Leslie Svacina of Cylon Rolling Acres was recently featured on Shark Farmer Radio on Sirius XM radio. Hosts Rob and Emily Sharkey interviewed Leslie about raising meat goats, selling goat meat and rotational grazing. You can listen to the archived show here.

This is the second blog post in a four-part Grazing Goats Article Series. The first article, Pasture Fencing for Goats, can be read here.

Electric fence is a great fencing option for goats. However, it is only as good as the training the goats receive. If there's no training, there's a greater chance, or even better chance, that your goats will get out. With the proper training, the goats should respect the fence and not escape. 

Each spring our goats are given a "refresher" training, and new goats to the farm, kids or purchased goats, are also trained on how to use the electric fence. Between having good perimeter fencing (see part I) and fence training with portable electric fence, we have little to no issues with our goats staying in the pasture. On occasion kids may get outside a paddock with portable fencing or out of the perimeter fencing since they are smaller, but they always come back to their moms. Once they get older it's not a habit that continues. 

Here's how we fence train our goats:

The prep work:

• Set up the temporary electric fence in a small loop or square, so there's enough room for the goats being trained to comfortably move around and eat grass
• This should be inside of a permanent fence, or put up a second temporary fence as a "back up" fence, giving some extra space in between fences
• Make sure you can quickly and easily turn off the fence. For us, that's unclipping the alligator clips from the temporary fence to the permanent fence, which is how we access the electricity from our energizer.
• The first time training the goats on the fence, there are usually two of us. That makes it easier to turn off the fence if a goat gets out (or to chase that goat!).
• Before turning the goats out, we will make sure they have eaten some hay for the day. So we usually, will start training in the afternoon. The goats love the lush grass, so this helps prevent them from overeating and causing bloat. It also helps their rumen adjust from dry matter to fresh forage. 
• If it's a larger group, I may split the group up into smaller groups.

The actual fence training:

• Turn out the goats into the training space and watch. I will usually pull up a lawn chair and take notes on the goats that touch the fence. I like to make sure all the goats touch the electric fence at least once, if not twice. It doesn't take long for them to remember how it works. 
• I also pay more attention to the younger goats who haven't been on pasture before. The older does usually remember quickly how the fence works. 
• The first day, I leave them out for maybe an hour, making sure all the animals experience the fence. Then I close off access to the pasture. 
• The second day, I'll wait until the afternoon again, making sure they've eaten some hay. I'll then let them out for a longer period. I'll watch again, but this time I might do some other work around the barn.
• Repeat for another day, possibly more depending on how the goats are taking to the fence. 
• The goal is to have the goats respect the fence. They may be busy eating grass and touch their nose. They may yelp in surprise and jump back. That's ok. We don't want the animals charging through the fence or getting tangled. 

After training: 

• The goats should be ready for rotation grazing with temporary fencing. 
• I always keep an extra eye on them for the first week or so as they continue to get adjusted to the fence, especially with younger kids. 

Tips for success all season

• Make sure the fence is always ON, HOT and not grounding out. A fence tester is a handy tool to help monitor how the fence is working.
• Always make sure they have enough to eat. If they don't, they will want to go where the food is outside of the fence. It's important to watch pasture levels and rotate the herd into new paddocks. 
• GET RID OF THE JUMPERS. I will usually give them one chance. But you can tell quickly with goats, who the naughty, instigators are. They will teach other goat's bad habits. 

If you raise goats, what has worked for you for training goats to respect electric fence?

In the video below you'll see an example of how we fence train our goats to portable electric fence.

Watch for the next blog post on the basics of rotational goats in this grazing goat series. Sign up for our online community here so you don’t miss the next post and to learn more about what we do on our farm raising goats for meat. 

If you missed the first article in this Grazing Goats Series, you can find it here: Pasture Fencing for Goats.

This blog was original published 9/6/2019, and was updated on 6/5/20.

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Any animal health information provided on this website is based on personal experience or information provided by others whose treatments and practices have been discussed with a veterinarian. In all situations, it is the responsibility of the livestock owner to consult with a veterinarian before using any animal health practices shared on this website or by this company and its owner. See the full legal disclaimer here.

We use Sweeter Heaters, plug-in electric radiant heaters, in our warming boxes for our goat kids. The warming boxes sit in the creep pen to encourage kids to stay in their safe space and offer extra warmth at night or during a cold snap in our Wisconsin spring weather.

