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Maintenance Schedule
This information is offered for reference purposes
only.
Please be sure to check with your own veterinarian for their
recommendations and approval.
Although this program works well for us, the needs of animals in
different locations is different.
Kids
At birth, give l/4 cc Bo-Se
Before disbudding and/or castration, give l cc Tetanus antitoxin SubQ
or IM.
At 3 - 4 weeks, give Albon, for 7 days (give orally with syringe)
At 4 weeks, worm with Panacur or Safeguard
At 6 - 8 weeks, give shot #l of CD/Tet (2cc I.M. or S.Q.)
At 8 weeks, worm with Panacur or Safeguard
At 9 weeks, give Albon for 7 days
At 10 - 12 weeks, give shot #2 of CD/Tet
At 12 weeks, worm with Ivomec SubQ, Valbazen, Tramisol or Safeguard/Panacur.
Repeat as needed ...... with wormer of
choice.
1 - 2 weeks after weaning, give Albon for 7 days
8 -10 months - CD/Tet booster (2cc S.Q. or I.M.)
Feed a Decox feed for the first four months or administer other
coccidiostats as recommended by a ......veterinarian
for your area. We disbud kids when the horn bud is readily
palpable......sometimes as early as 4 days on bucklings, and as late as
2 weeks on doelings. The key to thorough disbudding is to do it at the
proper time, which is BEFORE the base of horn bud is larger than the
diameter of your disbudding iron. We burn completely through the
poll and remove the "cap". The fresh wound is liberally
sprayed with Furol.
Bottle Feeding
Before I give you our bottle feeding schedule, let me say that we use pasteurized
goat milk to feed our kids, but you can feed whatever works for you. Some
people begin to "water down" the milk after a few weeks, but we DO
NOT recommend this practice. (It makes NO sense) We use regular 8 oz.
baby (human) bottles, as they are readily available and easily
replaceable. We prefer the clear nipples. All you need to do is enlarge
the opening in the nipple to allow milk to flow more freely. Pritchard
teats work well also.
For the first 2 days, feed every 4
hours, offering as much as they will take.
On days 3, 4, & 5, feed 4 times
each day, offering as much as they will take
Starting on day 6, we begin to feed
three times each day. At this time they should be taking 4 - 6 oz. ......
at each feeding.
At two weeks, we begin to feed twice
each day (Note: at this point, we discontinue using bottles, and teach the
kids to drink from a suspended feeder (the pan method).
At six weeks, we feed once each day
(in the afternoon). Continue feeding once per day until at least ...... 8 weeks. (We feed bucks for 10 weeks,
does for 12 weeks or longer). You can continue this one feeding for as long
as you'd like.
We offer a medicated (decox), pelleted goat feed to the kids, starting at one week
of age, along with fresh orchard grass hay.
At weaning, we continue to feed the medicated feed to our kids "free
choice", by way of a creep feeder, that is sized as to allow the
entry of young goats up to around 6 - 8 months of age.
Mature Does
Worm 3 to 4 times per year (or more, as indicated by fecal exam).
Give Bo-Se every six months
l month before breeding does, give 2cc CD/Tet, plus Bo-Se according to
weight and deworm.
We feed an 18% protein pelleted goat feed. Mature goats get as much as
they can consume in approximately 15 minutes, and are fed once per day (in
the afternoon).
Every other day, they get a morning feeding that consists of about 1 cup
of alfalfa pellets per doe, and once per week, on Saturday, they get a
morning feeding of sweet goat feed.
We offer free choice TOP QUALITY orchard grass hay in one feeder, and
quality coastal
bermuda in another. Personally, I do not recommend feeding alfalfa hay to
goats as a "maintenance" feed. A small amount given to milkers
and/or kids is fine.
Loose minerals (for cattle) are offered free choice in gravity feeders.
Our vet recommends the cattle minerals for the extra copper. The goats eat
it like candy !
We also offer free choice baking soda in a small gravity feeder. Goats
don't eat a lot of it, but they know when they need it and it IS used.
Fresh water is available at all times. We use automatic waters, placed strategically
to allow us to shade the water in the summer to keep it relatively cool,
and unshaded in the winter to allow the sun to help keep in warmer
(although cold is seldom a problem here).
Our milkers are fed three times per day..... They get the regular feeding
of pellets along with the herd, and they get a special milker's blend
while they are on the stanchion being milked. That "milker's
blend" is a commercial goat feed that has supplements formulated
specifically for milking does We sometimes add a little calf manna to that
feed as well..
Bucks
Worm 3 to 4 times per year (or more, as indicated by fecal exam).
Trim hooves every 6 - 8 weeks, and delouse at the same time.
Give Bo-Se every six months
We feed our bucks the same as does, being fed once per day, eating as much
as they can consume in approx. 15 minutes. Our feed has Ammonium Chloride in it.
If yours doesn't, then mix a small amount of Ammonium Chloride, l/2 Tbls.
vegetable oil, 2 Tbls. loose mineral salt into their grain each day. (Give less of
each for younger bucks. Increase as they grow)
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All of our goats have access to pasture, which we feel is essential to
good health.
We trim hooves about every 6 - 8 weeks (more often on our show string).
Each time we trim hooves, we lightly dust the animal with Co-Ral powder,
which helps keep all external parasites away.
NOTE: We can't stress enough the importance of having quality,
palatable hay, fresh water, and loose minerals available AT
ALL TIMES. We even keep a small night light on in our barn
that provides just enough light for animals to find their way around
to eat hay, drink water, and take minerals as needed through the night.
Here, we test our animals yearly for TB, Brucellosis, and CAE. We
also vaccinate all animals over 6 months of age against Rabies, which is
prevalent in our area.
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