Mini Nubian Goats – Storybook Farm

Posted on March 31, 2021May 15, 2021 by Marcia — Leave a comment

How to Think About Generations with Mini Nubians

Many newcomers to Mini Nubian goats ask, “What is the BEST generation to buy (or breed) with Mini Nubians?” The obvious answer seems to be “the higher the generation, the better!” After all, “purebred” sure sounds like it would be better than “experimental.” Right? Maybe not. This post was written to help educate you so that you can purchase quality Mini Nubians in the future by focusing your attention not on generations, but on animal quality.

Eliya Elmquist (of Green Gables Mini Nubians) has been raising Mini Nubians for 22 years, and she co-wrote this article (which is styled in her voice) with me. I think her insights are so helpful that I wanted to post it here for easy reference.

Are Higher Generation Minis Better?

Eliya writes, “This article was written because year after year I find myself explaining to newcomers (and also some who have been around Mini Nubians awhile) about misconceptions concerning generations. Hopefully, this article will help the entire Mini Nubian community to better educate buyers as to the proper view of the importance, or place, of generations in assessing miniature goats of any breed.”

(Note: the young buckling pictured at the right is Storybook’s Prince Valiant, an F2.)

First, some definitions.

What Do We Mean By Generations?

All mini goat breeds (Mini Alpines, Mini Toggenburgs, etc.) are crosses between a larger, foundation breed (in the case of Mini Nubians, a purebred Nubian female) and a smaller, foundation breed (a purebred Nigerian Dwarf male). From here on out, this article will focus on Mini Nubians (MNs) as our primary example, but you can apply what’s written here to other mini goat breeds as well.

When you breed a foundation Nubian to foundation Nigerian, the resulting kid is considered to be First Generation, or F1. It is one generation from “foundation” on both sides. It is a 50/50 Nubian/Nigerian cross.

(Pictured right: Joyous Farms Le Tigre: 50/50 cross. Nubian/Nigerian.) LOTS of milk creds on both sides of this cross! See a pedigree here.)

Min Nubian lines can also be started using a Mini Nubian crossed to a foundation breed. So, you can have a MN doe bred to a foundation Nigerian buck. This would result in something more like 25% Nubian and 75% Nigerian. More typically, however, if a MN is crossed with a foundation Nubian, you will find kids that are 75% Nubian and 25% Nigerian.

(Pictured left is Skillman’s Star AR 4*D. She is a Mini Nubian, and is 93.84% Nubian, and only 6.16% Nigerian.)

What is important to grasp here is that any kid that has one parent that is a foundation breed is an F1, also called “Experimental.” F1 does NOT indicate the percentage of the parents’ breed or its overall quality in terms of conformation or dairy abilities; it simply indicates that one (or both) parents were foundation breeds.

Subsequent breedings follow sequentially. If you breed an F1 to an F1, you get an F2 (two generations away from foundation on both sides). However, if you were to breed an F1 to an F5, the kids would be F2, since on one side, their parent was only one generation away from foundation, and they are only two generations away from foundation on that side. The rule is that kids’ generations are always one step up from the parent who is closest to foundation. F1/F6 = F2. F3/F4 = F4. F3/F3 =F4. And so on.

In developing the Mini Nubian breed, it was decided that it would take six generations for an animal to be considered a purebred Mini Nubian. F1 and F2 animals are designated “Experimental” by registries. F3, F4, and F5 are termed “Americans.” F6 and up may be registered as “Purebred,” if they meet the breed standard. (After “purebred” we stop counting generations.)

Newcomers to MNs often hear the word “purebred” and think it must be desirable. Who wants a mutt when they can have a purebred, right? But the idea that lower generation goats are mutts is a serious misconception, which can be hard for newcomers to understand.

Storybook’s Ursa Major, pictured right, is an F2.

Remember how the generations are calculated? As stated above, a sixth generation from foundation (F6) can be registered as a purebred (if it conforms to the breed standard). And all that the F6 designation means is that an animal is 6 generations from a foundation parent on both sides. It says nothing about its conformation, quality, health, or breed character; it simply means that at least six generations back on at least one side of the parental line (the other side could be further back), this particular bloodline of goats got its start.

