× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! One of the most valuable skills you can develop as a goat keeper isn’t a treatment protocol or a diagnostic technique. It’s the ability to pause before you act. This goes against everything we’ve been taught. Good care means quick action, right? Catch problems early, intervene fast, stay ahead of issues. But after 18 years of raising goats, I’ve learned something counterintuitive: sometimes the best care is no intervention at all. The Intervention Cycle Here’s a pattern I see over and over: A goat keeper sees something that concerns them. They intervene. The intervention creates a new situation that requires more intervention. The goat becomes dependent on management that wouldn’t have Read More
Category: Holistic Goat Care Philosophies
The Simplest Way to Keep Goats Warm in Winter
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! Every winter, I see goat keepers investing in heat lamps, insulated shelters, goat coats, and elaborate warming systems. And every winter, I want to gently point them toward the hay feeder. Because the simplest, most effective, most natural way to keep your goats warm in winter is something you’re probably already doing – you might just need to do more of it. Keep the hay feeder full. That’s it. That’s the secret. The Science of Staying Warm From the Inside Out Here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: the process of digesting long-stem roughage is thermogenic. It literally generates heat. When a goat eats hay, that fiber travels to the Read More
Should You Put a Coat on Your Goat?
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! Every winter, I see the same well-meaning question pop up in goat groups everywhere: “It’s freezing outside – should I put a coat on my goat?” I get it. It’s cold, they look cold, and we love them. We want to help. But here’s what’s actually happening when you put a coat on a healthy goat – and why it might be doing the opposite of what you intend. How Goats Stay Warm Goats thermoregulate by trapping warm air in pockets within their fur. Think of it like a down jacket – it’s not the feathers themselves that keep you warm, it’s the dead air space between them. Your goat’s fluffy Read More
What’s the Worst Case Scenario?
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! From my teacher’s eye view, I see the fear everywhere. It makes sense, we’re taught from birth to worship Fear. I myself lived that as my entire process for many years. It stole so much from me, and I want to share with you a trick I learned to help me gain perspective. Play out the worst case scenario between what your fear and intuition tell you. Fear says: that goat has a runny nose, that means it’s likely going to DIE FROM PNEUMONIA. I need to reach out to someone to help me. I need a vet. I need a remedy. Intuition says: the goat has a runny nose, but Read More
Can You Have a 100% Herbal Goat Herd?
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! I started out in 2008 doing everything the way the “experts” told me: vaccinating, copper bolusing, deworming with conventional dewormers, coccidiosis prevention, etc. etc. But my heart cried out for something different. As a new mother, I was looking to clean up my household with better quality ingredients, organic food, and so on, so going the other direction with the goats who were going to provide our milk was counterintuitive to me. I began then to take incremental steps toward my end goal, which was a herd that needed no conventional inputs. I wanted them to be healthy and organic, yes, but I also had in mind the idea that I Read More
A Year in the Life of a Goat
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! While all the details may make it seem like goats are complicated to care for, in reality, they have simple needs and simple regular maintenance requirements. Let’s walk through a year in the life of a goat and see just how things look from the perspective of a “less is more” management system. While different climates will offer different challenges at different times of the year, you can use this example as a general guideline and apply it to your own unique environment. Spring Spring is a time of growth and renewal. Goats now are full of energy and enthusiasm, just as we are. They long for fresh greens and if Read More