Great video, as always! Recently I happened to be reading about attempts to raise dairy goats on pasture-only (no grain), and while some were complete fails, there were one or two that were successful... after quite a bit of selective culling. They noted that does that had been raised on grain tended to do poorly (at least milk-wise) when switched to pasture only, but does raised on pasture-only did better than their mothers and of course selecting for the ones that did best improved the next generations. They did note that pasture-only goats will never produce as much milk as a grain-fed goat, which you alluded to here, since feeding the does less calories/lower quality feed naturally slows/stops milk production. They also said to be sure to have high quality pasture. What exactly makes a pasture "high quality"? Is it just having a lot of grass and clover? Or is there a certain ratio? I know I have a lot of clover and a ton of some kind of hay that gets about chest height before it goes to seed. Does it matter which type of hay it is? How do I know what kind of hay it is?
Almost all of the videos regarding these ideas revolves around hard culling and LOTS of pasture. You will notice a lot of vague terms thrown out there like “don’t do as well” and “good pasture”. Don’t do as well as what? Did they raise goats in every situation or are they giving you their opinion. Your guess as to what is good pasture is as good as mine. Any pasture can turn good or bad at the drop of a hat due to weather, rainfall, etc… plus, what to do about your goats in winter time? Will you dry lot them? Will you medicate them for coccidia or worms and if so, how? Are these people milking goats on pasture or are they bringing them up to a barn. If they are putting them in a stand with no grain, I’m curious how they get them to stay. Ugh…. Yeah. It sounds like you probably have a lot of orchard grass.
@@LinessaFarms Thanks so much! Yes, there are a lot of vague terms out there, which makes it really hard to figure out what breed might work best. I think ultimately I just have to pick one and go for it, knowing that I'll have some culling to do to get what I'm looking for. I appreciate all the advice!
I heard you speak about kid ears folded up in one of your videos before but can't find it now...is this a health issue? Asking for my neighbor. I just noticed she has about 6 kids with folded ears.
If they are folded up on the bottom, it’s usually just a cosmetic defect and not a huge deal. Vertical folds that fold the ear in half are usually a disqualification for show and can set them up with issues like ear infections and increased incidents of mites and other parasites. If you can catch the ears when the goats are little, you can cut two pieces of cardboard in the shape of the ear. Use the cardboard pieces like bread in a sandwich and the ear like the meat. Wrap it in coban (self securing athletic tape, similar to the old ace wraps) and keep the ear in place for a few weeks, changing every 3-5 days. You essentially make a cast or brace for the ear. This will usually correct the problem within a few weeks. The earlier in life you do this, the better the outcome. I know I talked about this in a video before and I sure don’t remember where it is. 🫤
What about for dairy sheep? My sheep are dairy sheep that we have for dairy production. So should I not decrease their hay/grain? Or still decrease it?
Usually, you should start preparing mom for drying out about a week or two prior to weaning by decreasing overall feed quality. Once the baby is pulled, you would want to leave her alone. Attempting to milk her can stimulate milk production and cause problems.
Thanks for another great video. My ewes dont have parasites. They are still nursing and look kind of under weight. Could the under weight be due to nursing? Thanks
Creep is an area set up that your lambs or kids can get into but your adults cannot. People place high protein feed and good quality hay in these areas so the babies can eat it without getting pushed out by adults. Do a search on TH-cam for “Linessa Farms Creep Feeding”.
My ewes seem to cut off my lambs after about a month. Hay and water become a bigger part of their diet at week 2 and the ewes don't let them nurse anymore about a month after. Is weaning a breed dependent thing? Shetlands and Romanovs here.
