Sustainable, natural, organic, herbal, etc, and goat husbandry

dragonlaurel

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miss_thenorth said:
dragonlaurel said:
Free - Would kombucha be good for goats?
Sorry, I have not read all the posts, but had to comment on this one. I have a friend who is from Denmark. when i started making kombucha, i explained it to her, and she said "you drink that?" In Denmark, people make that and give it to their horses. She said it helps them digest their food and keep them healthy on the inside. so I assume it would be the same for any animal, yes? I realize goats are ruminants, but you gotta keep the gut flora healthy right?
I didn't know they used it with horses.
My old roommate loved it and started growing it. I gave some to potted plants and it perks them up fast but ants like it too. Cut up the old ones and they help compost break down faster.
Sounds like it would be good for the goaties but maybe try diluted first.
 

freemotion

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I've read that people who have never tried it should start with a small amount and work up. I do the same with my critters when trying something new that is off the beaten path.

So I put about a half cup in the beet pulp that is divided up among all five goats, along with about a half cup of beet kvass and some water. So that is less than an ounce each. They are all still standing, and will get the same amount in tonight's beet pulp, and again tomorrow.

I may just start rotating some good stuff through their beet pulp.....kombucha, beet kvass, sauerkraut, ACV, and whatever else I come up with. All stuff that is excellent for digestion and teeming with the correct probiotics.
 

dragonlaurel

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They wont ever get bored of their beets. :plbb It will be an adventure wondering what is in there each time. All good stuff though- so it should go over fine.
 

freemotion

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Hey, that smily looks like my bucky! :plbb Until his tongue connects with the electric fence, then its: :ep
 

houndit

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I use the Hoeggers herbal wormer. That is the only real natural wormer I have found. Although for a while I used Coconut. We read an article in a book about how good coconut is. It talked about some impoverished people in India I think. They had tape worms who were 6 feet long. They were given dried coconut for a while and the worms cleared up. I tried it on my goats. I was not sure if it worked or not. One day, a lady who knows a lot about goats, she has tons of them, came over. She looked at our goats and wanted to know what kind of wormer I used. I told her what I had been doing. She said our goats were healthy and had no worms. I continued this until the goats refused to eat the coconut. They used to dive into it, but now they will not eat it. I have gone back to the herbal wormer. It is getting expensive. I am planning to next year go to Pat Coelby's copper program. If anyone else tries the coconut I would really appreciate it if you tell me how it works for you. I think that it needs more testing before being recognized as a real natural way to worm goats. It worked for me for months, until they quit eating it.
 

mully

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miss_thenorth said:
How strong of a microscope would you need to do your own fecals? I think this would be very beneficial to my operation, with the animals that I have, and will have in the future.
Here is a site that is worth looking at ...it is simple and concise http://www.goatbiology.com/index.html

Look at the section on fecal exams.
 

Marta

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ok not 3rd world but some times it feels like it (what with the lack of wages or what we get in 1 month you would get in a day ) lol living in The Crimea, thats south of Ukraine on the Black sea.

anyway back to the topic.
over here we sun dry all the greens from Peas, Potatoes (not sure I like the idea of potato greens or tomato greens dried but all the goats love it) weeds, all the eckasia quince, cherry, apple, pear, and the goats fav almond leaves dried and kept in the barn, the seed pods from Eckasia is supposed to be high in everything thats good. (nb: all are dried crisp whether green or brown) I am very worried about giving these leaves for the obvious reasons but hey Ho....
And the 1 thing I have refused (but lost )and had many arguments with Babushka and thats the mix of:
Potato peelings carrot peelings and cabbage all cooked up and mixed with wheat mids and barley
throw in some potato and cabbage water and they feed every animal with it....really not too sure about it.:rolleyes:
wormers come in wormwood etc well there does not seem to be a worm problem around here lol

on a last note the hay round here is really stemmy and I mean stems like barley straw Marta refuses it the other goats are ok as Ive seen them eat it so
 

Marta

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I thought that and checked in there......(never put your finger in a young goats mouth...it hurts lol) my blood spurted everywhere..lol) they look ok and she now has all her molars for the age,ie:10 months...

just a thought as she is loosing a little weight....will beet sugar mixed with water and then mixed with that hay be OK and tasty she does love sweet things but Im unwilling to try....my thought is it is similar to molasses in what it achieves,,,(not what it looks like lol)
 

Buster

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big brown horse said:
Anyone else curious how goats(mainly, but other farm type animals) are raised in all the third world countries? Where people devote little labor, capital or vet care yet the buggers still survive.
As a matter of fact, yes. That is one reason we are starting with goats for our mammalian meat animals.
 
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