How many goats is too few?
I've learned a lot from Artemesia's
case of (probably) listeriosis. With 20/20 hindsight, I wouldn't
have bred a goat who wasn't in peak health. I would have paid more
attention when extra rations weren't enough to get her weight back on.
And even though a fecal exam suggests worms aren't implicated after
all, I definitely could have dosed our doe with B vitamins and perhaps
some with other supplements as well to get her back on track early on.
But the biggest lesson
learned is that two goats really might not be enough goats. Goats are
herd animals, and I wonder whether having only her daughter around
isn't a low-level stress that cuts into Artemesia's peace of mind.
More troubling is the
question of what would have happened if Artemesia really had died.
Aurora seemed to be independently content to stand atop her stump in
the pasture while her mother circled for hours in the barn. But as soon
as I led Artemesia out of the doeling's vicinity to warm her up by the
fire, our littlest goat descended into a crying mass of "I'm alone and
the world is awful!" Without her mother, we would have been stuck
finding an emergency goat friend or giving Aurora away (tough when her
mother had died of a possibly infectious illness) ASAP.
Something to ponder if
Artemesia bounces back and pops out a girl kid or two. In the meantime,
though, my attention will remain riveted to the new leaves on the
honeysuckle vines, which are providing such excellent goat fodder
during Artemesia's rebound.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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would supplemental feeding with small amount of commercial goat feed prevent this from happening? goat feed would have all nessary vitamin and minerals needed to keep them healthy, and not need to give them shots.
I am sure the place where you get chicken feed would sell goat feed
If you simply must have more goats (personally can't understand that) but don't want the hassle of pregnancy and milking (definitely can understand that), castrate any males born and keep them as herd companions, or as I like to call them "Emergency rations if another superquake comes."
They don't need special rations since they aren't pregnant or milking. They don't stink like uncut bucks. They are generally very docile. Apparently they live forever too. Mine are still cavorting around like kids after 12 years.
Like all goats they will escape and eat your fruit trees and every garden crop but tomatoes.
Love my goats, will never ever ever ever get more.