# Dry lotting goats



## mamacole4 (Dec 3, 2017)

I have two 4 month twin Pygmy mix goats. There in a small lot in my yard as pets. Enough room for there 7x7 shed house and room to run and play. I’ve been thinking of dry lotting to help with parasites. Is it easy to do with 2 goats? Right now I use wood shavings for there house and a dog poop claw picker upper to clean up wet and poop spots. Can I do the same if I cover there entire run area with the same stuff and clean daily like I do now? I’ve attacked a picture of there area.


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## Latestarter (Dec 3, 2017)

Dry lotting simply means containing the animals in a small defined area where no natural food exists so all food is provided them to control what and how much they eat. It aids in allowing pastures to recover/grow after heavy use, it helps eliminate parasites (worms) that are normally picked up while grazing grasses and plants at or near ground level. Of course it does mean for more clean up and disposal of waste from them. In time, the area enclosed in your picture will most likely become a dry lot as their constant hoof traffic as well as them eating will kill the vegetation inside. Or you could cut the existing area in half and force the issue sooner. It's really a personal choice you need to make as to what works best for you and your animals.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 3, 2017)

The shavings will break down but also cause mold and decay while breaking down- not a good place for that as you do have the grass that will poke up. If you covered the whole area the goats could ingest it. That grass will be gone before long as @Latestarter mentioned, but you are very right in being concerned that in the meantime you very well could end up with parasite issues. 
The area is small enough you could easily make it a dry lot.
Dry lotting is just that- *there is no vegetation whatsoever*. You provide all food, providing forage is highly beneficial.
Dry- most use grit or gravel, dirt.
This is packed grit.
This is an example of a dry lot.
It is amazingly easy to keep clean. The excess hay is easily raked with a garden rake (wire). The "berries" can be swept with a broom. The urine drains down. The rains wash it clean.


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## mamacole4 (Dec 4, 2017)

Thank you for the input! I greatly appreciate it. So another question I have would be is it healthy for my 2 girls to live in a dry lot? Right now in Wisconsin it’s winter, weeds and stuff aren’t around. But in the spring and summer my kids and I would have no problem picking weeds, or tree branches or lawn clipping for them. My husband and I are looking into moving in the next 3 years to something with more room to start pasture rotations. I really want to keep parasites down while there in there small area. It’s about a 50x50 area. Are there other options to keep them from getting parasites while living in there area?


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## Latestarter (Dec 4, 2017)

Ideally, I guess you would want to contain them in the smallest possible area and test them for worms/parasites and treat them accordingly to remove as many as possible and then, after 3-5 days (allow them to poop everything out), move them to a "clean" dry lot area where there are "no" parasites and leave the first area to die out/off over time.

Since you already have them in a "closed" environment you should be able to control parasite levels right now. Goats, sheep, virtually all outdoors animals are going to have some parasites. It's hard to completely eradicate them. Even with the poisons to kill them, you're not going to get 100% die off... you're looking for 95-98%. It's more a situation of monitoring to make sure they don't get out of control. If you dry lot them, as in no (wet) vegetation under hoof, then feed them only dried hay/grains/feeds/pellets/etc. that will help prevent them from picking up new bugs, but they'll still have the ones they've always/already had. Like humans (are supposed to) go for an annual physical/check up, you just have to do a scheduled fecal check up on the goats. Your local vet should be able to do one for you while you wait and they generally cost less than 10 bucks each.

Ideally, you'd want a fecal check done using a method that gives you an egg count of the various types of worms EPG (eggs per gram - of fecal matter). This may cost extra, IF you can find a vet that will do it for you. Many send EPG tests out to a lab to get done because it takes a little more time/work to do them over a standard generic fecal - "Yep, they got worms... How bad is it? Well a) not too bad  b) about normal  c) pretty bad  d) worst I've ever seen e) surprised the animal is still alive"  <---get the idea? It's not very objective... it's purely subjective based on what the person doing the fecal has seen/experienced. The other thing to keep in mind is each time you treat them for worms you want to use a different wormer than the previous time. This helps keep the worms from building up resistance to what you're using.

Since they are new to you, and you've had them 4 months, now would be a great time to do fecal checks on them if you haven't already done so. Then maybe do them again 6 months from now (or sooner if they seem to NOT be thriving). If you track their worm levels, you'll be able to figure out how thrifty they are and how often they'll need treatment. Some goats are better at dealing with the parasites than others. One goat may have loads of parasites and be doing well, no loss of weight, body condition, coat degradation, etc. a different goat in the same pen may have a very light worm load and be losing weight, poor body condition, lousy coat, etc. Bottom line is you're never going to have "sterilized" goats... they are all going to have parasites to some degree.

As to your Q?  





mamacole4 said:


> is it healthy for my 2 girls to live in a dry lot?


  Yes, it's "healthy" for them, ie it isn't going to "hurt" them. Many folks keep their animals in that type environment. Is it going to be heaven on earth for them? probably not. In looking to avoid getting sick, would you like to live locked inside a small room for the rest of your life?  



mamacole4 said:


> in the spring and summer my kids and I would have no problem picking weeds, or tree branches or lawn clipping for them.


  Doing that would kind of defeat the purpose of the dry lot... You'd be introducing the parasite eggs back into their environment. <---mostly with grass clippings and stuff off the ground. Goats are really more browsers than grazers and would prefer leaves, twigs, bark, woody type plants anyway.

There's loads of info right here if you just browse around the threads. By all means ask questions when you have them.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 4, 2017)

Latestarter said:


> Ideally, I guess you would want to contain them in the smallest possible area and test them for worms/parasites and treat them accordingly to remove as many as possible and then, after 3-5 days (allow them to poop everything out), move them to a "clean" dry lot area where there are "no" parasites and leave the first area to die out/off over time.


Thhis is not an accurate protocol. Deworming for 95% is the goal however, there must be some refugia so as to not build super worms, you must also repeat the dewormer on a series as most dewormers kill 4th stage only. 



Latestarter said:


> The other thing to keep in mind is each time you treat them for worms you want to use a different wormer than the previous time. This helps keep the worms from building up resistance to what you're using.


NO NO NO you do not want to use a different dewormer everytime you deworm... that is very old info - doesn't work well, and builds resistance.




Latestarter said:


> Yes, it's "healthy" for them, ie it isn't going to "hurt" them. Many folks keep their animals in that type environment. Is it going to be heaven on earth for them? probably not. In looking to avoid getting sick, would you like to live locked inside a small room for the rest of your life?


The area is not too small for two goats. There are many that have a few goats in a backyard that live wonderfully. 
You can take the goats out and walk around with them and let them browse in the main yard with the family. If they have enough room to hop and play climb on things they will be fine. Most of he day goats eat and ruminate... that's it.

I have several articles under articles section explaining FAMACHA, EPG, it's all about fecal/parasites. 
Don't worry. Monitor goats...we have a large herd and some of our goats go3 years before needing dewormed, others get dewormed after kidding, so usually once a year.


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