Hello From TN-goat mom :)

[Kimberly83]

Hey all! My name is Kimberly and I'm from Strawberry Plains TN, I"m 34 and I have four children. We recently decided to get goats. Our first we just got about a month ago. We didnt know we were getting him so quickly and didnt have much time to prepare for him. Over the weekend we got our second goat because our Buck, Alfy, the first got we got was having anxiety. It was very obvious he needed a companion. He thought that my little girls and I were his herd or at least it seemed that way. He cried like a baby when we would leave him. The crying got worse last week and for three days straight he cried nonstop. I found him a Nanny fairly quick and we picked her up over the weekend. Her name is Rosie. I have a couple of questions and I'm looking forward to spending more time on this site so I can learn more about goats. They're our pets, and I'm pretty crazy about them so far. I've been really surprised by how much personality they can have and how intelligent they seem.

My first main question is....there are now little bugs on my buck, Alfy, what are they?? I am going to attach a photo but I dont know if that will provide much help because its not great. Ive did some research and thought maybe they were keds. He was around sheep before we got him. Second question would be how do I remedy this problem??!? Third question, is this harmful to my little girls?

 

[Southern by choice]

Welcome to BYH

Lice.

There are many ways to get rid of lice-

With this time of year I would use Cylence. You can find it at most TSC's.
Also put down Diamateceous Earth where they bed down.

If your buck is intact he will breed the doe. Typically wethers are with does.

They are adorable!

 

[Kimberly83]

Thank you sooooo much! Yes, we want them to breed lol! I could hug your neck for helping me! I’ve been worried to pieces.

Now, can humans get that lice? My girls and I have long hair and we around the goats allllll the time!

Welcome to BYH

Lice.

There are many ways to get rid of lice-

With this time of year I would use Cylence. You can find it at most TSC's.
Also put down Diamateceous Earth where they bed down.

If your buck is intact he will breed the doe. Typically wethers are with does.

They are adorable!

Welcome to BYH

Lice.

There are many ways to get rid of lice-

With this time of year I would use Cylence. You can find it at most TSC's.
Also put down Diamateceous Earth where they bed down.

If your buck is intact he will breed the doe. Typically wethers are with does.

They are adorable!

Thank

 

[Southern by choice]

They can get on you and may even bite you but they tend to be more species specific. Goats and sheep do carry similar types of lice.

IOW they are not going to stay on you.

We generally use a Permethrins 10% mix but it is colder now and you probably don't want to wet the whole goat down.

Rhe cylence is 1 cc per 11 lbs and you run it down the spine- starting at the back of the head all the way to the tail. Usually you want to repeat 10-14 days later. Get it down to the skin.

You can also rub the diatomaceous earth into their coat.

Lice is visible- so it is good that you can see it. Mites are microscopic and are not.

I am going to cheat and instead of copy and paste I am going to link you to my page for more info on external parasites.
http://www.winginitfarms.com/parasites-external

 

[CntryBoy777]

Welcome from NW Mississippi!!....
We have goats, chickens, ducks, and cats here. There are many helpful members here and any problems ya have, there are usually quite a few that will lend a hand to assist ya. Your goats appear to be boers and they have quite the personalities and will beg ya to spoil them for sure.......I know y'all will really enjoy them and hope all goes well with your growing herd.
Again....

 

[Kimberly83]

Thank you so much Southern by choice. I"m trying to pull up that link but it wont load. Ive tried from my phone and my laptop. Does the DE that I get need to be food grade? Someone I know that has goats told me I needed to buy food grade DE.

They can get on you and may even bite you but they tend to be more species specific. Goats and sheep do carry similar types of lice.

IOW they are not going to stay on you.

We generally use a Permethrins 10% mix but it is colder now and you probably don't want to wet the whole goat down.

Rhe cylence is 1 cc per 11 lbs and you run it down the spine- starting at the back of the head all the way to the tail. Usually you want to repeat 10-14 days later. Get it down to the skin.

You can also rub the diatomaceous earth into their coat.

Lice is visible- so it is good that you can see it. Mites are microscopic and are not.

I am going to cheat and instead of copy and paste I am going to link you to my page for more info on external parasites.
http://www.winginitfarms.com/parasites-external

 

[Kimberly83]

HI! Thank you! We just have the goats right now and one dog. We are going to get chickens soon. We just got a small coop set up. I'm working on painting it and I'm almost finished. Its more like a small chicken condo lol sice Ive painted it. We are just going to start off with four hens I believe and go from there. Not sure which ones we want to go with first. Yes the goats are boers. Alfy (the billy) is a cross I think but I'm not sure what with. Rosie is a boer/kiko cross according to the guy we got her from. We just picked her up over the weekend. She was the only goat he had left. He said that coyotes got some of the other ones he had so he started selling off what he had left. Shes very sweet and seems healthy. He said she could be pregnant already because she was with a boer billy three months ago. He said he didnt know for sure though. I'm not sure how to tell myself, I havent researched it yet. We have only had her a few days. Alfy has a lot of personality so far lol. I think he thinks hes a dog. He was also jealous of Rosie the first few days after she arrived. He didnt want us giving her attention or food....and he didnt want to share his housing with her. He got over it. It rained today and they were sharing their house. We are in the process of planning better housing for them. Like I mentioned above we were kind of thrown into this faster than what we had expected. However for now what we have serves the purpose.

Welcome from NW Mississippi!!....
We have goats, chickens, ducks, and cats here. There are many helpful members here and any problems ya have, there are usually quite a few that will lend a hand to assist ya. Your goats appear to be boers and they have quite the personalities and will beg ya to spoil them for sure.......I know y'all will really enjoy them and hope all goes well with your growing herd.
Again....

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Congrats on your new goats You will become very attached to them. There's a LOT of great info and ideas/knowledge here in the various threads and you can use the search tool to search for info on specific terms. You'll also get to meet/know many of the regulars in the process of browsing.There are also some really good goat folks here who will offer you help when you need it. I'd recommend that you put at least your general location in your profile. When you come asking for assistance, most (me specifically) won't be able to recall you're located in TN. It becomes important as some things that work in a warm place don't always work in a cold place. Your location/climate will dictate a lot. SO make yourself at home here!

Since this is your first time and you did say that the doe might already be pregnant (she was with a buck 3 months ago) you only have about 2 months to wait to find out for sure. Gestation is ~ 5 months (145-152 days +/- a few) <---you need to search for "doe code" For many goats, fall is breeding season, so if she wasn't bred, now's a real good time for it to happen.

 

[Baymule]

Welcome from Texas! Glad to have you here!

 

[Kimberly83]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Congrats on your new goats You will become very attached to them. There's a LOT of great info and ideas/knowledge here in the various threads and you can use the search tool to search for info on specific terms. You'll also get to meet/know many of the regulars in the process of browsing.There are also some really good goat folks here who will offer you help when you need it. I'd recommend that you put at least your general location in your profile. When you come asking for assistance, most (me specifically) won't be able to recall you're located in TN. It becomes important as some things that work in a warm place don't always work in a cold place. Your location/climate will dictate a lot. SO make yourself at home here!

Since this is your first time and you did say that the doe might already be pregnant (she was with a buck 3 months ago) you only have about 2 months to wait to find out for sure. Gestation is ~ 5 months (145-152 days +/- a few) <---you need to search for "doe code" For many goats, fall is breeding season, so if she wasn't bred, now's a real good time for it to happen.

Thank you! I'm already attached. lol That makes sense and I will get right on fixing that! Thanks for the heads up! I will search for "doe code". I feel like I'm on information overload lol at the moment.