Browsed by
Author: Richard Fasching

Deworming Goats

Deworming Goats

There are already articles on our website pertaining to goat health and goat nutrition.  However, because deworming goats is essential to the health of our goats, we decided to write a separate article pertaining to deworming them. _____________________________________________________ There is no getting around it.  Goats, in general, are very susceptible to internal parasites, especially stomach and intestinal worms.  These worms feed on blood and if left untreated cause anemia and death.  Infection typically reaches highest levels in summer when most…

Read More Read More

Soap vs Soap

Soap vs Soap

Recently I spent a night out of town in a popular hotel chain while busing the School’s Speech and Debate team to their district finals.  The hotel room and amenities were nice enough and, even though I do not like spending time away from the homestead, I decided to try to relax.  I happened past the sink where I caught a glimpse of the soaps and a facial bar that was nicely packaged and laid out by the housekeepers.  Since…

Read More Read More

Goat Health

Goat Health

The “Goat Nutrition” post was dedicated to feed-stuffs that are essential forproper nutrition of your herd. But there is so much more to keeping your goats healthy. No matter how well you care for your goats you will not be able to protect them from all diseases, parasites, and other problems. At some point in time they will likely be exposed to some issue or problem. By acting proactively you can minimize exposure by preventing problems anddiseases versus trying to…

Read More Read More

Goat Nutrition

Goat Nutrition

The most essential piece of knowledge you need to be armed with to properly raise Nigerian Dwarf goats pertains to their nutritional needs that ensures they are healthy, strong, maintain production, and birth healthy kids.  Proper goat nutrition isn’t something you can really “experiment” with either. These small goats are tough and often times first begin to show nutritional issues when it is too late.  So, take notes!  Let’s start with the basics. In general, this is what every Nigerian…

Read More Read More

Food Preservation

Food Preservation

Let’s face it – man has been “processing” food from the first time meat was cooked over a fire or added salt to preserve to eat later without it spoiling as rapidly. Processing used to simply be used to preserve food for consumption beyond a product’s normal shelf life or place where it was grown. I still have the documents my grandparents filled out in the 1940’s that calculated how many quarts of fruit preserves, vegetables, jams, jellies, bushels of…

Read More Read More

Polled vs Horned Goats

Polled vs Horned Goats

A customer called a little while ago wanting to purchase a few goats and asked about our polled first freshener.  His question was specifically regarding whether the polled trait would be carried through the male or the female.  Well, good question! For those of you who have not completed a college genetics class, let me answer this as simply as possible – traits (carried in the DNA of chromosomes) come from both parents.  It is the combining of those traits…

Read More Read More

Testing Goats for Pregnancy and Disease

Testing Goats for Pregnancy and Disease

The results are in. All of our goats are verified happily pregnant and the herd is disease free! When we send in blood samples to test our goats for pregnancy we additionally request tests for disease. While we have never had a sick goat, getting them tested every year for Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis (CAE), Johnes Disease, and Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL), provides some satisfaction that our goats are healthy and pregnant. TestingEach year after we send our service buck home with…

Read More Read More

Building a Goat Milking Stand

Building a Goat Milking Stand

We looked into buying a ready-made goat milking stand when we first started milking goats.  Depending upon the materials the stand was made of and what options (wheels, ramp, portable…) were included, you could expect to dish out anywhere from $250-$350 just for a basic unit.  So, of course, my DIY “I can do that cheaper and better” brain kicked in.   The fun part about making your own equipment is that you can make it any dimension you want…

Read More Read More

Making Goat Milk Butter

Making Goat Milk Butter

Now that you know how to separate the cream from the whole milk (see May 27, 2018 post), the next logical step is to start using it.  One of my jobs is to make butter out of the cream.  I typically make butter the day after separating, when the cream has chilled over night.  Our Nigerian Dwarf goats have such high butter fat that you can turn the refrigerated jar of cream upside down, and it will not pour out,…

Read More Read More

Memorial Day Hunting

Memorial Day Hunting

Mushroom Hunting On one of the nicest (aka non-raining) Memorial Day holiday’s I can remember, we decided to go hunting – mushroom hunting that is.  Hunting for mushrooms in SW Montana can be challenging due to the high elevation, cooler temperatures, and lack of abundant precipitation.  And because of these factors, there are also fewer varieties of mushrooms growing in Montana.  So when you do find precious edible mushrooms, you feel like you have hit the “jackpot”!  And so it…

Read More Read More