Cylon Rolling Acres
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Farm Store: Shop Now
    • Where to buy
    • Wholesale Orders
    • The Meat List: Notify Me
  • Goat Meat
    • Goatober
    • Benefits of Pasture-Raised Meat
  • Blog
  • Raising Meat Goats
    • Raising Goats for Meat Community
    • Online Class Replay: Raising Goats
    • Fav Goat Things
    • Fav Business + Marketing Tools
    • Breeding Stock for Sale
    • Speaking
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Tours

Farm Blog

Raising Goats for Meat
Cooking with Goat Meat + Recipes

My Favorite Goat Things: Holistic Goat Care [book]

4/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture


If I'm introducing a new series in my blog: My Favorite Goat Things. It's a way to feature resources, tips/tricks and other tools of the trade that I use as a farmer who raises goats for meat. Here's my first #MyFavoriteGoatThings - Enjoy!

One of My Favorite Goat Things:
Holistic Goat Care by Gianaclis Caldwell

When it comes to goats, there’s not much research, health care products, equipment, reference books, or even veterinarians who have basic knowledge about or are willing to work with goats. Goat producers usually put on their “goat glasses” and adapt sheep or other ruminant information to manage the health needs of their herd.

That’s why Gianaclis Caldwell’s book, Holistic Goat Care, is such a welcome resource. The book is a comprehensive guide to raising healthy goats, and solving health issues that arise. It’s well suited for both the new and experienced goat keeper, and covers all types of goats. Topics include:
  • Starting and managing a herd, and understanding goat behavior
  • Farm management, nutrition needs, and feed choice
  • Basic skills for managing herd health
  • Breeding, pregnancy, delivery, caring for kids, milking
  • Managing specific goat health problems, including signs and symptoms, as well as treatments and prevention options

Caldwell presents the content in an easy-to-read manner that flows well, whether one reads the book in its entirety or uses it as a reference guide. Throughout the book, she blends her practical experience with goats with science-based information. Caldwell also takes a broad holistic approach to health care for goats.

While the goat resources that do exist touch on many of the same topics, most do not have the depth of this book, nor recognize holistic management practices.

Since there are few veterinarians in our area who are knowledgeable on goats, I’ve added a goat veterinary textbook to my stack of resources. While Holistic Goat Care doesn’t dive deep into veterinary medical speak, it is a great resource for goat producers. It is much easier to read than the veterinary textbook, and explains terminology and practices for those who may not have formal training or background in animal science. The book also includes a variety of supply lists, check lists, terminology, signs/symptoms, resource lists, photos, troubleshooting guides, A-Z list of disorders, and a glossary. Additionally, the value of the content is more reasonable—about $40 versus $100 or more for a textbook.

I especially liked the feed choice section, which includes information about pasture, grazing, browse, and forages. Other feeding options were covered, but since I practice rotational grazing, I really appreciated the information in this section.

I also liked the information on the role of minerals, vitamins and supplements, covered both in the feed choice and nutritional needs chapters. The book covers how minerals interact with each other, their impact on a goat’s development, signs of deficiencies, risks of an overabundance of minerals, and approaches to supplement for minerals.

The step-by-step instructions on how to do your own fecal float test to look at parasite loads are good, too. She includes a supply list and instructional photos. There isn’t any information on what certain parasite eggs look like. However, that information is easily accessible online or through a consult with your vet.

I never want to lose one of my goats, but I also recognize the importance of continuing to learn how to care for my livestock. Over the years, I’ve had our veterinarian out to the farm to do necropsies. While observing live animal behavior and symptoms can help us draw conclusions to why a goat may have an ailment, it doesn’t always tell us what is actually happening or why. Necropsies have helped answer these questions and as a result I’ve made some adjustments on feeding and management practices. It’s not always feasible to get a vet out to our farm or bring the animal into the clinic. This guide helps solve this challenge by providing clear instructions on doing a necropsy.

If you’re getting started with goats, the first part of the book includes a variety of information on goat behavior, fencing, feeding, animal handling tips, and so on.

While this book isn’t a substitution for veterinary care, it is a very comprehensive holistic health care reference that all goat farmers should consider having on their bookshelf. You can find it on Amazon.com or other retailers that carry books.

If you're interested in learning more about more of my favorite goat things, join our online community for raising goats for meat here.


This book review originally was featured in Midwest Organic and Sustainable Educational Services (MOSES) Organic Broadcaster newsletter, November/December 2017 issue. Farmers can subscribe to mosesorganic.org/sign-up/this newsletter for free at https://mosesorganic.org/sign-up/.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About Leslie

    I own and manage Cylon Rolling Acres in northwestern Wisconsin. On my farm I raise Boer - Kiko meat goats on pasture.


    Friends + Family List

    Sign up to receive goat meat recipes + cooking tips, promos + farm updates

    Thank you for subscribing!


    Why Cylon?

    Cylon (pronounced Si-lon) is the name of our township in St. Croix County, Wisconsin. Sorry fans, our farm is not named after the robots of Battlestar Galactica.


    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015


    Categories

    All
    Accessibility To Farm
    Advocacy
    Ag Issues
    AgProud
    Animal Care
    Animal Health
    Auto Feeder
    Bear
    Beginning Farmers
    Boer Kiko Cross Goats
    Bottle Feeding
    Breeding Stock
    Broadband
    Brush Control
    Bucks
    Buy In Bulk
    Cabrito
    CAFES Alum
    Chevon
    Community
    Coyote
    Curry
    Cuts Of Meat
    Electricity
    Facebook
    Family
    Farm Bureau
    Farmers Union
    Farming
    Farm Store
    Farm Tour
    Farm Transitions
    Feeding
    Female Farmer
    Fence
    Goat Barbacoa
    Goat Chops
    Goat Meat
    Goatober
    Goats
    Grass Fed
    Grass-Fed
    Grazing
    Great Pyr
    Grilling
    Gyros
    #ILookLikeAFarmer
    Instagram
    Internet
    Investment
    Kidding
    Kiko
    Lac-Tek
    Lac-Tek II
    Leadership
    LGD
    Livestock Guardian Dog
    Meat Goats
    Milk Replacer
    My Favorite Goat Things
    Organ Meat
    Parenting
    Pasture
    Planning
    Planting
    Podcasts
    Predators
    Professional Development
    Raising Goats For Meat
    Recipe
    Rotational Grazing
    Rural
    Science
    Seed
    Self-Care
    Small Business
    Smart Farm
    Smart Fence
    Snow
    Social Media
    Spring
    Storm
    Succession Planning
    Trees
    Turkeys
    Urban
    UWRF
    Veterinary Care
    Vlog
    Water
    Whole Goat
    Wildlife
    Windbreak
    Winter
    Wolves
    Women
    Work Life Balance
    Young Farmers


    RSS Feed

Copyright 2015-21 Cylon Rolling Acres, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Deer Park, Wisconsin | hello@cylonrollingacres.com
Privacy Policy | Legal Disclaimer
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Farm Store: Shop Now
    • Where to buy
    • Wholesale Orders
    • The Meat List: Notify Me
  • Goat Meat
    • Goatober
    • Benefits of Pasture-Raised Meat
  • Blog
  • Raising Meat Goats
    • Raising Goats for Meat Community
    • Online Class Replay: Raising Goats
    • Fav Goat Things
    • Fav Business + Marketing Tools
    • Breeding Stock for Sale
    • Speaking
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Tours