We do have the Prima Heat lamps from Premier One Fencing, but I prefer using these Sweeter heaters since the prevent a much lower risk of fire.

Making bone broth is quite simple to do and is way more beneficial for your health than those hard bouillon cubes or even a simple stock. Since the bones are simmered for a longer time with bone broth, it allows for more time to release more collagen, bone marrow, amino acids, and minerals, such as calcium, zinc and magnesium (Cleveland Clinic, 2018). It’s also more economical than the alternative.
 
You can drink it like a cup of tea. Or, I typically will I freeze or can it, and then use it in recipes that call for broth or stock, such as soups, gravies and other dishes. When I made this recipe recently, I used a combination of goat and beef bones.

Nutrient-Dense Bone Broth – Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
Ingredients

• Enough bones to fill the bottom of your slow cooker or Instant Pot – recently I used a mix of beef and goat bones
• 2 tbs. apple cider vinegar 
• Vegetables, such as onion and celery, if you wish
• 1 tbs. refrigerated minced garlic
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• Fresh herbs, if you wish
• Water

 
Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 F degrees.
2. Rinse bones, layer on sheet pan to roast in oven.  Include veggies, if you wish. I usually will add the onions, but not other veggies at this point. Roast for 1.5-2 hours until the bones are browned, even a little crispy looking. Time may vary on the type of bones you are using.
3. Remove the bones and place in your slow cooker or Instant Pot. If there’s any extra fat or brown crispiness left on the pan, scrape it off and add it to the cooking pot.
4. Add apple cider vinegar, vegetables, garlic, herbs, and sea salt. Fill the cooking pot with water to the top, covering all the ingredients. In the Instant Pot, be sure to keep the water below the max line. I like to fill a cup below this line.
5. Cooking Instructions: Slow cooker: Cook on low for 48 hours. Instant Pot: Set on low pressure, cook for 30 minutes.
6. After cooking is complete, remove bones, vegetables and herbs. You can strain any other residue at the surface. I prefer to keep the extra fat on the top, but some may want to take it off. 
7. Prepare for storage: Freeze in mason jars or zip top bags (leave room for expansion, or they’ll pop). If I have enough time, I’ll can the bone broth so I can store it in my pantry and keep my freezer space for other items. 

 
Uses:

• Drink hot, like tea for an extra daily immunity boost 
• Ingredient for recipes, such as soups, gravies or other dishes. I also like to swap bone broth for the water when cooking rice

 
Tips:

• Keep a gallon size zip top bag in your freezer to add veggie scraps and bones when cooking other meals. Use these items as future broth ingredients. I save chicken bones, bones from steaks, onion ends, veggies that start to go soft, etc. 
• You don’t have to roast your bones. It just adds an extra depth of flavor. If the bones are from another meal where the meat/bones are already cooked, I usually don’t roast the bones.
• If we have a whole chicken for dinner, I’ll debone it after and then put the whole carcass with some of our frozen veggie scraps into a slow cooker to start a batch of bone broth.
• If you order whole/halves/quarters of meat from a farmer through a butcher, ask for the bones. Sometimes they’re aren’t on the cut sheet, but typically you can still get them.

Order your goat bones from our Farm Store. For more goat meat recipes, cooking tips, promotions, and to know when goat meat is available, sign up for our email list here.

Kidding is just getting underway on our farm. A lot has to get done to before the baby goats arrive. It includes herd health work, preparing the barn and organizing my supplies 
 
Preparing the does
About a month before the does are scheduled to kid, we will do a herd health day so they are ready for kidding. This includes:

• Hoof trimming, if needed
• Deworming, if needed. We make the decision by assessing each doe individually, based on body condition, FAMACHA and behavior. If a doe needs to be dewormed, we will typically deworm with two or three dewormers, with each from a different class of dewormer. This practice is based on a research article published on the American Consortium for Small Ruminants website: Combination Dewormers: The Time is Now by Dr. Ray Kaplan, Professor of Parasitology, University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine  
• Assessing body condition to determine if any supplemental feeding is needed
• Vaccinating with CDT for clostridial enterotoximia protection (over-eating disease) and tetanus, and Pasturella for pneumonia since our spring weather can have big swings in temperatures, which can lead to respiratory issues. By vaccinating a month in advance of kidding, we are able to pass on immunity protection from the does to the kids, which is especially important during the kids’ first month of life. 