Now, I just mentioned the term “breed character. What is that?

The goal with breeding MNs is to work towards goats that look like a Nubian, but smaller. Nubians have pronounced Roman noses and long, floppy ears. They are a dairy breed, so there are other aspects of conformation that contribute to amounts and longevity of milking, of course, but the main distinctives of the Nubian breed are their noses and ears, and we call this “breed character.”

(Pictured at the right is VMCH Green Gables GS Magma 5*P. She is a wonderful example of correct breed character for Mini Nubians. She is an F5.)

The challenge in breeding Mini Nubians is that Nigerian Dwarfs have short upright ears. When you combine Nubians and Nigerians (especially in early generations) you often —but not always — get long ears that stand out from the head, called “airplane” ears. You can also get “2/3 drop” ears. Or, you can quickly arrive at the goal: what are called “pendulous” ears (like Magma’s), which is what Nubians have. Those pendulous ears should not stand out from the head, and should be long enough to touch the goats’ nose tips.

In general, you can expect to see airplane ears in the first generation (F1s), which are 50/50 Nigerian/Nubian. You may have excellent Nubian breed character in an F1 Mini Nubian if with 75% or more Nubian (typically a Mini Nubian bred to a foundation Nubian). Occasionally, you will have an F1 50/50% kid that takes more after one parent than the other and thus has either upright, Nigerian type ears or very correct Nubian ears.

Now, with all that information under your belt, we’re ready to address misconceptions that many newcomers (and young breeders) have.

SO: Are Higher Generation Minis Better?

Eliya writes, “I get asked ALL THE TIME for a certain generation MiniNubian. As a seller, I always ask the buyer why they are looking for that particular generation. Most of the time they are looking for a higher generation (like 5th generation and higher) but occasionally it is a specific lower generation. Understanding the reasoning helps me to help them better.

Over the years, buyers’ reasons for wanting higher gen kids are often based on misconceptions. I want to cover three specific ones here, and also mention some specifics about generations and breeding that are often overlooked.”

General Misconception #1: “Higher generations have better breed character.”

Eliya writes, “This is not always the case! Great breed character is the goal, but it is not true that the further you get from foundation parents (i.e. higher generations) the better the breed character. It simply does not always work out that way. Try telling the generations of the two kids pictured below. One is an F5, and the other an F2. The parents of the F5 both had correct breed character, while the F2 kid had a dam with 2/3 drop ears and a sire with short, but pendulous ears. The one on the left is the F2. The one on the right is the F5.”

General Misconception #2: “Higher generation MiniNubians are better quality.”

Eliya writes: “Honestly, speaking as a seasoned breeder (since 1999), generations have nothing to do with the quality of the animal. I have seen some absolutely horrendous purebred Mini Nubians: wavy toplines, weak feet, poor breed character, terrible udder attachments, etc., and some absolutely stunning lower generation goats. Below are some examples of udders from various generation does in the Green Gables’ barn:

You need to carefully define the word “quality.” And this word can mean different things to different people as different breeders will love different aspects of the breed. But at base, it should mean that the goat has those elements that contribute to a long, healthy, productive life: conformation, strength, and milk production.

There can be excellent Mini Nubians at any generation and also terrible quality at any generation. The savvy buyer will look at the individual goat and the genetics behind it to determine its quality, not its generation.”

General Misconception #3: “Higher gens are easier to sell.”

Eliya writes: “This is true to an extent, but sadly, it is largely true because of misconceptions 1 and 2 above. If you think that higher gens mean higher quality, you will look to buy and breed higher gens, and look to sell higher gens as a breeder. This is a self-perpetuating issue that I have seen during over 22 years working with the breed make things worse for the breed, not better.

The informed buyer can take the first step in breaking that cycle. As a buyer or a breeder, educating yourself and others (buyers) can help prevent this from being an issue. If we would all start looking at animal quality instead of animal generations, then we would purchase and breed forward only the more excellent animals.

Please feel encouraged to send buyers who do not yet understand about generations to this post!”

