Feeling overwhelmed and could use help

I'm new to the dairy goat world. We've had a pet pygmy wether for the last 10 or so years. He's been 100% healthy his whole life, never had to see the vet, gets an occasional wormer and thats that. He's just a health happy goat who loves everyone.

I decided to get 2 ND doelings (not born yet, just reserved). I was so disgusted reading about how tainted store (cows) milk is, indeed most foods not just milk, and so I thought forget it! I live on a farm, I've raised horses my whole life, why not a dairy animal? Certainly I am not going to get a big ol' giant cow, so that leaves a goat! Our Pygmy is great, love him! 2 more will be great too...

Except now I read all these stories about worm problems and the impossibility of treating them and goats dying and pastures being ruined forever due to parasite loads and people maybe being sick because of the sick goats and on and on and on...

Now I'm a little freaked out.

Ok, a lot freaked out.

Someone please tell me how our Pygmy has gone 10 years 100% healthy, when it sounds as if goats are supposed to be super fragile. Is it because I'm in WI and it gets so cold here, less parasites maybe?

I'm overwhelmed! Someone please tell me it's not as bad as it sounds?

Great advice from PlayRite Farm. Overuse of dewormers is THE reason that we now have dewormer resistance, because people used to think that you should or could deworm on a regular schedule like they do for horses. I knew people who would deworm every month! It's hard to find a vet in Illinois that know anything about goats -- they do horses, swine, and cattle, which are very different. But other breeders are a great source of information, because we're actually living with goats daily. Everyone's experience is a little different, and things vary from one part of the country to another, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

Wisconsin is a good place to have goats, because the heavy frost kills a lot of your parasites on pasture over the winter. Some people in the southeast supposedly lose about 20% of their sheep or goats every year to parasites, because the pasture conditions are perfect for the parasites -- wet and warm.

Another important thing is stocking ratio on your pasture. I had zero worms the first two years and never used a dewormer. Then I had three bucks die within four months. The bucks were in a 64 X 64 pen, which got overloaded after two years. If you start from the beginning by rotating pasture, you may never need a dewormer. I know people who've been doing it successfully for a few years. I've talked to several people with PhDs who've been studying this, and pasture stocking ratio and/or rotation is the #1 thing that they talk about. If I only had two does, I would use WG4's moveable cattle panel pen unless you have three or more acres for them to browse, in which case, they'll be fine.

If your doelings are dewormed when you bring them home, keep them in a stall in the barn for a week, so they can drop all the eggs in there, then put them out in their pasture. Put the straw or shavings from the stall in a compost pile, preferable at least three-feet deep and wide, so the eggs will be killed by the heat. You meantioned horses, so if you bury the goat's muck under the horses muck, it will get nice and hot.

Typically no one has problems with parasites when they bring home their first couple goats. The problems start if your pasture gets overloaded (by overstocking and never rotating) or you abuse dewormers. None of this info was available when I got into goats almost nine years ago, so we did a LOT of things that actually created this problem. Sadly some people are still working with that old info, but we're getting the new research out there, so hopefully the new people won't have the same problems.

Replies

Deborah Niemann-Boehle November 12, 2010 at 7:24pm

And I thought about something else as I was going about my day. One thing I love about NDs are the lack of kidding problems. You almost never hear about C-sections. It's definitely less than 1%. On the other hand, I know several people, including a vet, who quit raising pygmies because of all the C-sections.
N M November 12, 2010 at 12:57pm

Well, my pygmy was never confined. He knows the road is off limits and in 10 years has never ventured near it. (Not that its dangerous, we have almost 0 traffic way out here.) He's free to roam the entire 7 acres. He goes in the barn at night to be safe from coyotes and bear etc. I don't imagine I'll be allowing the 2 new doelings the same freedom. Our Pygmy earned his freedom by escaping constantly, but never ever went near the road. So eventually we just let him be. I don't think the new ones will be quite like him, and so will be in a pasture. I've got about 3 or 4 acres for them.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle November 12, 2010 at 9:35am

Great advice from PlayRite Farm. Overuse of dewormers is THE reason that we now have dewormer resistance, because people used to think that you should or could deworm on a regular schedule like they do for horses. I knew people who would deworm every month! It's hard to find a vet in Illinois that know anything about goats -- they do horses, swine, and cattle, which are very different. But other breeders are a great source of information, because we're actually living with goats daily. Everyone's experience is a little different, and things vary from one part of the country to another, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

Wisconsin is a good place to have goats, because the heavy frost kills a lot of your parasites on pasture over the winter. Some people in the southeast supposedly lose about 20% of their sheep or goats every year to parasites, because the pasture conditions are perfect for the parasites -- wet and warm.

Another important thing is stocking ratio on your pasture. I had zero worms the first two years and never used a dewormer. Then I had three bucks die within four months. The bucks were in a 64 X 64 pen, which got overloaded after two years. If you start from the beginning by rotating pasture, you may never need a dewormer. I know people who've been doing it successfully for a few years. I've talked to several people with PhDs who've been studying this, and pasture stocking ratio and/or rotation is the #1 thing that they talk about. If I only had two does, I would use WG4's moveable cattle panel pen unless you have three or more acres for them to browse, in which case, they'll be fine.

If your doelings are dewormed when you bring them home, keep them in a stall in the barn for a week, so they can drop all the eggs in there, then put them out in their pasture. Put the straw or shavings from the stall in a compost pile, preferable at least three-feet deep and wide, so the eggs will be killed by the heat. You meantioned horses, so if you bury the goat's muck under the horses muck, it will get nice and hot.

Typically no one has problems with parasites when they bring home their first couple goats. The problems start if your pasture gets overloaded (by overstocking and never rotating) or you abuse dewormers. None of this info was available when I got into goats almost nine years ago, so we did a LOT of things that actually created this problem. Sadly some people are still working with that old info, but we're getting the new research out there, so hopefully the new people won't have the same problems.

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