We are talking about everything goats! Whether you're an owner, a breeder, or just a fan of these wonderful creatures, we've got you covered. Join host and author Deborah Niemann as she interviews experts and goat lovers so we can all learn more about how to improve the health and production of our goats, improve our relationships, and possibly even start a goat business.
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Whether you live in a suburban condo or on an off-grid farm, you can live a greener lifestyle. In the Sustainability Book Chat we talk to authors who can help you reach your goals to achieve a more self-reliant lifestyle, whether that means starting a container garden on your balcony or having chickens in your backyard or making greener transportation choices.
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Send us a Text Message. It can be a seemingly insurmountable challenge to balance the grazing needs of your herd with the necessity to maintain pasture and forage growth. If only there was a formula to strike that perfect balance between allowing your goats to get the nutrition they need while sustaining plant growth for future grazing. We have goo…
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Send us a Text Message. Herd shares are often considered to be a sneaky way to circumvent state laws prohibiting the sale of raw milk. But did you know that herd shares themselves are not legal in all 50 states? In addition, there is far more nuance to the endeavor than simply selling shares in your herd–both in terms of legalities and liabilities.…
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Send us a Text Message. Listeriosis can strike fear into the hearts of goats owners, not only because it needs prompt treatment to increase the odds of survival, and because it can be difficult to diagnose due to the fact that it shares symptoms with several other serious illnesses, but also because Listeria bacteria exist everywhere. Today, Dr. Me…
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Farm Stays: The Key to a Diversified Farm
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Send us a Text Message. Have you ever thought about hosting guests on your farm for additional income, but were too unsure about the logistics to take the first step? Today’s podcast will offer clarity and may even inspire you to finally venture into the world of agritourism. We are talking to Scottie Jones, co-owner of Leaping Lamb Farm in Oregon …
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Milk Test Reports: What We Learn About our Goats
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Send us a Text Message. If you ever wondered about the benefits of milk testing, today’s episode contains an abundance of valuable information. Today we are talking to Jeremy Leather, a field technician at Dairy One, a milk testing lab in New York State. While Dairy One offers multiple services, including forage and soil testing, we are focusing on…
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Send us a Text Message. Have you ever wanted to try raw milk, lauded for its health benefits, but were concerned about the safety? Like all raw foods from lettuce to oysters, there is a risk of contamination, but there’s a lot we can do to be sure that all of our raw food, including milk, is as safe as possible. We are talking to Mark McAfee, the c…
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Send us a Text Message. Every goat owner has heard that goats don't do well with anesthesia, so we are always understandably nervous when our goats need to be sedated. Dr. Kelly Chen, Veterinary Anesthesiology Resident at Cornell University, joins us in this episode to talk about why goats are so challenging when it comes to anesthesia. First, we d…
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Send us a Text Message. New goat breeders frequently ask where and how they can sell their goat kids. When I started with goats in 2002, I bought goats from breeders who had websites, so I assumed I would also need a website for selling my goats. That has been the only sales channel for my goats forever. In this episode, Emily Nyman and I discuss w…
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Success with Dairy Goats: Goat Milk Stuff
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Send us a Text Message. If you've ever thought about starting a business with your dairy goats, today's episode will give you a lot of valuable information. We are talking to PJ Jonas, founder of Goat Milk Stuff, which sells all sorts of products made from goat milk. Although they focus on soap and body care products today, they also sold cheese, y…
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Send us a Text Message. Who wouldn't love free food for your goats? But before you call your local brewer or distiller and ask if you can pick up their spent grain, listen to this episode with Dr. Robert VanSaun, vet professor and ruminant nutritionist at Pennsylvania State University. Spent brewers grain and distillers grain are popular feed for c…
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Arapawa Goats: Discovering the Charms of this Rare Breed
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Send us a Text Message. If you've been looking for a smaller breed of goat that's parasite resistant, has excellent mothering skills, and comes in a variety of colors, the Arapawa goat from New Zealand might be a good fit, especially if you are interested in conserving rare breeds. In this episode, we are joined by Emily Nyman, Arapawa Goat Breeder…