Most ewes won’t reach full milk until they are at about 2-3 weeks. It is normal for all lambs and kids to start eating hay and drinking water early. We have some nibbling hay at 2 days. You will have some ewes and does that get annoyed and start limiting their babies rather early. All ewes and does will eventually wean their babies. Best practice is to wean them yourself and if the moms have already mostly weaned them, you will have a lot less work to do. In our opinion, weaning or not, you should be separating your flock out after 6-8 weeks. Dietary needs and overall flock health is a lot easier to manage when they aren’t all together. There are a lot of people on the internet telling people they don’t worm, trim hooves, feed grain, wean, etc… these ideas are mostly fairytales and the only person actually making money is the persons TH-cam channel and books who is telling you how “easy” things are. With all this being said, we don’t know how you feed your animals and we don’t know what your goals are. If you don’t care about growth and all you feed is hay and water, you might be able to get away with not weaning. Eventually, you will get a ewe that will give you trouble but again, none of this is an exact science. Our goal is to get babies off and away from moms at around 6 weeks so moms can recoup and so we can focus on getting our lambs as big as fast as we can so we can sell them. We catch grief every once in a while about creep feeding and grain feeding. The good thing about creep feeding is we have lambs that are 50-70 pounds at weaning while many of our grass fed friends are getting to that weight at about 6-7 months of age. The other thing to consider is ability to breed. By pushing our ewe lambs early in life, they grow faster and we are able to successfully breed them their first fall. I know I gave you a lot of information but hopefully this helps or at least gives you some things to think about. Thanks for watching our videos!
@@LinessaFarms I appreciate the long response. I like to have more information than less, which is why I watch your videos. With that said, everyone needs to have a goal for their animals when they start out. Our goal is self-sufficiency so if our sheep can pay for their food and meds we are happy. We are almost exclusively grass fed (moms and babies get feed until they go out with the rest of the flock) with smaller breeds so selling market lambs isn't one of our goals. We need to have enough meat for our freezer and sell a few extra lambs along with wool to cover our costs per year which they easily can do. I also breed year round so there are always lambs at various ages. As you say, everyone's situation is different. I just thought I'd share what my experience has been.
@@alliboogaloo that’s great. None of this is an exact and no one size fits all. Keep an eye on your ewes once they have their babies off them completely and feel their bags. As long as you don’t feel any lumps, you should be good to go. Thanks again for watching our videos and let us know if there is anything we can help you out with.
My goat is not feeding her babies voluntarily and she's not producing enough to feed them either. The woman I bought her from said it was only because it was her first kidding and I should keep her and try again next year. Is it true sometimes they improve or should I look into getting another doe right away? I want milk!
Start bottle feeding them as soon as possible so you don’t end up with another problem on your hands. No, this is not normal or typical. No, don’t wait another year and breed her again. You’ve already wasted enough of your time and money. Get rid of her and find a better breeder.
@@LinessaFarms I've been bottle feeding since day two after I realized she wouldn't let them latch on. I even had to tie her feet so she didn't stomp them and the woman said she will calm down. She lets them nurse now but only when she has grain or hay in front of her with her head locked into the stanchion. I didn't think it was normal....thanks for the heads up! I really appreciate it!
@@jswhosoever4533 you can also check their teeth on the off chance they need to be filed down/are hurting her. It sounds like you got a lemon, and this happens. If it was an older/experienced doe, I would tell you the breeder ripped you off, but in this case I would say there was no way to know. Now… if this is “normal” for their stock, that’s a whole other issue. It can be tempting to keep her and give it another go, but when you look at the long term picture, it’s not so good. If she has does like herself, are you really going to want to deal with this with multiple moms? Usually, good moms with good bags, have offspring with similar traits (unless they get bred to a bad buck). What breed are you dealing with?
@@LinessaFarms alpine doe, boer buck. All her other goats are good. I even milked some of them for her last year. I think she's just a dud. I have a little doe and a buck from her though and they're doing great. I really didn't intend to breed her again but the woman that sold her to me almost talked me into it. So I'm glad you answered me! Thanks again☺️
Thank you dear master tim for valuable informational
With love and appreciation from india
Thank you for watching and for taking the time to leave a kind comment.
good one Tim
Thanks, Gerald.
Thank you, Tim! I appreciate you.
Thanks, Dana 👍🏻
As always great video (like the hat) keep up the great work
Thanks, Jeff. We appreciate you watching our videos and taking the time to leave a kind message.
Nice one Tim.can you do a vedio on creep feeding
Sure!
