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.

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.

Goat Parasites

Despite all the emphasis this blog places on parasite resistance, I realized that, until today, we still didn't have a category for goat parasites. So, here's some good news! If you feel like you need to brush up on your understanding of parasites, check out the category on the left marked "Goat Parasites" or click here!

Livestock Guardian Dog Directory

We're happy to annouce our new Livestock Guardian Dog For Sale Directory! If you've been in the goat business for very long, you probably know how important it is to protect your herd from predators and how difficult it can be to find a Livestock Guardian Dog or Puppy. This directory is free to post and view. The main Livestock Guardian dog breeds (although there are many more than just these) are Anatolian, Great Pyrenees, Akbash, and Komondor. Just send me an e-mail ([email protected]) if you have Livestock Guardian Dogs for sale. Check out the directory here!

Goat Veterinarians

Occasionally we get calls from exasperated first time goat ranchers who are looking for help finding a 'Goat Veterinarian.' Starting off in agriculture, you wouldn't really think about it - but most vets don't treat goats (or horses, or sheep, or cows etc.). Since most animals that go the vet on a regular basis are either dogs or cats, a lot more DVM's are only interested in 'domestic' species. So where do you go when your animals really need some professional attention?

Well depending on how dire your straits are, most times an experienced fellow livestock owner can tell you just about anything you need to know about general maintenance and care (for questions about feeding, worming, grooming etc.). Otherwise, it's probably best to locate and contact a veterinarian whose practice is focused on commercial livestock. A lot of times they can be kind of hard to find - so don't be afraid to ask around! (and remember, you want to know who to call before you need to call them) So look around. Go to the local feed store. Just don't wait until it's an emergency!