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Send us a Text Message. Can goats threaten your health if you're a pregnant woman? If you are a woman, there are some specific precautions you should be taking with goats giving birth and also when using drugs for synchronization. Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and a reproductive speci…
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Carpal Hyperextension in Nigerian Dwarf Goats
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Send us a Text Message. If you've ever had a goat with wonky knees, today's episode will shed some light on the problem. When a goat has carpal hyperextension, it means that the knees bend backwards rather than being straight. We are joined today by Dr. Erica McKenzie, Professor of Large Animal Medicine, Oregon State University and Dr. Leah Streb, …
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Send us a Text Message. Have you ever had a goat get an udder even though you are 100% sure she has not been anywhere close to a buck so could not possibly be pregnant? Normally, goats have to go through pregnancy and have a baby before they produce milk, but it's not impossible for a doe to start making milk without getting pregnant. A precocious …
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Send us a Text Message. Milk testing can provide you with a plethora of information about your does' milk production and the components of their milk, and they can even earn milk stars, but a lot of people never get started because they find the process daunting. Lisa Shepard, board member and former Performance Program Coordinator for the American…
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Send us a Text Message. Some of the most common questions I receive from new goat owners are on the topic of manure management. Many new goat owners think they need to clean out the barn weekly or even daily, so in this episode I'm talking about how our barn cleaning practices have evolved through the years. I am also joined by some of our Goats 36…
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Natural Resources Conservation Service: How It Can Help Your Farm
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Send us a Text Message. If your farm plans are bigger than your budget and you're not even sure where to start, help is available. Your local USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service office can help you with technical assistance, cost-share programs, and grants. Joshua Hammond, a public affairs specialist with the NRCS, joins us in the podcast …
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ADGA Genetics: Your Guide to Dairy Goat Information and More
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Send us a Text Message. If you want to view everything we know about individual ADGA-registered dairy goats in one place, check out ADGA Genetics. It's the brainchild of Gene Dershewitz, who created the database and website. He also responds to questions from goat owners or wanna-be goat owners. Gene says that most people are simply using the site …
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Cystic Ovaries and Other Reproductive Problems in Goats
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Send us a Text Message. What do you do when your doe gets bred but doesn't get pregnant? There are a number of reasons why this can happen, and Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor in Production Management Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, joins us in this episode to discuss five of the possibilities. We are talkin…
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Send us a Text Message. Whether you are interested in finding buck service or renting out your bucks, you don't want to miss today's episode with Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor in Production Management Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Although it is important to be sure that all goats have tested negative fo…
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Send us a Text Message. Losing an animal to a predator is every goat owner's worst nightmare. When it does happen, you want to know who did it and stop them from doing it again. But figuring out whodunnit can often be a challenge. It this episode, we are talking to Gowan Batist, co-existence programs manager of the Mountain Lion Foundation. She is …
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Send us a Text Message. A couple of months ago, we had a Facebook post that elicited a lot of very passionate responses and also uncovered a lot of myths and misinformation about worms in goats. In today's episode we are talking about many of the comments that were made on that post and explaining what current research says specifically about goat …
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Send us a Text Message. Rotational grazing is the key to parasite control. After all, if you limit infection of your goats, you limit the potential for them to become severely parasitized. But there is more to rotational grazing than simply dividing up your pasture by a magic number. Heather Glennon, Associate Professor of Animal Science at Univers…
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Antibiotics for Goats: Availability and Usage
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Send us a Text Message. New restrictions on over-the-counter antibiotics used in livestock will start in June 2023. Until now, anyone could walk into a farm store and buy penicillins, sulfa drugs, and other antibiotics without a prescription, but that's about to change. In this episode, we talk to Kevin D. Pelzer, DVM, MPVM, a Professor, Large Anim…