Additional comments by Eliya:

While it is understandable to expect that higher generation MNs should be more true to the Nubian type, it simply is not always the case (see photo examples above). Looking at the actual breed character of a goat you are thinking of purchasing (and its parents) will get you much farther towards the goal of developing good breed character than looking at the generations.

I always recommend that breeders choose a buck that will best improve your doe(s)’ specific weaknesses regardless of the generation. I honestly do not consider generation at all when making my breeding plans. Often times, my higher gen does get bred to my lower gen bucks (just because they happen to be the best match for improving their kids over them). And, my high gen bucks often get the lower gen does. Again, I have been breeding MNs for over 22 years, but have only had a handful of purebreds so far. I would rather have excellent quality, regardless of generation, than rush for higher gens and sacrifice the quality and the improvements I am striving towards.

Posted on February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Loving My Modular Barn!

Boy do I LOVE LOVE LOVE my modular barn. I am so glad that I didn’t make permanent divisions within my goat space!

In the past 12 days, we’ve kidded out six does. Now we’re done until April, when we’ll start kidding out 11 more over the space of a month and a half. But then we’ll have nice weather for it! Whew!

We now have 14 new kids on the ground: 10 bucklings and 4 doelings, and their moms, to care for. I’ve spent 3 hours today digging out jug stalls and rearranging heat pads and barriers. As a result, our barn can easily accomodate the changing size and needs of our herd.

The Nursery Setup

With six does due to kid within a week during record cold and heavy snow and ice storms, we set up what I would call “the nursery.”

We could accommodate up to 4 does kidding and bonding simultaneously (three in stalls and one in the aisle as pictured, right). Then there was the adjacent “romper room” where 2-3 day-old (and older) kids and their dams can hang out.

In the romper room, for cold nights, we have heat pads under the manger, but will transition kids to just sleeping on hay under there in the next week, as temperatures are supposed to become warmer when the polar vortex moves out (yay!).

Tot Lot

With all the kids in this batch of does safely delivered, and with some sleep under my belt, I took the morning to change the space from “nursery” to “tot lot.” It took about three hours of solid work.

I left the jug stalls in place, but opened and latched back the doors so that all moms and all kids can have whichever spaces they choose. I took down the aisle partition, so the “romper room” space is bigger.

Does can also browse hay in the stalls, since the manger is tight for six does at a shot. (The hay scattered on the floor is for footing for kids as they run and play.) Below are some pictures of new kids exploring their expanded spaces and snuggled up under the manger for naps.

In a couple of weeks, as pasture comes in and fences are completed, we’ll be moving the cows to their new shed from this barn (their winter quarters), which has an adjacent 1.5 acres “safe pasture” for these six moms and their 14 kids.

Then, eleven more does will use the nursery/toddler space over a month and a half (early April to mid-May) to do their kidding. As their kids are established, they’ll in turn move to this “safe pasture” stable and these first six moms from winter kidding with their kids now six weeks older will move back to the big barn to enjoy larger pastures and the main barn space.

When they do, we’ll take down all the internal barriers, and voila! The now-older kids and their dams will have all the space they need at nights in the barn. Most days, they’ll be out on pasture.

Finally, as the second wave of kids grows older, they will also move back to the main barn to enjoy the enlarged space and bigger pastures.

Posted on January 7, 2021January 7, 2021 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Listeriosis and Polio in Goats

I am relatively new to goats. This spring will be our third kidding season. As I reflect back on 2020, two success stories stand out, and I wanted to post about them to give hope to others, and give thanks to God, Who enabled us to bring full healing to two of our kids.

Listeriosis and polio in goats are both deadly diseases, left untreated. They present with nearly identical symptoms, so the typical approach is to treat for both of them simultaneously. Listeriosis can cross to humans, so you need to wash hands after treating sick goats. In case you’ve never had either of these, I’ll briefly define them.

“Listeriosis is caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes and is commonly seen in cooler climates [though our first case was in August]. These bacteria can be found in the soil, food sources, and even the feces of healthy animals. Most commonly, this disease of sheep and goats is observed as a result of feeding moldy or spoiled hay or silage.”

