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Dairy goats the organic way https://www.dirtdoctor.com/efl/dirtDoctor/dairy-goats-the-organic-way-t6495.html |
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Author: | epearle [ Wed Aug 03, 2005 3:30 pm ] |
Post subject: | Dairy goats the organic way |
Today, I've started my dairy goat herd with two goats to learn with. Following the thread about worming cattle and horses as well as using DE and Basic H leads me to ask about using the same process with my two new (and future) kids. Currently they are being bottle fed (UniMilk) with free choice of a mineral product, costal hay, and a salt block. My land (in East Texas (henderson County) has been vacant for several years and has had no domestic live stock on it for over 7 years that i know of (probably not for many years as it is dense with trees and vegitation. Would this mean there are probably not too many bad parqasites that I will need to worry about? Except in the animals I plan to bring in? Later we'll be adding chickens and rabbits. I was told to worm them for five days and then once a month with SafeGuard (fenbendazole). I felt using the beneficial nematodes in my pens might control these parasites with the addition of the DE. But if the goats have the parasites now should I give them the medication and use the organics in the future. Would the droppings, after the medication, kill the beneficial nematodes? Any advice? David |
Author: | Robert D Bard [ Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:32 am ] |
Post subject: | dairy goats the organic way |
I have questions also. We have 38 meat goats and mini cows, with two horse pets. Horses ahve not been wormed in 5 years and doing very well. Cows have done fine with 3 exceptions. Goats are almost fine with 4 exceptions. We use DE and Basic H. The recommendations for goats are to make them a toxic waste site of chemicals. Meaning everyone pushes chemicals into them at an unbelieveable rate. Do you want to eat or drink their milk? I don't think so. My problem is we feed DE by mixing it up in ground up alfalfa. The alfalfa has stems ground up with the leaf portion of the plant. Some of the goats don't like the stem and therefore eat very little of the mix (we are grass fed and I will not mix up in grains). I am looking for some thoughts on how to get goats to eat more DE. Any ideas? Robert D Bard |
Author: | RobertB [ Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:31 am ] |
Post subject: | |
My plan for a goat operation -- if I could ever actually dedicate the time to it -- was to avoid parasite problems through pasture rotation. Take a couple of acres and fence it into 8 paddocks. Put all the goats into one paddock for a week, then move them to the next one. By the time they return to the first paddock, it's been two months, and I would think I'd break any parasite's life cycle by then. But I've never actually *had* goats, so my plan may be completely unworkable. I'll need to do a lot more research before I can get into it. Meanwhile, is there a market for organic goat milk and/or cabrito? |
Author: | Robert D Bard [ Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:06 am ] |
Post subject: | organic goats |
Your idea of pasture rotation is good but not very workable. First is that goats are not pasture grass animals unlees you force them to eat pasture. They want brouse - food above their chests not below it. You need some central location to feed them and they prefer security at night and they want to bed down rather than eat. They talk to each other when they eat to check on their location or they want to see each other. The problem as I see it is a way to mange manure. We have dung beatles for cow manure but they are very particular and will not eat goat manure. There are thousands of Dung beatle types. I had contact with a professor at I think UT, but we were discussing wormers and I mentioned that A & M took the info off a website about the success of DE. I mentioned that the chemical companies own the land grant colleges and dictate fuzzy science to get the results they want for their products. I also mentioned that drug companies do the same thing with medical schools. I think I might have offended him when I mentioned that double blind placebo studies for the most part are rigged. Do you think this made him upset" At this point he stopped the our discussion of dung beatles. I believe his name was Dick Richardson from Austin TX. I think PhD type. So if anyone has info on Dung beatles, I would appreciate it. Goats need as much brush and weeds as possible - not grass. I understand that we don't all have that and we have to resort grass. We have 22 acres of brush but I want them up at night to count them and check for cuts and stuff. For those of you that don't have goats, herding them is like herding a bunch of cats, but they are fun to be around and to watch the babies is priceless. Did you know if everyone and their brother started raising goats today there still would not be enough goats to supply the meat demand in 10 years. Robert d Bard |
Author: | RobertB [ Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:18 am ] |
Post subject: | |
Thanks for the info -- I can only imagine what a fiasco it would have been if I had attempted my goat project before the Internet. Though who knows, I might have done something radical like read a book. Oddly enough, our pasture is rapidly reverting to a nice, natural state, thanks to my benign neglect, and there's an area of mesquite 4-8 foot high that I'm sure the goats would love. But I appreciate your cautions about the difficulty of herding goats -- chasing them through the mesquite sounds like a painful experience! |
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