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Keeping Goats

If you are just starting out in the goat-raising field, let us help you get prepared a bit. Think of this as a little goat for beginners crash course. We will cover picking the right breed for you, basic care and nutrition, and everyone’s favorite thing. Fencing. I might also add that when starting out in any new journey, it is wise to find what I like to call a mentor! They can be a great resource for you and your new family members.

Breeds to consider:

In the United States, there are 14 common goat breeds.

Buck/Wether Doe/Doeling

Main - Pygmy, Nubian, Nigerian Dwarf, Boer

Pygmy goats are small in stature, comical and densely found across the US. Pygmy goats are actually documented as a meat breed, although I do find they are sometimes crossed and used as a dairy breed. Traditionally, Pygmy goats are very good browsers and used often in a pasture rotation setting with other animals.

Nigerian Dwarf goats are similar in size to the Pygmy, maybe reaching on average 40lbs. They have a more slender appearance and are a very well known dairy goat breed. Widely popular on small farms and homesteads. With their small size, sought after butterfat percentage and amazing milk potential they make a great addition. Nigeria Dwarf goats hold a butterfat percentage that is on average 6-10%!

Butterfat is the fat content found in milk, and is particularly important when it comes to cheesemaking.

Nubian goats. Most often only used as a dairy breed, well known for their long ears and Roman noses, Nubians are quite social and incredible milk producers. Nubians have an on average 5% butterfat content in their milk. Nubians are known for being outgoing and a tad loud. They are the largest of the three breeds we are highlighting, and do require a bit more space.

Boer goats are bred to thrive under extensive livestock farming conditions in hot, arid environments where the quality of grazing is poor. The breed has the ability to convert poor-quality forage into meat at a very low cost, enabling livestock farmers in these arid areas to farm commercially.

Considerations:

Goats need a bare minimum of 20 square feet of inside space and 200 square feet of pasture space per goat.

They are browsers not grazers- the prefer bushes vs grass.

Nutrition needs – they are ruminants and have 4 stomach quadrants. They regurgitate their food and chew their cud.

The compartments are the reticulum, rumen, omasum and abomasum, or true stomach.

Monogastric or simple-stomached animals such as humans, dogs and cats consume food that

undergoes acidic breakdown in the stomach and enzymatic digestion in the small intestine, where most nutrients are absorbed.

In ruminants, feed first undergoes microbial digestion in the reticulum and rumen — together, often called the reticulo-rumen — prior to acidic digestion in the abomasum and enzymatic digestion and nutrient absorption in the small intestine. The microbial digestion in the reticulo-rumen allows ruminants to consume and utilize grass, hay, leaves and browse. – (Meat Goat Nutrition)

The bacteria in the rumen are capable of synthesizing all B vitamins needed!

Fencing

Basic needs- hoof trim, vaccines, overall care.

Health issues?

Herd animals- they are very social and curious. Some even say intelligent.

What they eat DOES impact how the milk tastes.

Breeding/Milk sharing?

They have many quirks. They move into pressure- not away.

They have a dental pad in the front top- and on top and bottom they have VERY sharp teeth ( in the back) and can actually break a finger. Or a tree limb etc

Lifespan- similar to a dog

Hatching Basics

We cover chickens, ducks, and geese in this episode

Touching on turkeys and quail, the more common poultry species on most

homesteads.

From how to pick your incubator, pick the right eggs to hatch, where to put your

incubator, and how long. There is a lot to know!

While we all can read as much information as we can digest, you do gain a lot of

information once you have a few hatches under your belt.

The difference isn’t too vast when it comes to each species we will talk about, but

there are a few.

Set up and choosing an incubator:

There are SO many.

Simple Styrofoam

Incubators that have auto turners

Cabinet style

How do you choose? Most of us are going to go middle of the road and invest in an

incubator with an auto turner. This allows us to set the eggs and NOT have to turn

then 3-5 times a day.

The incubator is mimicking what would be happening if a broody would elect to

hatch a clutch, so we cant just set the eggs and walk away for 21-28 days.

