Feel free to ask any animal questions that you may have. Here’s a list of some animals/bugs that I am very familiar with.
1. Bearded Dragons Owned from 2006-2008
2. Box turtles Owned from 2005-2007
3. Cats Owned from 1990-present
4. Chickens Owned from 2008-present Bred them
5. Crickets Owned from 2006-2008 Bred them
6. Dogs Owned from 1990-present
7. Goats Owned from 2009-present Bred them
8. Guinea Fowl Owned from 2010-present Bred them
9. Guppies Owned from 2000-2010 Bred them
10. Hamsters Owned from 2007-2009 Bred them
11. Horses Owned from 2008-present
12. Lovebirds Owned from 2006-2009
13. Mealworms Owned from 2005-2010 Bred them
14. Mice Owned from 2008-2009 Bred them
15. Parakeets Owned from 2003-2009 Bred them
16. Rats Owned from 2008-2009 Bred them
Elizabeth is a wealth of knowledge and has a natural understanding of God’s creatures. Her pet areas are sanitary and she keeps them in their appropriate environments. I am impressed. I look forward to a long and healthy working relationship with her.
Hi there, I came and got some goat’s milk from you and I am wondering… do you use flea/tick repellent on goats like you would a dog? What type do you use and where do you get it? I have an 8 week old pygmy goat.
Thanks! Your website has been very helpful! Can’t wait to see your pygmy babies when you have some
I have never had a problem with fleas or ticks in any of my goats or animals. If you are having a problem with fleas/ticks on your goat I would call the Hesperia Vet Supply store and see if they sell something for fleas/ticks or maybe they can order it for you. A word of advice you should not use a product on goats that is made for another animal such as horses, cows, et cetera. Try to find something that is specifically made for goats as some products can be toxic to goats.
If you are having a big problem with fleas or ticks you may want to call a vet out. Kids are not as strong as adults and if you are having problems with parasites it could eventually become life threatening to your kid. If you need a vet that does goats on a regular basis I have one I could refer you to. Sometimes it is very hard to find a vet that is experienced with goats.
Thanks very much for your advice, I don’t have any fleas or ticks, just wasn’t sure if they needed a preventative
I’ve never had a full time outside pet so I was worried about him. I put up a fly trap so they won’t bother him. I’m just trying to give him everything he needs, I’m glad to know that they don’t need the flea tick meds! Thanks again!
hi there …a few weeks ago bought some alpine and saanen goats [babies] a week old and after a couple of weeks with me i noticed that some of them had some kind of pimples on their lips and later… the other adult females started to have the same pimples on their tits and could not nurse their babies .. because the pimples were bleeding and looked like it hurt a lot to the moms….i did some reseach online and i found out that this a dease called [contagious ecthyma and i could not find anything to treat it ..do u know if after being sick with this dease my goats need any kind of medication since the pimples are all gone ?……..also i have another question ….what shots do i have to give my goats to keep them in good health ?
Hello George and thank you for your questions. I hope the info below that I have written will help you.
Contagious Ecthyma:
I have not experienced Contagious Ecthyma but I looked it up in my book called Goat Medicine by Mary C. Smith and David M Sherman. From my understanding of the book it may be possible for other animals to become infected months or even years later from scabs that have fallen to the ground. I would clean all your pens up as best as you can. Do you have a good goat vet? If you should have a repeat I would have a vet come out. You could not find a treatment probably because you need to treat it with antibiotics. Also it might be a good thing for you to get the book Goat Medicine. You can buy it on the internet.
Quarantine all new animals:
A good rule of thumb is to always quarantine all new animals, and animals coming home from the fair, for at least two weeks. Make sure they are as far away as possible for your other animals. Use separate cleaning tools and have separate shoes to wear into the quarantine animal pen(s). Always wash your hands after handling the quarantined animals. Also it is not the best idea to take in new animals when you have babies or pregnant mothers on your property as their immune systems are weaker.
Vaccinations:
I vaccinate my goats with Clostridium Perfringens Types C & D with Tetanus Toxoid. Different arias vaccinate for other things too depending where you live and what your goat could be exposed to. I live in Southern California. It is always good to talk to a knowledgeable goat vet on the subject. Also it is best to vaccinate pregnant does with Clostridium Perfringens Types C & D – Tetanus Toxoid 4 weeks before they kid so the kids will already be vaccinated when they hit the ground. Then the kids will need to be vaccinated again at 3-4 months old. When vaccinating a goat that has never been vaccinated with Clostridium Perfringens Types C & D – Tetanus Toxoid, vaccinate them again in 3-4 weeks, after that they only need to be vaccinated once every year.
We recently adopted two 2 year old pygmy goats. They are slowly coming around, but one of them hasn’t been handled that much. Can you still train them to be around and like people? They were a 4H project, and are supposed to be a 4H project for my kids, but I want to make sure we go about it in the right way. For the sake of the goats and us
Thank You
Hello Melissa
To answer your question directly, yes it can be done but it may take a lot of time and patients depending on the goat.
Two of my does (a doe is a female goat) I bought near the age of 1 year. Both had been handled very little and would run from everyone. They would not even eat grain out of my hand. Now after 2 years I am able to pet them but they have to be in the mood. They do approach me but don’t always want me to pet them.
What I did to gain their confidence was place food on the ground and back up until they came to eat. Let them eat all the food and do not move towards them. Do this each day or twice a day when you feed them. As they feel more comfortable with you, you will not need to back up. Goats do not like to be pet if they do not trust humans so don’t always try to pet them. The best thing is to bribe them with the food and do not pet them until they feel really comfortable. My two did not like being pet until I had them for a year and one day they just decided that it felt good being scratch on the neck. With patients soon you will have them eating out of your hands LOL.
Another thing that helped my two girls become even tamer was birthing them. My goats attitude change tremendously right before they go into labor. They begin to nibble on my fingers and lick them. They will even get upset and cry out if I leave them. Not all goats are like this; some like to wait until everyone is gone and then give birth. The last thing that helped my goats was milking them (a few weeks after they gave birth) twice a day every day for a few months. I would use grain to lead them on to the milk stand.
It is hard to tame goats that were not bottle fed and those that have had very little contact with humans. It can be done but it will take time and patients. I always recommend goats that were bottle fed. I have learned first hand that non bottle fed goats most times are difficult to socialize with humans. There is nothing quite like a bottle fed goat.