Kat Drovdahl (Master Herbalist at www.firmeadow.com) and I brainstormed together and came up with a feed mix that I'm in the process of switching over to now - you have to do it a bit at a time over a 2 week period.
First week: 1/2 the new mix and 1/2 the old mix,
Second week: 3/4 new mix to 1/4 old mix,
Third week: switch completely over to the new mix.
Here is what I'm implementing, the following grains listed are WHOLE grains, not rolled or crimped. Also, the protein of this mix is 12.9%, optimally you should feed a protein between 12%-14% for dairy goats:
5# barley (11% protein)
1# peas (22% protein)
1# wheat (10.8% protein)
2# oats (12% protein)
I take the rest of the mix (not alfalfa pellets) and soak them over night in amounts that would last 2-3 days. I take a flour bag towel, and stretch it tight against one side of the "soaking bucket" and dump the soaking water down the sink (or feed it to my horse.) then you leave the bucket in a warm place to sprout overnight - check for little sproutlings in the morning. :) When you see them, you can feed them to the herd.
I feed my milkers 2 pounds of sprouts and 1# of alfalfa pellets at night. I give them 1# of the mix in the morning on the milk stand.
To the mix, you add as top dressing:
1 tsp. of whole flaxseed
1 TBSP of comfrey leaf c/s (cut & sifted) or 1 tsp. of the powder.
1 TBSP of red raspberry leaf c/s or 1 tsp powder.
1-2 carrots per feeding (deer carrots are very cheap to buy)
I feed my whole herd Fir Meadow's Kop-Sel for the copper/selenium requirements.
Free choice alfalfa hay. I can't afford to do free choice hay, so I feed 4# of hay per milker (1 slab of my hay, but you will have to weigh yours to see.) Alfalfa is King of Herbs, one of the best things you can feed your herd! It also gives their milk a wonderful, sweet taste!
I feed my bucks: 1# of this mix per day, plus 1# of alfalfa pellets. Plus, the same hay as above.
Kelp available free choice – supplies minerals & flushes heavy metals from their system.
Kefir - 1/2 cup once a week with their herbal wormer. I make this from their milk, it is great to feed it back to them.
Apple Cider Vinegar - I give this in their water.
Free range browsing/grazing – We allow our goats free range of our property when we are home. This gives them access to both meadow and lowland areas - different herbs grow in different soils. It allows them to "Self medicate" with the plants available on our land.
Clean fresh water morning and night.
All our goats get shut in their stalls every night for their protection (predators i.e. coyotes, neighbor dogs, etc)
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Herbal Wormer
We use the herbal wormer put together by Kat Drovdahl at Fir Meadow (www.firmeadow.com). There are 2 different choices, we use the Deworm BWW (includes wormwood and black walnut).
I feed this year round, even to my pregnant does. I have never had a problem feeding wormwood to my prego's, as long as it is part of a mix and NOT given by itself.
We give this once a week, unless they seem to need it again sooner.
Kat also has a new tincture that covers Meningial (Deer) worm, Lungworm, Liver Fluke! It is called DWorm MLL - she told me that this also covers Tapeworm!!!
I cannot say enough good things about Kat - she is a Master Herbalist and the only person I trust to mix herbs for my family and my herd! She is my mentor in all things goat and herb!! Check out her amazing Lamancha and Toggenburg herds through the www.firmeadow.com website! They have the nicest udders I have ever seen! Go there and look at the height of their rear udder and the high, wide escutcheon arches!! That is what I'm working to accomplish in my herd.
I recently bought a milking machine, but the following is the procedure I used for hand milking. I still do most of these things, but I don't use a bucket, etc. anymore. I'll put a note in red text on the things I still do for machine milking below.
1. Get all equipment out of dishwasher and make sure dishwasher did it’s job :) I still use the dishwasher for my machine milking bucket, funnel and stainer, and all the glass (Ball brand) jars that I filter the milk into.
2. Udder Wash/Teat Dip Recipe (got this recipe from an herbalist friend of mine - Kat at Fir Meadow):
40 drops of Rosemary or Eucalyptus essential oil
16 oz. Apple Cider Vinegar
16 oz. water
Put all into a 1 quart size spray bottle. Shake well before use. I still use this.3. Get 2 wash cloths to wash udder (1 for each doe), my spray bottle mentioned above, and 1 clean empty baby food jar. Still.
4. Get “bottom bucket” and fill ½ way up with ice – I place the milking bucket in this while milking. This gets the milk chilling as I am milking. My own invention????? Still - however, I use ice water instead of just ice, and under the machine milking bucket instead of sitting under the doe.
5. Get 2 “½ gallon size” glass jars ready to receive the milk. Place funnel and strainer & filter in top of one of the jars – ready to filter when I am. Still.
6. Go get doe. Still :P
7. Tether doe to wall, brush coat to remove any debris. Still.
8. Wash udder by spraying entire udder - making sure to get the tummy above the milk bucket as well. Wipe off with the washcloth. I still do this, most people with a milking machine only wash the teats though.
9. Repeat the procedure in #8, but use the other side of the washcloth to wipe her off this time. Be sure to get the teat orifice area well sprayed and wiped off. Still.
10. Get the baby food jar and put the first squirt or two from each teat into this cup and discard it later (I feed this to our kitty, Cassie, she really likes it!) If there is any bacteria, it was in the first squirt of milk. This is a practice that Grade A dairies use. I still do this, but intsead of the baby food jar, I squirt it into the milk I use for my older "bottle babies" - I weaned them from their momma, but still give them a daily bottle till they are at least 3 months old.
11. Give the doe her grain. Still.
12. Start milking as quickly as possible so as to finish before they finish their meal. Can be interesting after they are done and bored - so milk fast! I don't have to think about this anymore - yea!
13. Empty the milk bucket, using the funnel and strainer I set in the glass jar before. I still do this, but with the machine milking bucket.
14. Place jar of milk into ice water sitting ready in the refrigerator. This will chill very quickly to 40 degrees. I have the fridge temp set to 34 degrees. Cold milk = yummy milk. Still.
15. Spray doe’s teats with the homemade Udder Spray/Teat Wash (above) to prevent bacteria entering the teat. Still.
16. After milk has reached under 40 degrees, bring inside to be set on Dr. Hulda Clark’s “Food Zappicator” for 15 minutes. This will incapacitate any parasites (eggs or any other stage – gross but true - and NO, pasteurization DOES NOT kill them! EEEWWWWWW!!), bad bacteria or viruses present (living in and on the parasites), giving us the best product possible. Sweet delicious, nutritious goat milk - ready for my family’s (and our goat share co-owner's) consumption! Still.
NOTE: Some goat owners keep their buck with their milkers. This makes the milk taste bad cause the bucks touch the milkers (brush against them etc) and it makes the milk in their udder stink and taste NASTY! (Pretty potent guy.) Especially if the buck is in rut – yes, like a deer. Here at our farm, the buck is kept in his own pasture and stall, so there is no nasty stinky milk here! YUCK! Still.