You treat listeriosis with massive amounts of penicillin, given in shots. Because these bacteria cause a neurological disease yielding deadly paralysis, you need to push the bacteria-killing penicillin past the brain/blood barrier to defeat it. Some people give the shots every six hours around the clock. Our vet directed us to give it twice a day, AM/PM.

We didn’t have moldy hay in our barn, but our goats forage daily in a large pasture, so in the humid days of late summer, our 10-week-old kid, Dandy Lion (right), could have gotten it in the field.

Or… he could have had polio. “Polioencephalomalacia (polio) in ruminants is caused by a thiamine deficiency and/or sulfur toxicity. Other causes include improper feeding, feeding too much grain, or anything that disrupts the health and well being of rumen microbes, such as chronic or acute acidosis or indigestion.”

The treatment for polio is to give large doses of Thiamine (a type of vitamin B) injected sub-Q. Polio is relatively easy to cure if caught early, but since both of these diseases present the same, and it’s important to act immediately, we treated Dandy for both simultaneously, under the direction of our vet.

We think that nine-month old Bridget (left) was possibly stressed by being forcibly weaned, and that her stress brought on her susceptibility to her listeriosis/polio battle.

I felt really badly that two of our animals came down with this disease within a few months of each other, and I earnestly asked my vet if my management was at all at fault, and he said “No. These bacterium are everywhere.”

Symptoms and Treatments for Dandy Lion

So, if you’ve never seen it, what are the symptoms of listeriosis/polio?

With Dandy, during morning chores one day, I noticed that my normally bouncy, friendly little buckling was sleepy and listless. He looked punk; he looked “off.” I noted it, thinking it might be coccidia, and moved on.

But, that night on barn cam, he was standing with his head jammed into a crook in the goats’ sleeping benches. When I went up at 2 AM to help him (thinking he was actually stuck) he stumbled away from me as if drunk and dug his head sideways into another corner.

We waited until daybreak, and then contacted mentors and our vet. After gaining an ides of what it was, we started pumping penicillin and thiamine into him.

Since he was young and really bad, we also had to tube feed him. It takes about 4-7 days of treatment fo them to be fully healed, so they need to be hydrated and fed, or the disease will win.

The idea of tube feeding terrified me at first. Our vet talked us through the process by phone, but it was watching YouTube videos that really helped us out.

We found that, in practice, with a 10-week-old kid tube feeding is not hard, especially if the kid is really out of it. If you mistakenly get the tube down the windpipe (which we never did) they cough. If they don’t cough, you’re good!

We ended up tube feeding this little guy four times a day, giving him four ounces of milk each time. It got to be routine, amazingly, and now I can do it easily. But starting it was scary. I’m just writing this to say: YES, you can if you must!

We also made Dandy into a little pin cushion: we gave him 10 ccs of penicillin morning and evening for about five days. I hated it; but again, the alternative was death.

Part of Dandy’s response to his pain was to STAND for three straight days (as in the picture above) with his head jammed in a corner. He would NOT lie down to rest. We tube fed him, isolated him to a small area for his safety, and gave him shots for four to five days (I can’t remember the exact number).

PLEASE NOTE: We isolated Dandy for his safety. You do NOT have to quarantine for these diseases since the bacteria are everywhere. However, we did use gloves and wash hands because Dandy was drooling and listeriosis does cross to humans.

At nights, we put his mom in with him for comfort. She needed to go out during the day to eat, but at nights we put him in with her. He would try to nurse but not be able to suck the teat because his brain had lost that connection. He would need to re-learn it, or not be able to drink, and thus live.

I watched him day and night (on my barn cam) and he never layed down. This worried me. After he’d been on his feet for three days straight, I decided to just FORCE his little body to rest. I sat in this chair for three hours on the fourth day and just let him sleep in my lap. I also did the same that afternoon for more than an hour. He really did seem to get better from that time on, and that night I saw him lie down with his mom.

After about five days of treatment, Dandy was definitely on his feet and moving around normally, but he still couldn’t nurse his mom. This worried me so much! He did start eating hay, but wasn’t nursing. I worried about dehydration.

Finally, on the sixth day, I saw Dandy take a LONG drink from a bucket of water and I dissolved into happy tears. He was old enough to wean from milk and eating hay. If he could drink from a bucket, he would live without tubing.

