What We Do As Goat Breeders
These are some of the things we do at Wingin' it Farms...
~We first want to know YOUR goals
~pet/pet quality
~potential show quality
~Family milker
~future milk test/ linear appraisals/ breeding program
~We provide pedigrees on our registered goats and lineage on our unregistered goats.
~We provide our most current CAE, CL, Johnes test results (whole herd)
~We explain limitations, strengths, weaknesses of individual goats
~We rather engage and answer all questions and offer answers for questions that people don't know to ask. If we do not know what a particular goat will produce (FF you just don't have history on that goat to know) we let people know that the doeling is from a first freshener and we don't know what output will be but we generally have history on other related goats. Exception is if the doeling is retained long enough for the dam's history to be established.
~We will run a fecal and give a brief overview
~We do regular monitoring, record EPG counts, and we look for coccidia (kids). We explain the importance of understanding parasites in goats. We also do FAMACHA with card in hand.
~We go over every inch of he goat.
~We give a sheet on what we expect from them as far as a new owner- these are recommendations.
~We send home the goats history- CD&T dates, fecal EPG counts, cocci counts, dates, weights etc. just about everything on the list.
~Our goats are bathed and “dipped” before they leave our farm- why? Because mites are microscopic and if a goat gets mites it may be awhile before there is evidence so we feel that doing that is the best way to prevent any kind of issue.
Often experienced goat owners don't need as much time but we have also found even those experienced will learn something. We also get to glean from other owners too!
We look at our goats as a bigger picture. We believe pedigrees are great but a pedigree is not the whole goat. We want good parasite resistance. Good milkers, long lactation, steady lactation, healthy, no environmental allergy issues, well mannered and overall a solid goat! We also look at feed conversion.
We explain what these things mean and why they are important. A goat with poor parasite issues will not be great as a dairy goat. Who wants to get lots of great delicious milk that they have to pitch all the time from chronic worm issues. Management is key.
Each goat we have on our farm is different. Looking at the overall goat is key.
Management is also important. Environmental factors are big contributors to the health of a goat.