Rural Heritage October/November 2025

Raising Meat Goats HPD 2025 Seminar

Once you start kidding, cut the paddocks in half and put the goats into a new paddock in three days. Keep them in the old and new paddocks until the kids are a couple of weeks old. The does kid out when they’re 2 years old. Keep the billies in with the does until July 1, before the does start cycling again. If you flip an eyelid and it’s pink, that’s okay. If it’s white, you probably have parasites. Safe-Guard is okay to use. The stress of weaning can be fatal. Move the feeders with the little goats, and a couple of weeks before weaning, start giving them some feed pellets. After corn harvest, put the does in the field for a month. They’ll eat most of the corn stalks. By putting netting around the corn stalk field, you’ll get a month of free food. Titus figures on about 15% replacements. Sell the wethers November through January when they’re 60 to 70 pounds. You can sell them to ethnic groups. Keep in mind that if you move them 50 miles, you lose 10 to 12% of their body weight. At the time of Horse Progress Days, July 4 to 5, wethers were selling for $4 a pound. Take time to discover the markets. Find out when the holidays are that feature goat meat. Titus uses 250-pound totes for water. He uses ¼ cup of copper sulfate dissolved in hot water to harden the goats’ hooves. Watch for listeria. The sign is the head turned to one side. It affects the nervous system then goes into the brain. When you start with goats, begin with 25 to 30 does and one buck. You should get about 50 kids. Goats can get pneumonia, so avoid tight barns and keep the barn doors open. Unlike cow pies, goats scatter their manure. If you’re short on pasture, feed them hay. Clean up after your cows graze in the fall. If coccidiosis is a problem, use Corid for five to seven days in the water. Titus said there are two times when goats bring you happiness: when you buy them and when you sell them.

by Mary Ann Sherman T itus Schlabach is a certified organic farmer from Ohio who lives on 100 acres and has 30 cows that he milks seasonally. He also has goats — Boers. They’re white goats with reddish-brown heads that originated in South Africa. Savannas are white, also originated in South Africa and have bigger frames. Titus said that a goat wakes up and tries to find a way to die, so if you see something wrong with a goat, do something right away to save it. In 1922, he bought 20 does that he kids out once a year. December 20, he turns his bucks in and the does kid in May and June. They are on grass for the summer. At the beginning of November, he feeds them 1 pound of shelled corn. He takes them up slowly on grain over a period of four weeks. In spring, he takes them down slowly on grain over a period of three weeks. He feeds them in a 16-foot culvert that’s been cut in half. He unrolls a big round bale in the pasture, and it lasts two to three days. They stay in a 10-by-12-foot shed that is 4 feet tall in the back and 9 feet tall in the front. He uses electrified woven wire fence netting. There’s a single prong where the netting is attached. The goats hate getting juiced by the electric fence. As for parasites, he either uses total confinement or rotates their pasture every six days. Look out for parasites that can wash into the waterways if it rains and you’re on a hill. Goats are browsers so keep them away from your blueberries or apple trees. On the other hand, they love thistles. His goats are grazing by the end of May. They’re kidding mid to the end of May. Check your does frequently while they are kidding. Their colostrum is very rich. Titus admits that tame bottle babies go right through the netting. Kidding is harder when it’s cold, wet and rainy. The does don’t attach to the kids as well. But it’s still better to kid outside. Don’t come back to this paddock for 60 days. You can put cows in after 30 days.

Rural Heritage

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