January 2024 Issue

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PREPARATIONS PRIOR TO BREEDING

Preparations should begin before does are placed with a buck for breeding.

Do not run bucks with does year around. Breeding does more than once a year results in prematurely worn-out dams and poor-quality kids.

Good management practices (proper nutrition, fresh water, top-quality grass hay, clean and dry pens protected from wind and rain, appropriate bedding materials, plenty of space and no over-crowding) are essential to the maintenance of healthy does who in turn will deliver healthy kids. Do not get your does too fat. Overly-fat does have kidding problems.

Spend the money required to set up properly before you start breeding. Too many goat raisers, especially first-timers, are under the misimpression that goats can eat anything, require no facilities, and take care of themselves. This is 180 degrees out of sync with reality.

Goats are a species that have no natural defenses, are subject to predation, and have multiple births because half of them die from predation or starvation before they are adults. Survival of the fittest may be the rule in unmanaged conditions, but you cannot make any money under those circumstances because you will lose much of your kid production and some of your dams. (See my article on the need for and the pitfalls of using Livestock Guardian Dogs with goats on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com. One Tip: Don't put livestock guardian dogs under 12-18 months of age with goats without an older experienced livestock guardian dog present to temper its "enthusiasm" and make sure they are with your biggest bucks . . . not does or kids.)

Be prepared in advance. The money you spend is going to be far less than you will lose by having sick and dead goats due to lack of preparation. Kidding problems will happen, and they will happen in the worst weather on a holiday weekend in the middle of the night when vets are unavailable and stores either are closed or don't have the items you need.

Even if you reach a vet, few of them know anything about goats and many have no interest in goats. There are less than two million goats in the USA; that isn't enough animals to provide a significant market for vets, pharmaceutical companies, or other suppliers. Establish a relationship with a local vet; you will always need prescription medications and occasional veterinary assistance, including surgical help. All antibiotics and most biologicals are now vet prescription. The only remaining over-the-counter biologicals are vaccines and anti-toxins. You must prepare yourself in advance of problems.

My website www.tennesseemeatgoats.com has dozens of articles that can help you. Take the time to read, print, and put them in a binder that you can read when you need help. Subscribe to my consultation service. Unlimited contact with me for help is only $20.00 per month based on the remaining months in the current calendar year. I am not a vet, but I've been raising meat goats full time since January 1990, and I know a lot about goats. I have been hosting ChevonTalk (first on Yahoogroups and now on Groups.io) since 1998, publishing on-line e-magazine MeatGoatMania monthly since 2009, maintaining Onion Creek Ranch's site on Facebook, and offering a one-of-a-kind meat-goat education program called GoatCamp™ on my Texas ranch every October since 2001. Details are available on the GoatCamp(tm) page of my website www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

READYING THE FACILITIES

Set up kidding and bonding pens so you can try to avoid problems that occur without them. Five-foot sections of lightweight tubular metal with 4 inch by 4 inch panels welded to them and a gate in one section work well. They assemble and break down easily and can be set up in different configurations by removing dividing panels to make larger pens. My kidding and bonding pens were purchased from Northeast Gate Company in Paris, Texas in the 1990's, and I've been pleased with their durability, functionality, and ease of use. Such pens are available at many locations across the United States. Do a Google search to find a seller near you.

Provide good shelter from wind, rain, and cold weather. These requirements differ in cold vs hot climates. The Articles page of my website www.tennesseemeatgoats.com has a Fencing and Pens article that relates to my area's needs (Texas). Develop facilities that are suited to your climatic conditions. Create a place with enough space that kids don't sleep so close to their dams that they get injured, smothered, or crushed. A shed with the inside walls lined with railroad ties at ground level and a low narrow bench built above the railroad ties works well. Kids can get off the ground and sleep on the railroad ties, while dams sleep on the bench above or on the ground near them. Do not built a vertical wall in front of the railroad ties; kids will pile on top of each other to keep warm and those in back or on the bottom will suffocate if a vertical wall blocks their escape.