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Send us a Text Message. It can be scary for a goat owner to see something bulging from the vulva of a pregnant goat days or even weeks before the doe is due. In today's episode, we are talking to Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, about what causes vaginal prolapses, the different levels of v…
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Marketing Goat Meat: Tips for Selling to Consumers
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Send us a Text Message. If you are raising goats for meat or other products, marketing is a big part of a successful business. In today's episode, we are talking to Leslie Svacina, owner of Cylon Rolling Acres, about what they do to market their goat meat. Luckily Leslie had a background in marketing before they started their goat farm. She gives y…
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Send us a Text Message. Whenever a goat dies, we always want to know why. But the only way to know for sure is to get a necropsy, and that's what we're talking about in this episode. I was convinced of the importance of necropsies after owning goats for only five years when a seemingly healthy doe suddenly started screaming and was dead an hour lat…
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Diane Sorensen: The Tales of Mr. Ken Rooster and the Six Sassy Hens
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Whether you're a chicken keeper or someone who simply gets annoyed when reading children's books that are filled with misinformation about animals, Diane Sorenson's, The Tales of Mr. Ken Rooster and the Six Sassy Hens, is a fun little gem that's sure to delight young children, as well as the adults reading the book to them. The book includes short …
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Send us a Text Message. All these years I thought we were just lucky to have never had a case of hoof rot in our goats, but in today's episode, I learned that luck has nothing to do with it. Dr. Kevin Pelzer, Professor of Production Management Medicine at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, talks about the bacteria th…
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Red Cell for Goats: Study Examines Its Effectiveness
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Send us a Text Message. Although it is a fairly common practice for goat owners to treat anemic animals with Red Cell after deworming, there had not been any research on whether it was helpful — until now. Today's guest, Joan Burke, PhD, Research Animal Scientist at the USDA, ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center, is one of the co-authors on…
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Tetanus in Goats: Transmission, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prognosis
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Send us a Text Message. Almost everyone has a tetanus shot to protect us from a deadly disease that can be transmitted from an injury that breaks through the skin. Although some animals are not as susceptible to tetanus, such as dogs and cats, goats can get tetanus. Like humans, which have been protected by the vaccine since the first world war, go…
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Goat Placenta: Understanding Its Function and Management
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Send us a Text Message. Not only is a goat placenta very different from a human or horse placenta but how it functions is also different, as well as how it should be managed after birth. In this episode, we are talking to Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, about what the placenta does and…
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Send us a Text Message. If you only have a few does to breed each year, it might seem like a waste to own your buck. But even if you have a buck, who do you breed his daughters to? One option is artificial insemination, but another option is to co-own a buck. Although I had heard of two people co-owning a goat before, I had never heard of four unti…
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Send us a Text Message. As a Nigerian dwarf breeder myself, I am acutely aware of how many people think that "pygmy" is a size, not a breed of goat. In this episode, we are talking to four National Champion Pygmy breeders about what exactly makes a Pygmy goat. Pygmy breeders Karole and Gary Miller of Fox Haven Pygmy Goats, Andrea Pursley of High Ca…
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Send us a Text Message. At one time or another, every goat owner will probably be faced with external parasites on their goats, which usually means lice or mites. Dr. Michael Pesato, Assistant Clinical Professor of Food Animal Medicine and Surgery at Mississippi State University, joins us to talk about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of mite…
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Send us a Text Message. If you think a Nigerian dwarf goat is too small and standard sized dairy goats are too big, then mini dairy goats will meet your needs perfectly. Miniature dairy goats are a hybrid that starts with a Nigerian dwarf buck and a standard size dairy goat, such as a Nubian, LaMancha, Saanen, or any of the standard dairy goat bree…
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Send us a Text Message. If you don't have a veterinarian in your area who sees goats, you can take them to a veterinary teaching hospital. Many people don't realize they are open to the public and even have emergency services 24/7. In this episode, goat breeder Tammy Gallagher and I talk about our experiences utilizing veterinary teaching hospitals…