 
As we work through each doe, we will enter notes on what we did into our herd health system, Easy Keeper, making extra notes on areas of concern to help us better monitor the health of each goat and manage our herd overall. 
 
Much like our other herd health days, we will set up our workspace in the barn to work efficiently as possible. Each of our helpers has specific tasks to keep everything moving along, while I visually assess each goat and enter notes into my record keeping program on my iPad. Along the top of the pen wall, we set up several 5 quart rectangular fence line feeders to hold supplies, including vaccinations, dewormers, hoof trimmers and drenchers. Here are some of the supplies I use:

• Fence line feeder 
• Drencher (feeding syringes) 20 ml and 50 ml
• Automatic bottle top syringe 
• Serrated hoof trimmer
• Stand for hoof trimming and herd health work

 
Preparing the barn
In the weeks leading up to kidding, we start to transition the barn from winter housing to kidding:

• Bucks will be moved to a separate pen, if not already. We often leave them with the whole herd most of the winter for ease of feeding.
• Yearlings, last year’s doe kids kept for breeding stock, move to a new pen. In the area where they were originally, the barn bedding is cleaned out to allow for set up of 8x8 pens for kidding. 
• Warming boxes for the postpartum pen are pulled out, each box has two radient Sweeter Heaters inside for warmth and a safe space for new kids
• Infrared heaters are checked to make sure they’re working and we have enough propane, if we have a cold snap during kidding 
• Pull out tote of heat lamps for back up. We don’t use these often, but they are good to have on hand.
• Set up barn cameras about a week in advance
• Make sure extra bedding is on hand

 
Supplies mentioned:

• Sweeter heater 
• Prima Heat lamps  

 
Preparing supplies
About 1-2 months in advance I like to assess my veterinary supplies for kidding to allow for enough time to order or purchase supplies locally. This includes ordering enough vaccines for the does, as well as for their kids (they require boosters with most vaccinations). 
 
Here are the supplies I like to have on hand for kidding. Some of them are used, and some are for emergency situations:

• Plastic gloves – I wear them anytime I might encounter bodily fluid or administer any type of supplements or medication. There are a number of zoonotic diseases that can be passed between goats and humans. It’s a good preventative measure to follow.
• Artificial insemination gloves – these are great if you have to do a rectal exam or assist with pulling a kid
• Selenium and Vitamin E Supplement – this is only used if a kid is weak and showing signs of a vitamin deficiency. Consult your veterinarian for supplements and dosages, if needed.
• Lubricant to aid with rectal exams or assisting with pulling kids 
• Betadine surgical scrub – If I have to internally assist to pull kids, it is a quick disinfectant
• Flashlight 
• Iodine for dipping umbilical cords
• Small plastic cups (condiment size or smaller) for iodine for dipping umbilical cords – I get these at the dollar store
• Dedicated, clean and sharp scissors for trimming umbilical cords
• Small scale to weigh kids – I use this one with a bucket 
• Ear tags for farm identification and USDA scrappies requirement
• Probiotic gel – give to kids and does for an extra boost 
• Vitamin B gel – give to does if they need an extra immunity boost after kidding, or have had a rough delivery 
• BlueLite – goat electrolyte mix – use in the doe’s water after kidding 
• Digital thermometer 
• Lots of old towels for drying off kids
• Marking pen or ink 
• Kid tube feeder 
• LA 200 – To prevent any infections if the doe has complications during birth or you have to assist with the birth. Consult your veterinarian on best practices and dosages. 
• Bag of a quality goat milk replacer, or a Jersey milk replacer (it has similar fat and protein content as needed for goats)
• Colostrum supplement – powdered or tube
• Dog jackets – only for weak kids or really cold dips for brand new kids. Only use these in extreme situations
• Hair dryer – to help dry off new kids, especially when it is cold or if they weren’t cleaned off right away by their mom
• Pet heating pad – used with kids that need to revived or extra warmth for new kids when there’s a cold dip
• Handful of bottler for bottle feeding. I prefer Pritchard nipples on Fiji water bottles (they are more durable for rewashing). 

