E | Better Hens and Gardens

Annual CD/T & BoSe Injections for Goats

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 what I learned (skip to the last paragraph if you don’t want to know all the details on drugs for food producing animals):

1) First of all, what do these vaccinations prevent?

Tetanus toxoid – provides long term protection against tetanus (deadly if untreated) which is [...]

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Choices in Egg Quality

In the US today, we’re being offered more and more choices in food quality; and it’s because many of us are demanding locally grown foods that are antibiotic, hormone, and pesticide free. In terms of eggs quality, it’s not clear sometimes what the choices mean – here’s a rundown on the different types of eggs:

Commercial or “Factory Farmed” Eggs

These are the standard grocery store eggs; and unfortunately, the “farms” that produce these eggs are typically poultry houses where the hens are housed indoors in tiny metal cages. They’re routinely debeaked (part of their beaks are cut [...]

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