We take our herd management very seriously. Our homestead is just 3 acres, without any trees for the goats to naturally browse on. So we pay strict attention to make sure they get what they need to be happy and healthy and give us high quality milk.

Feeding:
The mainstay of the girls' diet is 100% dehydrated alfalfa pellets.  This provides the goats with what they need to make sweet milk.  They are offered alfalfa pellets free choice.  On the milk stand, the goats are fed 1-2 pounds of whole oats. I do not feed them corn as I do not want them having genetically modified corn. Our goats are offered free choice grass hay that is locally grown by our 80+ year old neighbor. Farmer Frazier always takes good care of us and makes sure our goats have high quality hay to eat. 

Our goats are fed grain, because to the best of my knowledge, the modern dairy goat can not be kept without feeding a minimal amount of grain. Because they have been selectively bred to be very high producing animals, a grass or browse diet alone does not have enough calories for them to maintain proper condition. They will literally pull all the weight off of their own bodies to put it in the milk pail.  A dairy goat that has the genetics to be a high producer will starve without grain.  There are low producing goats out there that can live w/o grain, but my girls are bred to produce.  I want healthy goats so they can produce healthy milk.  On a side note, cows can successfully be kept on grass.  But they produce far less milk per body weight than dairy goats.

The girls are also offered free choice bluebonnet tech master complete minerals with added kelp and yeast.

Worming:
We manage our pasture to minimize the worm burden on our goats.  But we do worm them pre-breeding and on the day they kid with cydectin.  They are monitored throughout the year and wormed only if a fecal shows they have a severe worm burden.  I do not use an herbal wormer b/c most herbal wormers contain wormwood - which is contraindicated for lactating women.  I therefore do not want to feed it to my lactating goats.

Kids:
We make every attempt to attend each birth. For years we heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk. Since our goats have continued to annually test CAE negative, and because they do not leave the farm, we have decided to raise them on their dam's raw milk. If we do not have enough raw milk because we are using it for our soap, they are raised on whole cow's milk. Kids are given coccidia prevention until they are 6 months of age.

Vaccinations:
All goats are vaccinated with CD/T and lysigin. 

Routine Care:
All goats have their hooves trimmed once a month and receive Bo-Se (selenium) pre-breeding and pre-kidding.

CAE and CL:
Our adult goats were all raised on CAE prevention. We test for CAE every fall, and they have always been negative. They are all abscess free.