 
Kidding process and protocols 
When a doe kids, I will let her do most, if not all of the work herself. The only thing I will do is help clean off kids with an old towel to so they dry fast as possible and help clean airways. The does will typically still continue to clean their kids afterwards. By helping dry the kids, this helps reduce any chances of pneumonia or hypothermia, especially if it’s cold out. 
 
After the doe is done kidding, I’ll bring her and the kids into a separate pen for 24-28 hours to allow for bonding and recovery. I’ll observe the kids to make sure they nurse. If a kid had a rough or slow start, I’ll help them with their first feeding. 
 
When it comes to processing the kids, we will take weights, ear tag, and trim umbilical cords and dip them in iodine. Then the kds are placed back into the pen with their mother. This information and anything else relevant about the birth or kids behavior is entered into our animal health record system, Easy Keeper. 
 
After 24-48 hours, the doe and kids will move to a “postpartum” group pen with other doe/kid pairs. The kids will have access to a creep/safe space, typically with some source of heat to keep them safe from other mothers and prevent them from accidently being sat on by their own mothers. 
 
Kids are vaccinated a month after they born and then followed up with a booster based on the vaccinations given.
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If you’re interested in learning more about what we do on our farm raising goats for meat, join our online community here.  ​

Thank you Katelyn at the Wild Rose Farmer for having me as a guest on her Rural Woman Podcast. I’ve been a listener since the start and an avid podcast junkie for along time. It is an honor to be coming into your earbuds as a podcast guest, instead of my usual role as just the listener!

For those who often ask about how I got started raising goats and the meat goat industry and market, here it is!

You can find the podcast episode here, listen to it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or stream it on ‪WildRoseFarmer.com‬

P.S. If you’re new to this podcast or Katelyn, she also raises goats for meat!

You don’t know how many times this winter (now spring) I’ve been asked, “How’s kidding going?” Each time I explain that we don’t have any babies yet since we’ve moved kidding to later in the season.  We’re set to kid in late April and then have the last batch of kids in May.

We’ve kidded and worked with baby goats in January through April, with both babies born on our farm and bottle babies we’ve raised since they were only a few days old.  The first few years raising goats we didn’t own a buck and our breeding schedule worked around the farm where we rented a buck.  We’ve also bred for earlier in the season (anytime between January and March) because that seems to be what most farms do in our area. So why not do the same? And, with raising bottle babies, we of course were on the schedule of the dairy farms we worked with.

There are many reasons farms kid earlier: raising for the show/fair kid market, having kids be at market weight in the fall, renting bucks like we have done, seasonal milking, and so on.

Here are three reasons why we’ve moved to late season kidding:

1. Be in sync with nature. There’s probably a reason why deer have their fawns in the spring time.  Wisconsin winters can be downright frigid cold. Kidding later in the season gives new kids a greater chance of thriving rather than being a “kid-sicle,” potentially leading to pneumonia or even losing a kid.  It also gives new moms a little extra time to let their maternal instincts kick in or time for the shepherd to assist (my preference is the first option).  Shortly after kidding we’re able to get the does and kids out on pasture rotationally grazing, taking advantage of the higher quality pasture earlier in the grazing season.
2. Reduce shepherd’s fatigue. Kidding or lambing can really be wearing on the farmer. Whether it’s a set schedule of late-night barn checks in person or by barn camera, it can get exhausting. That part isn’t going to change with warmer weather (as in not subzero temps). However, the increased effort, and even stress at times, to dry off and warm up new kids is reduced. I also tend to have a little more patience letting does clean up their newly born kids. Last season we also had a new baby (as in human kid) and it was harder to get out to the barn as regularly as I like to do so. Kidding later in the season gives us a little bit of flexibility on being able to bring my kids (again, human) down the to barn and a little more give and take on timing if I can’t get to check on a new set of kids immediately. 
3. Reduce the need for heaters. Mother Nature permitting, kidding later also allows us to reduce the use of heat lamps and infrared heaters to keep kids warm in their safe areas in the kidding pens and in the creep area in the main pen. If spring comes earlier, we might even be lucky enough to not need the heaters at all. Reducing use not only cuts down on our electrical and propane (we also have propane infrared heaters) bills, it also reduces the risk for fire by not using the heat lamps or using them minimally. When do use the heat lamps we use the ones from Premier 1 Fencing, which have more safety features built in than the standard metal heat lamp. We also like using infrared heaters (we have both propane and electric powered ones - the electric are from Sweater Heater).