Great video, as always! Recently I happened to be reading about attempts to raise dairy goats on pasture-only (no grain), and while some were complete fails, there were one or two that were successful... after quite a bit of selective culling. They noted that does that had been raised on grain tended to do poorly (at least milk-wise) when switched to pasture only, but does raised on pasture-only did better than their mothers and of course selecting for the ones that did best improved the next generations. They did note that pasture-only goats will never produce as much milk as a grain-fed goat, which you alluded to here, since feeding the does less calories/lower quality feed naturally slows/stops milk production. They also said to be sure to have high quality pasture. What exactly makes a pasture "high quality"? Is it just having a lot of grass and clover? Or is there a certain ratio? I know I have a lot of clover and a ton of some kind of hay that gets about chest height before it goes to seed. Does it matter which type of hay it is? How do I know what kind of hay it is?
Almost all of the videos regarding these ideas revolves around hard culling and LOTS of pasture. You will notice a lot of vague terms thrown out there like “don’t do as well” and “good pasture”. Don’t do as well as what? Did they raise goats in every situation or are they giving you their opinion. Your guess as to what is good pasture is as good as mine. Any pasture can turn good or bad at the drop of a hat due to weather, rainfall, etc… plus, what to do about your goats in winter time? Will you dry lot them? Will you medicate them for coccidia or worms and if so, how? Are these people milking goats on pasture or are they bringing them up to a barn. If they are putting them in a stand with no grain, I’m curious how they get them to stay. Ugh…. Yeah. It sounds like you probably have a lot of orchard grass.
@@LinessaFarms Thanks so much! Yes, there are a lot of vague terms out there, which makes it really hard to figure out what breed might work best. I think ultimately I just have to pick one and go for it, knowing that I'll have some culling to do to get what I'm looking for. I appreciate all the advice!
I heard you speak about kid ears folded up in one of your videos before but can't find it now...is this a health issue? Asking for my neighbor. I just noticed she has about 6 kids with folded ears.
If they are folded up on the bottom, it’s usually just a cosmetic defect and not a huge deal. Vertical folds that fold the ear in half are usually a disqualification for show and can set them up with issues like ear infections and increased incidents of mites and other parasites.
If you can catch the ears when the goats are little, you can cut two pieces of cardboard in the shape of the ear. Use the cardboard pieces like bread in a sandwich and the ear like the meat. Wrap it in coban (self securing athletic tape, similar to the old ace wraps) and keep the ear in place for a few weeks, changing every 3-5 days. You essentially make a cast or brace for the ear. This will usually correct the problem within a few weeks. The earlier in life you do this, the better the outcome. I know I talked about this in a video before and I sure don’t remember where it is. 🫤
@@LinessaFarms ok, thanks for the reply☺️
What about for dairy sheep? My sheep are dairy sheep that we have for dairy production. So should I not decrease their hay/grain? Or still decrease it?
If you are milking them every day, then no. Decreasing the feed is for drying out ewes or does you no longer want to produce milk.
How long do you keep lambs separated from mom before reintroducing them into the flock?
2-3 months.
Do We need to milk or goat after her kids are weaned/sold
Usually, you should start preparing mom for drying out about a week or two prior to weaning by decreasing overall feed quality. Once the baby is pulled, you would want to leave her alone. Attempting to milk her can stimulate milk production and cause problems.
@LinessaFarms thank you. My vet said the same, and I will put some essential oils on her teats to help prevent mastitis. 🥰🙏
Thanks for another great video.
My ewes dont have parasites. They are still nursing and look kind of under weight.
Could the under weight be due to nursing?
Thanks
For sure. Nursing really takes a lot out of them. Once you wean, chances are, they will bounce back with no issues.
What is creep feed?!?
Creep is an area set up that your lambs or kids can get into but your adults cannot. People place high protein feed and good quality hay in these areas so the babies can eat it without getting pushed out by adults. Do a search on TH-cam for “Linessa Farms Creep Feeding”.
@@LinessaFarms thanks!
My ewes seem to cut off my lambs after about a month. Hay and water become a bigger part of their diet at week 2 and the ewes don't let them nurse anymore about a month after. Is weaning a breed dependent thing? Shetlands and Romanovs here.
