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Health

Herd Health

A healthy herd is paramount for the work we do here on our small farm. We run annual blood tests for the entire herd to be sure everyone is negative for CAE, and we immediately quarantine and test any new animals brought onto our property. Our CAE lab reports are below.

In agreement with what our veterinarians and studies have shown, testing the blood for Johne's is not an accurate way to determine disease within a herd. We instead have chosen to run a fecal PCR for Johne's disease every few years. Fecal testing for the disease is the only accurate way to test for the presence of Johne's disease.

We monitor our herd carefully and do daily health checks on all animals. Any abscesses are treated extremely seriously and result in quarantine and a vet call for fluid to be tested. We have NEVER had a CL+ abscess in our herd. We do test periodically via random sampling.

Lab reports

CAE herd tests, all negative

Management Choices

Note: Products and supplements used are at the direction of our veterinarian coupled with our own experiences and research. What works for one herd may not for another, and you should always discuss feed and supplement usage with a vet or expert in small ruminant nutrition.

Milker's Needs

Our milkers are fed a variety of grains in their daily milking routine. Daily on the milk stand they get as much Kalmbach 16 sweet feed as they want, plus a cup of BOSS, and a scoop of Poulin Rolled Beet Pulp w/ Soybean oil.

Feed them, and they will grow. Kids!

Free choice grain? *Gasp* yep. If they are hungry, they can eat. Our kids begin getting offered grain at around a week old, and from there as they start to nibble, we let them eat as much hay and grain (and milk) as their hearts desire. We only switch to filling grain twice daily in the fall when the youngest kids are at least 4 months old. We feed our kids Kalmbach Start Right Feed, and use Baycox every 21 days to prevent coccidia blooms.

Free-choice COOL milk?? YES!

Yep, we lambar raise all our kids. They start on a bottle fed warm colostrum, then are free fed warm milk three times daily for around a week. After that, our lambars are filled with cool milk twice daily and hooked onto the pens for the kids to drink as much as they like. We have never had issues with bloating, overeating or other concerns we have heard about. The lambars are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected in the evening, ready for the next day.

Bucks

We don't really treat our boys too differently. They get the same minerals, free choice baking soda, and alfalfa and orchard hays. We feed Kalmbach 16 Sweet to mature bucks. We make sure they have plenty of fresh water and free choice hay. In the fall when caloric needs increase, we also offer them beet pulp, and occasionally a senior textured horse feed high in fiber.

Hay, you? Hay!

We feed a consistent supply of orchard, western alfalfa, or a mix. Our most important hay is our alfalfa for the milkers. It's what they thrive on, even in the hot months, and what we feel keeps our herd the healthiest. We would never cut back on the quality of our hays, even if the price can be outrageous at times. If we have to offer lower quality to maintain our herd size, then it's time for a smaller herd. Just our "two cents".

Minerals and other free choice products

These are products we leave out for all of our goats at all times. We firmly believe they are consumed as needed and that they benefit the health of our animals, making sure they get the vitamins and minerals they need. Some are higher in protein, some in calcium. Sometimes our goats go through one extremely fast and seem to leave the others alone. We let them choose what and how much to eat, and trust their bodies know what they are doing.