Even with our later kidding season, we can still run into Mother Nature’s seasonal mood disorder. Last season we kidded a week earlier than this year and ended up having kids during the spring cold snap (single digit temps). We can try our best to work with the flow of our seasons in the Upper Midwest.  Kidding later works well for our farm and family.
​
If you’re interested in learning more about what we do on our farm raising goats for meat, join our online community here.  

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I manage my herd as it grows to its “full size.” As some may know, my herd is still in its growth stage since I've been building it from within. In this planning process I’m being mindful of working with the seasonality of our region, managed grazing practices, and use of our facilities.

My plan going forward after this kidding season will be to split our herd into two groups and move into a breeding cycle where our herd is kidding three times a year, about four months apart. This doesn’t mean we’re doing back-to-back breeding, but it means that each group will kid every other kidding season. Each doe will have the opportunity to breed every nine months, allowing for time for gestation, nursing, and recovery. 

Why am I moving to this system:

• Less intense kidding season. Not all does will be kidding at the same time. Easier on the shepherd to monitor her herd
• If a doe doesn’t take, she has an opportunity to be rebred sooner, than waiting an entire year or culling. Lack of conception can happen for many reasons, which may not all be on the doe.
• This allows us to have a more consistent supply of meat for our customers

From an economic perspective, this farm is also a business. It requires income to continue and serve our customers. Over the span of time, we should be able to produce the same number of kids as if our herd size was 25-30% larger. This means fewer breeding does to feed and manage, with more offspring to either add to our herd as replacement stock or to sell. As a family farm, it also helps keep my workload more manageable.

What I will be working on figuring out: 

• The right timing of breeding and kidding based on our seasons. My goal is to still minimize kidding in cold weather to allow our does a chance to care for their new kids without a lot of extra concern with hypothermia or pneumonia.
• Goats can be seasonal breeders (not always). I’ll need to determine the best strategies with our summer breeding plans.

What I know I’ll need to do:

• Continue to take good records on our animals
• Band all of our buck kids, unless we have requests for breeding bucks. It will just be easier to manage our market kids in one group or it could get out of hand fast!
• Set up a good animal sorting/handling system 
• Get used to kidding three times a year!

Lastly, a big shout out to Sandy Brock, of Sheepishly Me, a sheep farmer in Canada. Her approach to managing breeding and lambing for her flock provided me inspiration to think about how I could adapt practices to my goat herd and our grazing system. 

When it comes to goat meat, it can be a challenge to find in grocery stores. Sometimes specialty markets will carry it. But, if you do find it, it is likely imported all the way from Australia. 
 
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of goat meat. Most of the goat meat found for sale in grocery stores in the U.S. is sourced from Australia. According to Meat and Livestock Australia:

• imports of goat meat into our country have more than doubled in the last 10 years
• 98 percent of goat meat imported into the U.S. is from Australia
• In 2015, imports were about 40 million pound of goat meat to the U.S.

 
Most of these goats are semi-wild (feral), sourced from Australia’s rangeland.
 
Sourcing goat meat in the U.S.
So how can you find goat meat in the U.S., that’s raise right here in our own country? 

1. If a store in your area carries goat meat, check the label to see where it is from. If you can’t tell ask the manager to know if it’s imported or raised in the U.S. Food co-ops often carry food sourced from local farmers. You can ask the same question at restaurants as well.
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2.  Look for farms that raise and sell their meat direct to customers. It’s not always easy to do, but with a little homework you can hopefully find some good options. Several places to start include farmers markets, local foods listings and goat breeder organizations. Even an online search can help as well since many farms have an online presence and may even have online ordering options. 

Often buying direct from the farmer means purchasing a whole goat, cut and packaged to your liking. Sometimes you can also purchase individual cuts of meat, which can be convenient if you don’t have a lot of freezer space or want to enjoy a special recipe without needing to purchase large quantities of meat.  

Let us be your choice for enjoying goat meat raised in the Upper Midwest on our farm. Sign up for our email list to know about upcoming sales, recipes and tips for cooking goat meat and updates on what's happening from our farm. In spring of 2020 we will be launching a new ordering website, with an option for shipping right to your doorstep.