Most ewes won’t reach full milk until they are at about 2-3 weeks. It is normal for all lambs and kids to start eating hay and drinking water early. We have some nibbling hay at 2 days. You will have some ewes and does that get annoyed and start limiting their babies rather early. All ewes and does will eventually wean their babies. Best practice is to wean them yourself and if the moms have already mostly weaned them, you will have a lot less work to do. In our opinion, weaning or not, you should be separating your flock out after 6-8 weeks. Dietary needs and overall flock health is a lot easier to manage when they aren’t all together. There are a lot of people on the internet telling people they don’t worm, trim hooves, feed grain, wean, etc… these ideas are mostly fairytales and the only person actually making money is the persons TH-cam channel and books who is telling you how “easy” things are.
With all this being said, we don’t know how you feed your animals and we don’t know what your goals are. If you don’t care about growth and all you feed is hay and water, you might be able to get away with not weaning. Eventually, you will get a ewe that will give you trouble but again, none of this is an exact science.
Our goal is to get babies off and away from moms at around 6 weeks so moms can recoup and so we can focus on getting our lambs as big as fast as we can so we can sell them. We catch grief every once in a while about creep feeding and grain feeding. The good thing about creep feeding is we have lambs that are 50-70 pounds at weaning while many of our grass fed friends are getting to that weight at about 6-7 months of age. The other thing to consider is ability to breed. By pushing our ewe lambs early in life, they grow faster and we are able to successfully breed them their first fall.
I know I gave you a lot of information but hopefully this helps or at least gives you some things to think about. Thanks for watching our videos!
@@LinessaFarms I appreciate the long response. I like to have more information than less, which is why I watch your videos. With that said, everyone needs to have a goal for their animals when they start out. Our goal is self-sufficiency so if our sheep can pay for their food and meds we are happy. We are almost exclusively grass fed (moms and babies get feed until they go out with the rest of the flock) with smaller breeds so selling market lambs isn't one of our goals. We need to have enough meat for our freezer and sell a few extra lambs along with wool to cover our costs per year which they easily can do. I also breed year round so there are always lambs at various ages. As you say, everyone's situation is different. I just thought I'd share what my experience has been.
@@alliboogaloo that’s great. None of this is an exact and no one size fits all. Keep an eye on your ewes once they have their babies off them completely and feel their bags. As long as you don’t feel any lumps, you should be good to go. Thanks again for watching our videos and let us know if there is anything we can help you out with.
❤ I wish if you translate this magic Chanel to other language
Are you able to use subtitles for our videos in other languages?
My goat is not feeding her babies voluntarily and she's not producing enough to feed them either. The woman I bought her from said it was only because it was her first kidding and I should keep her and try again next year. Is it true sometimes they improve or should I look into getting another doe right away? I want milk!
Start bottle feeding them as soon as possible so you don’t end up with another problem on your hands. No, this is not normal or typical. No, don’t wait another year and breed her again. You’ve already wasted enough of your time and money. Get rid of her and find a better breeder.
@@LinessaFarms I've been bottle feeding since day two after I realized she wouldn't let them latch on. I even had to tie her feet so she didn't stomp them and the woman said she will calm down. She lets them nurse now but only when she has grain or hay in front of her with her head locked into the stanchion. I didn't think it was normal....thanks for the heads up! I really appreciate it!
@@jswhosoever4533 you can also check their teeth on the off chance they need to be filed down/are hurting her. It sounds like you got a lemon, and this happens. If it was an older/experienced doe, I would tell you the breeder ripped you off, but in this case I would say there was no way to know. Now… if this is “normal” for their stock, that’s a whole other issue. It can be tempting to keep her and give it another go, but when you look at the long term picture, it’s not so good. If she has does like herself, are you really going to want to deal with this with multiple moms? Usually, good moms with good bags, have offspring with similar traits (unless they get bred to a bad buck). What breed are you dealing with?
@@LinessaFarms alpine doe, boer buck. All her other goats are good. I even milked some of them for her last year. I think she's just a dud. I have a little doe and a buck from her though and they're doing great. I really didn't intend to breed her again but the woman that sold her to me almost talked me into it. So I'm glad you answered me! Thanks again☺️
@@LinessaFarms oh, and I think their teeth are fine. They've both gotten ahold of my fingers before and neither one hurt me.