Goats

Tired of battling parasites in your herd or flock? Here’s what three experts found to be the best solution.

We’ve got you covered with a short how-to video on kidding, some solutions for keeping kids and lambs warm and saving hypothermic lambs, and a resource for taking the next steps to low input lambing and kidding.

In 2004, I opened Rent-A-Ruminant LLC in Western Washington State. I started with a handful of goats, no experience and not a clue how to start and run the business. There were only two of us goat rentals in the State of WA at the time. It was still a fledgling industry and took a […]

Thanks to Steve Bryns, Texas A&M Agrilife, for this article. Researchers at Texas A&M just finished a  six-year study proving what many of their West Texas stockmen know; properly managed meat goats are valuable property, no matter how many you have. Bill Thompson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist, and Dr. Dan Waldron, Texas A&M […]

Last week we shared an article about the problem of parasite resistance to worming medications and covered worming practices that may help or hurt resistance. FAMACHA© scoring is one of the tools available to help prevent resistance in your herd. It’s a test for barberpole worms (Haemonchus contortus) in your herd, and uses the symptoms […]

Some great tips for working with guardian animals along with additional resources where you can learn more, or even call a person for help!

Dave Scott and his wife own and operate Montana Highland Lamb (Home Grown and Happy) in Whitehall, Montana. Dave is also a livestock specialist at ATTRA’s National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte, Montana. In this video he puts on both hats at once and shares how he uses sheep and goat netting for management intensive grazing […]

In this excerpt from her book “Farms With A Future” Rebecca shares the story of a start-up farmer who created success by taking his product to the people.

Every goat producer is trying for the “Goldilocks Goat,” the animal that is not too thin and not too fat, but just right. Here’s a video and a great fact sheet with pictures that will help you make that happen.

Yes, this title is a joke since keeping a goat in a fence can be almost impossible. Just the same, here’s a primer on fencing goats, and some pointers for keeping a goat inside one.

You can breed however you’d like. To be truly successful, breed for fertility, and breed for your farm. Morgan delves deeper into how.

A couple months ago I wrote an article for On Pasture called Breeding Matters. I briefly alluded to Line Breeding as a method of getting greater consistency and uniformity of type in one’s herd or flock. Many graziers I talk to essentially say, “So why should I care how my cattle are bred, or my […]

Woven Meadows Farm doesn’t castrate its pastured pork so boars grow faster and give more bacon. Here’s what they’ve found out about meat taint and preventing it, along with some information about pasturing bulls, rams and bucks too.

No, it’s not a toolbox for goats and sheep. They don’t have thumbs! Better than that – it’s a toolbox of information to help sheep and goat producers prosper.

Like many of us in the business of grass-farming for livestock production, I have been preoccupied by a persistent question; Nature vs. Nurture, Breeding vs. Management, Genetics vs. Environment, all takes on the same dichotomy. Of course the answer is unequivocally, “YES.” The functionality of an animal for our particular purposes is absolutely the sum […]