Backyard Goats... October's Diary

  Backyard Goats

Hello Homesteaders and Goat Lovers out there!

While some of us are outside cleaning up or harvesting what is left in the garden, those with goats are planning for next spring. Some may have already begun the "progeny" process and their goats are already bred. Let me give a little insight into October/November activities that support our ranch. 

If you are thinking about getting goats, you need to decide what you want - will they be pets? Make milk? Provide meat or fiber? Be pack goats or harness goats? Just be cute? I have 70 goats here at the ranch and they are all pets - so that area is cleared up for us immediately...haha

Here at the ranch, meat goats have already been bred - they usually go in with a buck mid-August thru mid-September. This is so we can provide animals for market projects throughout Southwest Washington, in early spring. The most important things to do for meat animals is to feed them well, trim hooves as needed, keep them warm and dry and always have water present. They will have received preventive shots prior to breeding and parasites do need to be dealt with but the pregnant does must be considered. Consult your veterinarian for suggestions. If you don't have a good vet, try the site FiasCo Farm - they have terrific information on all breeds of goats.

Our dairy goats are coming in to heat quite visibly now - they stand at the fence and call to the bucks that are two fence lines away. By this time, we have decided who we want to breed, what we want the doe to produce, and when we want them to kid. Doe kids need to be 80 pounds before they should be bred - some kids from last spring might make that weight, some not. We usually breed our kids that are big enough, and yearlings to meat animals - we can use the offspring as meat, pack goats, or brush goats and we can see what the udder looks like. You can have a beautiful dairy goat, but the udder is kinda important - if not there, the goat goes. The decision about when to breed requires that the breeder look ahead. When do you want kids to be born? What goat shows will be attended? How busy will the breeder be during the spring months? February births requires breeding in September, March in October, and so on. The breeder needs to decide when they want their milk goats to freshen (come into milk). The earlier, the better as to parasite control for the kids - coccidia is rampant in our warm/wet climate. Kids can die of the symptoms which include profuse diarrhea and dehydration - if your kids are born during our spring rainy season, you must be very prepared to deal with coccidia. This and other factors are considered when deciding when to breed. 

Then, before breeding, all of the dairy herd needs preventive shots - this includes CDT and BoSE. Once that is done, the birthing times are decided on, and the buck has been selected, the watching begins - does should be viewed at least twice a day for sign of heat, and then they can be bred when you see it and want them to be serviced. 

Tina Goodnight is the owner of Camas Camp-n-Ranch, in Camas. She breeds champion lines of Boer and Boer-X meat goats, Alpine dairy goats, and Nigerian goats, and has buck service available.