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 With our first kidding season coming up, I’ve been accumulating notes on what supplies to have on hand and how to use them. The first half of the list below is everything that I could find that might be necessary to support a normal kidding, while second half identifies supplies that may be necessary if [...] Continue reading Kidding Season Supplies  When we first got the Nigerian Dwarf goats, I asked if there were any books that would be good to have on hand for reference. The two that our friends from Wild Wind Farm recommended are definitely worthwhile as they’re specific to the Nigerian Dwarf breed. I’ve since attended classes on goat care etc., but having [...] Continue reading Recommended Reading for Nigerian Dwarf Goat Owners I’m reasonably sure now that all three Dwarf Nigerian does are “in a family way”, but we carefully considered their maturity and pregnancy needs before taking this step. Basically, there are three stages of care to consider: 1) breeding, 2) early gestation, and 3) late gestation. At each of these stages there is a preferred [...] Continue reading Basic Goat Pregnancy Care  I’ve written about trimming the goats’ hooves before, but we’ve learned a bit more since then so I thought I’d share. It’s always important to keep their hooves trimmed, but particularly in wet and cold weather hoof care is important. In addition to improper alignment; when it’s wet, poorly trimmed hooves can cause them to [...] Continue reading Goat Hoof Trimming  Copper deficiency in goats has been a documented problem in many regions (North America, Australia, Europe, etc.) and is generally caused when livestock graze on pastures or are fed diets deficient in copper. In the United States, copper deficiency has been documented as a problem in Nigerian Dwarf, Boer, and Pygmy goats grazing on pasture in the [...] Continue reading Copper Bolusing Goats to Prevent Copper Deficiencies  I thought our plan for breeding the goats was all worked out – I’d monitored their heat cycles so we knew exactly when to take them back to Wild Wind Farm for breeding; and we were going to have goat kids by March 30th next spring (see Goat Kids – Preparing for Breeding). However, I [...] Continue reading Goat Breeding Plan – Hah!  Ultimately, the reason most folks have dairy goats is because they want the milk; and for this the does need to be bred and have Continue reading Goat Kids – Preparing for Breeding  Bit ‘O’ Honey, Jewel Box, and Tinker Bell are all past a year old now; and I’m determined to get some decent yearling photos of them before they grow their winter coats. Soon it will be time to take them for breeding, and I want to be sure we have some good shots before they start [...] Continue reading Yearling Doe Photos  The Nigerian Dwarf goats (Tinker Bell, Bit ‘O’ Honey, and Jewel Box) are old enough to breed, so the first “Kidding Schedule” page is now up on the Bramblestone Farm website (click on Kidding Schedule). I’m very excited to be planning their first kids, particularly since we’ll be breeding them to bucks owned by our friends at Wild Wind Farm [...] Continue reading Kidding Schedule  Worldwide, goat milk is the most highly consumed form of milk and, amidst the varying dairy goat types; Nigerian Dwarf goat milk is increasingly popular. But why is goat milk and Nigerian Dwarf goat milk in particular so popular? Better For You Goat milk is easier for human’s to digest than cow’s milk. It’s naturally homogenized, with [...] Continue reading What’s so Great about Dwarf Nigerian Goat Milk Anyway?  Tinker Bell Eating Pea Vines Each time I work in the garden and consider bringing back some garden trimmings for the goats and chickens; I have to stop and look through my reference books – to determine whether that particular plant is safe for them to eat. So, I decided to make a list of [...] Continue reading Garden Greens for Goats & Chickens  Jewel Box made “Picture – Of – The – Week” on Backyard Herds this week; doing her cutest goat on the catwalk look!
She’s the third Nigerian Dwarf doe we purchased for Bramblestone Farm; and is just a year old now. There’s more information about her (and her pedigree) at the Bramblestone Farm site [...] Continue reading Jewel Box is “Picture-Of-The-Week”  Abscess Before Testing – Right Shoulder One of our Nigerian Dwarf goats, Honey, recently developed an abscess on her shoulder, causing us to worry that it might be CL. Although she’d tested negative for CL prior to coming to Bramblestone; and the herd she came from tested negative, we were afraid that she’d somehow contracted [...] Continue reading Caseous Lymphadentitis (CL) in Goats  Springtime was cold and late in Northeast Ohio, so the goats didn’t get their coats trimmed until this week – their first trims as yearlings. After giving them their haircuts, we went to the American Goat Society (AGS) 2011 National Show (as spectators only). The show was a real learning experience; we saw many beautiful Nigerian Dwarf goats and met [...] Continue reading Bramblestone Goat Update  There are three types of injections that goats in our area need annually; tetanus toxoid, BoSe, and a vaccination for enterotoxemia. Since Tinker Bell and Honey are now over a year old, it’s time to give them these yearly shots; and I thought that’d be relatively simple. But, it wasn’t quite that easy – here’s [...] Continue reading Annual CD/T & BoSe Injections for Goats |
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