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Send us a Text Message. If you had a doe with mastitis, a kid with stiff joints, and another kid with pneumonia, would you ever assume that all three were infected with the same disease? If mycoplasma is in your herd, it could cause all of these seemingly unrelated illnesses. In this episode, Dr. Claire Burbick of the Washington Animal Disease Diag…
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Send us a Text Message. If you have a worm problem with your goats, and rotational grazing is not an option, we now have a new tool that can be helpful in breaking the life cycle of the worms. Bioworma came on the market in the U.S. in 2018 and is available through Premier 1 Supplies. BioWorma is not just another chemical dewormer, which worms can …
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Chris McLaughlin: Growing a Good Garden Naturally
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If you want to grow a garden that is in sync with nature, then you need to check out Chris McLaughlin's ninth and newest book, The Good Garden: How to Nurture Pollinators, Soil, Native Wildlife, and Healthy Food — All in Your Own Backyard. In this episode, Chris and I are talking about several of The Good Garden concepts presented in her book, star…
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It only seems natural that after you perfect a homemade delicacy for your family and friends, the next step is to start selling it. Until recently this was financially impossible in many states due to regulations that meant you would have to invest big bucks in infrastructure to start a business. However, now that all 50 states have cottage food la…
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Send us a Text Message. We have a lot of episodes on various diseases that can be prevented by vaccines, but rather than tell you to listen to all of those episodes to figure out which vaccines your goats might need, we decided to have an episode devoted to all the vaccines your goats need — as well as vaccines they probably don't need. Dr. Kevin P…
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Miscarriages in Goats Caused by Infections
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Send us a Text Message. One of the most common questions I get during kidding season is, "why was this kid born dead?" Unfortunately, I can't answer that question because there are dozens of possibilities, starting with a long list of possible infections that can cause abortions, stillbirths, and neonatal death. As I was planning this episode with …
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Send us a Text Message. If you've listened to previous podcast episodes on parasites, you have heard us talk about the 5-point check, but what exactly is it? How can you use it to determine when you need to use a dewormer? Quite simply, the 5 things to check are: FAMACHA Body condition Poop Coat condition Bottle jaw In this episode, I'm talking abo…
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Send us a Text Message. If you've been thinking about a meat breed and are looking for one that does well on pasture and forage, is parasite resistant, and hardy in general, the Kiko might be the breed for you. In today's episode we are talking to Karen Kopf of Kopf Canyon Ranch in Idaho about their experience raising dairy goats and then switching…
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Send us a Text Message. Although rabies in goats is not common, it is possible. In today's episode we are talking to Dr. Kevin Pelzer, a Professor of Large Animal Clinical Science, Production Management Medicine at the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech. We are talking about how goats can get rabies, as well as the symp…
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Send us a Text Message. When some people hear a goat cough, pneumonia is often the first thing that comes to mind, but it is really not common in goats. A cough is also not a good indication of whether a goat has pneumonia or when it has recovered from pneumonia. In today's episode we are talking to Dr. Michael Pesato, Assistant Clinical Professor …
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Send us a Text Message. If you have goats, or if you are considering getting goats, you should be aware of Johnne's disease. It is an infectious disease that is highly contagious, and there is no cure. Today's guest is Dr. Michael Pesato, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Food Animal Medicine and Surgery at Mississippi State University. He is a bo…
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Email: The G.O.A.T. for Marketing Your Goat Business
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Send us a Text Message. Do you struggle with marketing your goat-based business? Or do you think you've got it covered because you have a website and a Facebook page? Or maybe you send out an email every month or two just to let people know what you're selling at the moment or what's on sale. In today's episode, we are talking with Liz Wilcox, the …
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Send us a Text Message. In today's episode, we are talking with the oldest Saanen breeder in the US about these gentle giant of the dairy goat world. If you've ever looked at the American Dairy Goat Association's Top Ten list for milk production, you've seen his goats. Scott Hoyman of Caprikorn Farms has been raising Saanens for more than four deca…
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