GOAT FAQS

We use a 4ft tall no climb horse fencing wire secured with horizontal wooden boards. We have no trouble with goats escaping unless we of course forget to latch the gate! Building good fencing right from the start is key! Your goal is to keep goats in and predators out.

Goats are small ruminants that require daily intake of hay and grass forage. We use a couple different types of hay depending on the dietary requirements of our goats. During the summer months and into the fall our does are on a grass hay mix as well as free choice grass pasture, once the does are half way through their pregnancies we start feeding a higher protein, good quality alfalfa hay to help keep up with their growing babies and to aide in supporting milk production through their full lactation. Bucks and wethers remain on grass hay year round and we limit alfalfa and grains to only during extreme cold spells in the winter months. 

Our lactating does and growing babies get mixed grains such as dairy ration (we get ours from Country Junction feeds, labeled Dairy Goat Ration), soaked beet pulp and plain rolled oats. It’s important to ease into feeding grains so as to not upset the goats rumen. We do find adding grain to the diet beneficial for keeping our does in good condition while they are producing milk. 

We typically end up worming our herd 1-2 times a year. I STRONGLY recommend running routine fecal samples every 6-9 months to check worm counts and to see what kind of parasites your dealing with and IF you even need to be dosing your animals with a dewormer.

Young kids are more seceptible to parasite issues especially coccidia, we routinely dose our kids at 3, 6 and 10 weeks of age with Baycox to prevent serious illness or even death!

Goats need a good 3 sided shelter that blocks strong winds and precipitation. Make sure to have good air circulation and a building that will be warm enough in our harsh cold Canadian winters. I love putting clear freezer strips along the door ways to all of my goat shelters, it helps cut down on rain and snow that may blow in but also allows proper fresh airflow into the shelters.

Goats need a good balanced 2:1 calcium to phosphorus free choice mineral. I also recommend looking for a loose mineral with a higher copper content, we love using Right Now Onyx by Cargill as well as the loose goat mineral formualted at Blue Rock Animal Nutrition here in AB. I'm also a huge fan of the copper and zinc powders from Mad Barn Canada

We aim to trim hooves here every 8-12 weeks. I use a regular pair of hoof clippers on my babies and young goats and the older does and bucks I use a Hoof Boss tool to grind down the hooves and clean them up. Its a bit of a pricey tool but so worth it if you have more then a couple goats to do.

Goats are herd animals so we ALWAYS recommend if you do not currently have any goats that you plan on adding 2-3. This will keep you and the goats much happier! Plus you can never have too many goats ;)

Yes, herd health and testing is very important to us. We test every animal in our herd over 9 months of age for CAE and Johnes yearly and we remain CL access free

Results are posted here on our website and will also be provided for viewing upon request

145 days

We generally hand breed or closely watched pen breeding so our due dates are accurate.

Yearly. Generally in later August/ early September

I recommend reviewing the breeding schedule and selecting your top 3-4 pairs and submitting your choices from first choice to fourth choice. This gives us a better opportunity to narrow down what kind of traits you are looking for.

We do not ask for any money down until the kid has been born and the sale has been solidified. I do however ask that you be sincerely interested in any kid from any particular breeding pairs that you put your name down for.

Once the kids have been born and I have made my retained selection I will then notify each person on the waitlist if I have a kid available, I then ask for a yes or no answer within 48 hours.

I do try my very best to keep track of who has been waiting on offspring from a particular doe or buck, however because breeding pairs change from year to year it is still best to touch base with me each fall when the new breeding plans have been released, confirming your selections have not changed.

Yes! Once our breeding schedule for the year has been released, I start taking names for mature does as well. Each year we will have some mature does and first fresheners available as we make room for retained kids.

Yes! if you are interested in having some fun companion pet goats we always have a few non breeding goats for sale each year. Castrated male goats are called wethers and they make EXCELLENT pet goats! Feel free to let me know if you are interested in being contacted when I have some pet wethers available.

We wean intact bucklings at 8 weeks of age, it is very important to have arrangements made to pick up your buckling at this age time frame and keep him separated from the does, goats can breed from a very young age! 

Our doelings and wethers are weaned at 8-10 weeks old and they do great at this age.

Yes all of our babies including pet wethers are disbudded, we have no horned goats in our herd 

Yes, our herd consists of purebred registered Nigerian Dwarfs. All our animals are registered with The Canadian Goat Society and The Canadian Livestock Records Corporation (CLRC)

Herd Name 805 Farms, prefix 805

We do both! Sometimes I hand milk if I am only milking 1-2 goats at a time. If I am milking more does then we use a machine, I LOVE my Simple Pulseand I also feel its worth the money and the wait to get one!

Yes, each season I like to check where my does are at with production and measure milk outs throughout the season. We aim to milk test our does yearly and l like to milk test them as second fresheners or two year old first fresheners.

Each does stats and milkstar information can be found in their profiles right here in our site.

Milk Testing is a program offered to registered breeders in Canada through The Canadian Goat Society. We like participating in the *M One Day Milk Test program. Each doe is milked out twice in a 12 hour period and the milk outs are then weighed and measured, milk samples are sent off to a lactanet lab where they are tested for protein content and butterfat percentage.