We provide the following information to give prospective buyers an idea of how we manage our herd. This is not advice. We share this information to help others decide if our animals are a good fit for them. We firmly believe that there is no right way to "to goat," and that each individual will find, along the way, what practices work best for them. We also recognize that circumstances, information, and best practices can and will change over the years. We certainly do not do things the same as when we started with goats over 20 years ago, and we will adjust our management as necessary based on the specific needs of our animals, new credible information, etc.--the below is subject to, and most certainly will, change!  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to chat about our goats and our management.

Biosecurity and Disease Testing
We test all adult animals for CAE yearly. Due to the unreliable nature of Johnes and CL blood tests, we do not routinely do herd-wide blood testing for these diseases; we plan to implement pooled fecal sample Johnes PCR testing going forward, which is more accurate. We have never had an incidence of CL on our property, and will culture any actual abscess if necessary.

We do not allow visitors in our fields, stalls, or common areas. We rarely bring goats in from other farms, but when we do, we quarantine and perform a biosecurity screen before the animal joins the herd. We do show, and so we try our best to minimize risk when taking animals off the property, such as showing off our trailer/not using pens and maintaining as much distance between our animals and others. We do not allow our bucks to be used for outside breedings.

Vaccines
All kids and adults, no exceptions, are vaccinated with CD/T according to current veterinary guidance. We also vaccinate the entire herd for pneumonia twice yearly (currently we use Bovilis Nasalgen 3-PMH). We do not sell kids or adults that have not been vaccinated. Clostridium diseases and tetanus are horrible ways to die that are largely preventable by proper vaccination.

Parasites and Deworming
We raise all kids on coccidiosis prevention methods. Currently, this means all our kids are on dry lot and fed a daily coccidiosis preventative (currently we use Calf Pro daily for all kids while they are on bottles).

We do not deworm our animals on a schedule, but use several strategies to manage internal parasites. For example, we ensure our animals do not eat off the ground or graze short grass, routinely use the FAMACHA method, frequently (DAILY) note the condition of our animals both by visual checks and putting our hands on our animals to assess condition, and keep common areas and stalls as clean as possible. We use BioWorma feed additive during the warmer months to keep the larval load on our pastures low. We use chemical dewormers when necessary, but very rarely have to do so.

Horns/Disbudding
Unless naturally polled, all animals born on our farm are disbudded.

Raising Kids
All kids are pulled at birth and bottle fed heat-treated colostrum and pasteurized goat milk from our herd, no exceptions.*  All kids are raised on dry lot and are on daily coccidiosis prevention. We typically wean from the bottle at approximately 5 to 6 months of age.

DNA Typing
As of December 2023, all bucks on the property have DNA on file. We are also submitting samples for several of our more senior/foundation does, and plan to do so for more in the future. We are happy to submit DNA on any animal not on file by request of (and expense of) a potential buyer. 

*Feeding pasteurized milk is common sense milk handling and is very important to us for good management and disease prevention. Yes, feeding heat-treated colostrum/pasteurized milk is a CAE prevention strategy--of course, we religiously test for CAE and maintain a CAE-free herd;  however, there are MANY other illnesses/diseases that can quickly spread through your entire kid crop if feeding pooled, raw milk, such as mycoplasmas or bacteria that can cause mastitis. For the overall health of all our animals, we will never feed pooled raw milk.