And then we have to talk about the “air types” inside the incubator.

There are basically two types of incubators available, forced-air and still-air

incubators. Forced-air incubators have fans that provide internal air circulation. The

capacity of these units may be very large. The still-air incubators are usually small

without fans for air circulation. It is just kind of like a hot box and not as common.

Still-air incubators are trickier to use, and it requires precision to set this kind of

incubator. The radiant heat warms up the air, and since the air will not be able to

circulate, it is very crucial to identify the correct placement of the eggs. The warm

air tends to not be equal, thus making it harder to achieve a successful hatch.

In addition, the setting of still air incubators has to be exact otherwise, temperature

and humidity anomalies might occur inside.

Backing up, in order to have a successful hatch you have to focus on two things.

Temperature and humidity. Remember we are replicating what it would be like if

the hen or goose went broody and hatched these eggs on their own.

We have talked about it before, how we as humans seem to interfere too much when

it comes to many aspects of homesteading, this is no exception.

Chickens 21-days/Lockdown day 18- Temperature 99.5 incubator temp/Humidity

around 45% for first 18 days and then bump up to about 60-65% at lockdown.

Ducks 28 days/Lockdown day 25-26 (besides Muscovys)- Temperature

99.5/Humidity about 50-55% for the first 25 days and then bump up to about 65-

68% at lockdown

Geese 28-35 days-/Lockdown 3 day before hatch day- Temperature 99.5 (if not a

hair lower- 99.4)/Humidity 50-55% for the first 25 days and then bump up to about

65-68% at lockdown.

For waterfowl- a cooling period is even more beneficial/crucial than with chicken

eggs. Again, this is mimicking the mother bird.

Some folks with mist the eggs every day or so, again replicating the mother bird

bathing or swimming.

Place your incubator in a draft free location.

Everyone will have slight variations, we all live in different home environments.

This is why we talk about trialing with a couple of eggs, especially if you are

hatching eggs that are very special or hard to find.

Assisting the hatch?

While you are waiting for the poultry to hat

Season 2: Introduction to Beekeeping

Why Keep Bees

Increase pollination for fruit and vegetable crops, contribute to the honeybee population, production benefits of honey, pollen and wax

The Members of a Hive

Queen (only hive member capable of laying eggs)

Workers (female, worker bees who play the roles of guardians, nurses, foragers, comb builders, honey creators, undertakers, etc.)

Drones (male, sole job is to mate with the queen)

Sourcing Bees

Common Honeybee Breeds in the US (not exhaustive list)

https://bees4life.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/bee-races1.jpg

• Carniolan - generally more docile disposition, moderate disease resistance, good chance of overwinter
• Italian: moderately gentle, low disease resistance, good chance of overwinter
• Saskatraz: generally docile, known for overwintering ability
• Russian: High disease resistance, good for overwinter, generally aggressive
• Africanized: resistant to varroa, highly aggressive, high disease resistance, poor overwintering ability
• Other races: caucasion, buckfast, german, etc.

Nuc vs Package

Sourcing local is best. They will be successfully overwinter stock (if that applies to your region) and a local beekeeper can assist with treatment and behavioral questions.

Nuc: A 5-frame working colony with a queen, workers and drones. Frames often include capped brood (eggs and larvae) and honey/pollen.

Package: A package is a collection of bees including one queen, workers and drones compiled into a box or shipping container. They are not a working colony and do not come with frames or food stores. Typically shipped from warmer climates to cooler areas where bees have no experience with overwintering.

Place orders for bees in December-February. Usually nuc pick-up and package shipment is in early spring.

Equipment Needed

Langstroth Hive for Beginners

• Most common hive set up. Includes a landing/bottom board, a brood box (where the queen lays her eggs and where the bees “live”), a honey super (a box dedicated to honey stores), frames, a queen excluder (optional), an inner cover and outer cover
• Bee suit, veil, gloves, hive tool, smoker, entrance reducers, feeders (optional)
• Hive stand: a set of cinder blocks and 4x4” posts, a pallet, a built table, etc]

Hive Site Selection

A dry, flat location with morning sunlight and afternoon shade is ideal. Avoid slopes where the hive could fall, floodplains, high traffic locations and areas where the bees will often be disturbed.
Bees will travel up to five miles in search of forage. They will travel 1⁄4 mile for water.

