Goat Talk with the Goat Doc

For National Dairy Goat Awareness Week 2019, I hijacked my husband Devin (herd manager, cheesemaker and all around driving force behind our farm, Flying Goat Farm), and had him sit down with me to record some mini episodes to answer your dairy goat related questions from instagram! In this mini-sode, we talk about our favorite dairy goat breeds. We are going to try to post one mini-sode every day...

I forgot to talk about a couple of things about horns! So here they are! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Goats have horns. Humans keeping goats may choose to prevent horns from growing or let them be. In this episode I talk about horns in general, and different ways they may be removed or prevented from growing, and my personal preferences for horns in my own animals. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Urolithiasis = formation of stones in the urinary bladder. All kind of animals can make urinary stones. For goats, particularly castrated male goats, this can cause a problem when the crystals or stones block the way for the urine to get out. This episode gets into the physiology of why and how urinary calculi form, why it's a problem for goats in particular, what to look for if you think this is...

I finally got brave enough to open the can of worms that is Selenium.  In this episode, I get into the chemistry and biochemistry of Selenium, what the body needs it for, where the body should get it from, what happens when there isn't enough, what happens when there's too much, etc. Strap in everyone, this is a long episode. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted...

When I said that I don't get excited about the placenta in Episode 21, that was totally a lie. Placenta is crazy. Learn all about this amazing temporary organ in this episode. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AKA: Things That Are Normal for Neonatal Goat Kids That People Freak Out About But Are Not Really Anything to Worry About.  Kidding season has officially arrived at my place and it reminded me about the little funny things that can seem to be "wrong" with fresh goat kids and can cause people to freak out, when these things are actually normal and not anything to worry about.  Questions a...

Following up on Episode 19, Care of the Pregnant Doe, this episode includes some of my "kidding pro tips," a discussion about the stages of labor and what those look like in goats, and things that I do and don't worry about in these animals.  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a quick episode to check in and answer a couple of email questions from listeners!  Thanks so much for listening and your questions!  Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Making babies is hard work. In this episode I talk about considerations for feeding and care for your doe from shortly after breeding up through the later stages of pregnancy. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brrr it's chilly up in Maine! In this episode I talk about what you can do to help your goats and other livestock critters handle the chilly temperatures we see in New England winters. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even though I said episode 16, it's really number 17, and it's time to talk about pregnancy detection. This time of year, I need to set aside time to run my does through the milk parlor and verify how many are bred. There are other methods of pregnancy detection if you don't have an ultrasound or a vet that can check with one and I'm going to talk about the different options for pregnanc...

I'm still alive and I didn't drop off the face of the earth! Just a quick blurb to say Happy New Year and thanks to everyone who has listened this year and people who continue to listen even though I've been a slacker at podcasting and completely absorbed by other life stuff. I hope to be back to better podcasting regularity as we start 2019! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc ....

Brain worm! Parelaphostrongylus tenuis aka meningeal worm aka brain worm is a problem for small ruminants, camelids and cervids in areas where there is a white tailed deer population. These weird worms do not have negative effects on their normal definitive hosts, white tailed deer, but when they get lost trying to complete their lifecycles in other species, they cause issues. In this episode, I t...

Recording this story to remember to include it when I write a memoir or something someday. The story of delivering a bunch of my does to western PA. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I love it when people think carefully about what they are doing before they purchase and take responsibility for any type of animal. In this episode, I discuss a listener email with questions about what to think about when establishing a new goat herd. I go off on some tangents about how I got into the goat world, some analogies to dogs and puppies, priorities and pros and cons of different ways t...

I finally finished my breeding plan! To celebrate, I spend an hour in my truck talking about Advanced Reproductive Techniques (mostly AI) in small ruminants (but mostly goats.) This episode builds on what I talked about in the last episode about the hormonal influences of normal goat reproductive cycles and how we use that to build a better goat via ARTs (advanced reproductive techniques) inc...

It's that time of year when I'm just waiting to wake up to the sounds of hormonal does screaming outside my window. In this episode, I talk about basics of the goat estrus cycle, timing and breeding, and quite a bit about the hormones and physiology that's going on with the whole thing. And I get on a soap box for a minute to talk about thinking about why we do all this breeding goats stuff i...

Vaccines are designed to prevent disease, so what preventative vaccinations should your goats have? Which vaccines should all goats have and which ones should only some goats have and why? Core vaccines and risk based vaccines- what is that about, which are which, who should get vaccinated and when and why? So much conflicting information is out in the world about all kinds of vaccinations, so I'm...

Sometimes those testicles have to come off. In this episode (which is, in fact, Episode 10, even though my brain to mouth connection misfired and said 7...), I'm going to discuss the different methods for castrating small ruminants, focusing on goats, what age you should think about castrating, how your vet can help make this a less unpleasant endeavor for everyone, and some other considerations r...

Goat skin is different from goatskin. Dealing with skin stuff while the skin is still on the goat is the topic of this episode. This episode talks about external parasite (lice, mites, fleas, ticks), a little bit about Orf (aka Soremouth), zinc responsive dermatoses (and my pet theory about well water's role in that skin condition), and touch on the "zebras," skin cancers, and non-healing lesions,...

A quick episode to answer a couple of emails I have received over the last few weeks. And say thanks to everyone who is tuning in! :) Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do I feed this goat kid? How do I feed this goat kid? When do I wean this goat kid? In this episode I provide an overview of goat kid nutrition and recommendations, largely based on my own experience raising probably close to hundreds of goat kids over the last ten years. I have been surprised in clinical practice by the problems with inadequate nutrition and misunderstandings...

Are you creeped out by eyeballs? I’m not – eyes are totally cool! In this episode I go over some common eye problems in kids and adult goats and what I do to fix them. Usually these things look really scary, but, in my experience, goats can heal their eyes from some really crazy looking stuff. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

Recording on the road because that's where I spend my life.  A few different topics in this episode: Biosecurity testing - What is it? Why should I do it? Who needs to be tested? How often do I need to test?  Listener Question! (Someone is listening to my podcast and it makes me excited!) Story from my dairy. It's always something.  Support this show http://suppo...