All birthing and bonding areas should be free of ants, flies, and other pests. Ants can eat the eyes, noses, and other mucous membranes of newborn kids, causing permanent damage. Before using ant killer or ant bait, read the labels and talk with your vet about products safe for use around goats. I use Amdro ant bait, but ants aren't a serious problem in my area of Texas, so I don't know how extensively Amdro can be used where ants are plentiful. Buy and have fly traps on hand to place in kidding and loafing areas.

Clean dry hay or straw should be spread on the ground in kidding pens. Do not use wood shavings in kidding areas. Wood shavings get into kids' mouths and noses and stick to the dam's tongue as she cleans her newborns. During very cold or cold and wet weather, I use reflector heat lamps with bulb guards in areas where kids sleep. Newborns and very young kids have difficulty regulating internal body temperature, but they can usually tolerate cold so long as their tummies are full of milk and they stay dry and out of wind. Keep electrical cords out of reach to prevent kids from hanging themselves or chewing on them.

Newborns do not need access to a water bucket for the first two weeks of their lives. They get water in their dam's milk. If they don't get enough milk and instead drink water to fill their bellies, you will find them dead from starvation. Water buckets should be carefully placed to avoid very young kids' access to them. Make provision during freezing weather to provide warm water to both dam and kids over two weeks of age. Water is a huge part of making milk, so make sure your dams have access to lots of clean and fresh water. Learning how to THINK LIKE A GOAT™ will help prevent injuries and deaths.

Do not overcrowd goats. Goats require more space per individual than most other livestock species. Goats are like deer; they stress easily. Since goats have very fast metabolisms, they produce large quantities of urine and feces. Overcrowding produces stress and wormloads.

Does need space to bond with their kids to learn their smells and sounds, and kids require the same. Overcrowding leads to filth (concentrations of urine, feces, and soiled/wasted hay) and filth leads to disease and death. Two big challenges to raising goats in any managed herd are overcrowding and problems resulting from improper nutrition.

Purchase in advance of breeding the supplies I have listed in another article entitled Supplies & Medications Needed Prior to Breeding. Every item has a useful purpose. Other articles that I've written explain their usages. Items in the first section can be purchased at Jeffers (1-800-533-3377, www.jefferslivestock.com) or in some instances at local retail businesses. The second section lists items available only from a licensed veterinarian. You must have a vet from whom to buy prescription items. Put establishing a veterinary relationship high on your "to do" list.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, ONION CREEK RANCH 1.1.24

Subscribe FREE now! Monthly issues with new articles and other educational information on meat goat health, nutrition, and management written by Suzanne W. Gasparotto of Onion Creek Ranch and Pat Cotten of Bending Tree Ranch. In all cases, it is your responsibility to obtain veterinary services and advice before using any of the information provided in these articles. Neither Suzanne Gasparotto nor Pat Cotten are veterinarians. None of the contributors to this website will be held responsible for the use of any information contained herein.

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PREPARING DOES FOR KIDDING

Prior to putting does with bucks, I recommend performing fecal egg counts using an MSK-01L microscope and McMasters gridded slides to determine the number of eggs per gram of Haemonchus contortus (barberpole stomach worm) and coccidia oocysts that each doe is carrying. See my article entitled Doing Your Own Fecals Is Easy to understand the importance of doing fecal counts and how to do it.

I select the liquid dewormer proven effective under the microscope and I give it orally in a goat-appropriate dosage. I don't use white-colored dewormers; Valbazen and Safeguard/Panacur no longer kill stomach worms in most of the USA, but doing your own fecals will answer that question for your location. Performing random fecals each month is the only way to know which dewormers are effective killing stomach worms in your goats.

If fecals indicate the presence of coccidia oocysts, I clear the does' systems of this internal parasite (protozoan) by dosing them orally and individually for five consecutive days with either Albon or its generic equivalent Dimethox 12.5% oral solution. CoRid is an over-the-counter product which can be used but it inhibits thiamin production, so Vitamin B1 must be administered daily during the treatment. An additional advantage of using Albon or Dimethox 12% is that both contain an antibiotic to handle secondary infections.