The Role of the Beekeeper

• Facilitate hive health. The entire beekeeping season is an effort to prepare for the next winter.
• Treat hives if you feel that falls within your moral code
  • Varroa
  • Small Hive Beetles
  • Wax Moths
  • Mice/Shrews
  • Roaches
  • Spiders
  • Ants
• Conduct inspections regularly (generally conducted monthly) to observe the following:
  • Queen health (her size if you can see her, laying patterns)
  • Frames of larvae
  • Frames of pollen stores
  • Frames of honey
  • Are there lots of workers and drones?
  • Is there capped brood?
  • Signs of swarming (queen cups, supercedure cells, etc.)
  • Signs of pests/disease
• Feed the bees if that aligns with your methodology
  • Sugar syrup in warmer months
  • Sugar cakes in colder months

What is companion planting?

It's one of the foundations of creating working ecosystems when it comes to permaculture. We can group plants together when planning and planting our growing spaces to help crops deter pests/disease, mine nutrients from the soil, and attract pollinators.

It's a way of creating a symbiotic relationship in your gardens, because the idea is the two plants (or more) that are companions are each providing to the other something that it cannot do. Or cannot do it alone. The plants are working together to benefit one another. Companion planting is also thought to “confuse” pests even when you are unable to cover or manage intensively.

It helps support plant diversity and actually helps you intensively manage a small space better. The key in fostering diversity is to increase the number of beneficial pests- thus decreasing the harmful ones.

Why companion plant?

The result is a higher crop yield, less human intervention by way of fertilizing and pest control, and maximizing garden space. These concepts can be applied to small spaces--even container gardens--to large environments like orchards. It's about getting away from mono-culture (planting rows upon rows of corn, for example) and planting many things together, called poly-culture.

For containers, raised beds or in-ground garden systems, here's some helpful companion plant combinations I use.

Tomatoes

Plant lettuce, carrots, radish underneath and around

Broccoli/Cauliflower

Plant broccoli and cauliflower between rows of garlic and/or sage to deter cabbage moths. Crimson clover acts a great living mulch to attract predatory insects to feed on those cabbage moth larvae also.

Cucumbers

Surround with radishes to deter cucumber beetles

Pumpkins/Squash

Sow 2-3 nasturtium seeds around each seedling after sprouting to deter squash bugs/borersMarigolds and Calendula

Use around borders to attract beneficial pollinators and deter rabbits- and they can add another thing to you homestead arsenal- you can make salves from the petals- they both are from the same family and have anti-inflammatory properties and more.

Roses

Interplant garlic around roses to deter fungal diseases (some folks say it also encourages a stronger fragrance from the rose blossoms!)

Peas

Peas give nitrogen to the soil so are great for heavy-feeding plants like tomatoes, corn, peppers, eggplant, and even potatoes

Strawberries

Interplant with mint to deter pests. Also interplant with borage to attract pollinators and enhance berry sweetness.

Nasturtium

Containing both edible foliage and flowers (and seeds-capers) it fairs well in less fertile soil. Great for pollinators and pest control- so we interplant this easy to grow trailing flower all over the garden.

Trap crops: the idea of planting crops to “sacrifice”. This aids in pest reduction for the plants you want to see to harvest. This is ideally done in close proximity to the plants you are trying to succeed with. For us- we do this with brassicas- greens etc. We will cover (with a lightweight summer cloth) the beds we want to protect and then leave a bed nearby uncovered and unkempt. The easiest form of trickery.

Plants that add nitrogen back into our soil:

It's no secret- your soil is alive. You want it to be its own little ecosystem right under your feet. We can help the soil (because then it turns around and helps us) by planting crops that are rich in nitrogen. Legumes - peas and beans are some of the more common plants homesteaders will grow for a harvest- and they are also helping improve the soil as they grow a