I also boost the does' CD/T and pneumonia vaccinations. Kids are born with minimally functioning immune systems. The vaccine boosters given their dams both protect the pregnant does and offer passive immunity to the kids (in colostrum and milk) and usually lasts until their kids' immune systems start minimal functioning around one month of age. A goat doesn't have total immune system function until it is around a year of age. This is why dam-produced colostrum and milk is so important to the kids.

If I conclude it is necessary, I also give does a sub-cutaneous (SQ) injection of Multi Min 90. This immune system booster is a chelated (slow release) formulation of zinc, manganese, selenium, and copper. These minerals are vital to the doe's health and her ability to deliver healthy kids.

If there has been a previous "abortion storm" in the herd, I inject each doe with Oxytetracycline 200 mg/mL (dosing at 6 cc per 100 lbs bodyweight SQ over the ribs with an 18 gauge needle) before placing them with a buck and again every 30 days thereafter until each doe gives birth. There are articles on www.tennesseemeatgoats.com dealing with abortion diseases and how to handle them. Abortion vaccines for other species, including sheep, do NOT work with goats.

NOTE: Most abortions result from improper nutrition. Eliminate obvious causes before assuming exotic diseases are the problem. With goats, "it is usually the simplest thing."

If time permits, trim hooves and tail webs. Hoof trimming is a good management practice. A doe with hoof rot or hoof scald cannot forage/browse well enough to produce adequate milk for her kids. A hairy tail web retains feces and placental matter after kidding.

I do not "flush" pregnant does with extra feed immediately prior to kidding because I don't have sufficient forage/browse in my part of Texas to avoid grain supplementation. My nutritional program was developed with the help of my goat nutritionist for my specific location. If your herd is fed mainly on forage/browse with minimal supplemental feed, then you should begin a light grain feeding at breeding and grain should be very gradually increased during the last month of pregnancy when fetuses are growing rapidly.

Consult a goat nutritionist. Do NOT take advice from the person who runs the feed store or your neighbor who mixes his own grain but has no nutritional training. I have been raising goats full time since 1990 and I would never try to mix my own feed or use a feed that was formulated by someone other than a trained goat nutritionist.

Overgraining or improperly graining a pregnant doe can cause serious pregnancy diseases (ketosis, pregnancy toxemia, hypocalcemia) that can kill the doe and her unborn kids. All pregnancy diseases are caused by improper feeding. Offer top-quality grass hay on a free-choice basis. Feed grain before noontime, especially in very cold weather, and take up any that has not been consumed in 15 minutes. Never "free-choice" sacked feed to goats.

Do not feed extra grain at night. Instead, make quality grass hay available on a free-choice basis. As fetuses grow and the uterus expands, the size of the doe's rumen decreases. The doe must have sufficient top-quality grass hay to keep her rumen functioning and still permit some room for fetuses and grain. The long fiber in grass hay stimulates rumen wall contractions and creates heat to keep the goat warm. Feeding grain properly can be a tricky balancing act in heavily pregnant does.

I do not feed alfalfa or other legume hay during the last six (6) weeks of gestation. Legume hays (alfalfa and peanut) are high in calcium. As parturition approaches, the doe's body must release calcium from her bones as she makes milk. If she is being fed a high-calcium diet, calcium release from her bones will not happen and Hypocalcemia ("milk fever") can occur. Hypocalcemia is a life threatening illness for the doe and her unborn kids and is caused by improper nutrition.

A pregnant doe needs protein but she also needs ENERGY. Energy comes from calories. Read my article on Pregnancy and Energy on my website. Getting this right is critical.

Don't forget the importance of exercise to the pregnant doe. Fat does can easily experience dystocia (kidding problems). The time for extra grain is when the doe has kids on the ground and is making lots of milk (lactating).

Re-check fecal egg counts about a month before kidding and de-worm as indicated. If a heavy load of coccidia occysts are present, re-treat with Di-Methox 12.5% solution.

With shelter and sufficient space in place, proper hay and grain and minerals available, supplies at the ready, and does in good condition, kidding should proceed with minimal problems.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto ONION CREEK RANCH, Texas 1.1.24

BendingTree Ranch TexMaster Goats

Pat Cotten 501-581-5700
Bending Tree Ranch located near Greenbrier, Arkansas
www.bendingtreeranch.com
bendingtreeranch@gmail.com

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