As it turns out, one of the strengths of the mammalian brain is that it can reroute itself to re-learn tasks that are lost from injury to the brain. So it was with Dandy. We kept him another two weeks beyond what we would normally have before he went to his new home, and in about 10 days, he had figured out how to nurse again! (It was just in time for us to send him home with his new family, and he had been trained to the bottle, so they were able to baby him with milk feedings for another month to help him regain his lost weight.)

Symptoms and Treatment for Bridget

We were so grateful that Dandy was healed through this process, and it gave us confidence when, on November 4, during morning chores, 10-month-old Bridget started the behavior in the video, right (click on the triangle to view the video, and be patient while it loads).

Note the tongue hanging out the left side of her mouth, the slobber, and the rubbing of her mouth on surfaces.

We knew something was badly wrong, and began immediately with the penicillin and thiamine. We contacted our vet, and he agreed on the treatment.

Bridget was much older than Dandy had been, and it was fall, where the foliage was dying down. She was too old for us to safely tube, and she was not as sick as Dandy had been, in terms of behavior. She was walking, eating, and drinking. She just could not put her tongue in, and her cud got caught in her cheek.

In her case, we asked our vet to come out and make sure that it wasn’t a dental issue, or maybe a thorn caught in her cheek or throat. He checked her thoroughly and determined that it was most probably early listeriosis/polio.

Thus, Bridget became our second pincushion for another week or so. She was eating and running with the herd the whole time we were treating her. She had plenty of energy. She never had the twisting of the neck or the dazed “out of it” expression. She laid down with her mom at night, and also ate out of the manger from time to time at night on cam.

The issue with her was that, each morning, in the bedding (and also in the mineral dishes) we found regurgitated cud. LOTS of it. At first I thought it was scours, but then I would see her poop normal, black goat berries, and this “scour” had texture to it and was very green and didn’t smell bad. It finally dawned on us that it was drool! All night long, as Bridget chewed her cud and sought to process her food normally, her mouth paralysis was preventing her from swallowing her cud back down to where her the rest of her digestive system could finish processing it. We worried about her losing weight day by day and bought an animal-size scale.

We started to weigh Bridget and found that she was losing weight. Though her rumin could process 80% of the fatty acids of her feed through its walls (thus, she was not dying quickly), we were thinking that if she became weak or wasted away to pitiful proportions, we would have to put her down. Having fought so hard for her, and having a lot invested in her bloodlines, I was really sad and praying hard for her to be healed. Morning by morning, there were several large piles of cud drool in her bedding, and on her mom’s back from sleeping near each other, and some in those mineral dishes. SIGH. (It was both gross and discouraging.)

Having seen Dandy’s brain reconnect, though, I kept waiting to see if her brain would repair the paralysis damage. But, I also worried that it was taking so long. After six weeks of drooling illness, I was seriously thinking of putting her down, and really depressed about it. At that point, though, Eliya Elmquist really encouraged me that one of her does had taken a LONG time to recover from listeriosis. This gave me peace to wait on the Lord to see what would happen, and to simply give it to Him.

On Christmas morning (almost 8 weeks since she had first sickened), I went up to do morning chores and mucking. I came to Bridget’s bed with a pitchfork, ready to put her drool piles into my muck bucket. There was almost no drool!! Excited, I told Scott about it and waited for the next morning… no drool!!!! I was SO HAPPY and excited. She has been drool-free since Christmas Day.

After a few days of not seeing drool, we weighed Bridget. She had gained 10 pounds in two weeks from her last weigh in! We were SO SO grateful to God for His grace in creating that mammalian brain that had been re-routed to allow Bridget not only to live, but to re-learn how to swallow her cud. Bridget will probably make a full recovery and be bred next fall.

We are thankful, and I hope that this post will encourage you in any battles with listeriosis/polio to hang in there and wait on that amazing mammalian brain if your goat has some lasting after effects.

Posted on October 31, 2020November 1, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Turning the Tables

So, tomorrow is November 1. It’s starting to be freezing temperatures at night, but I’ve been tracking early morning temperatures, and they are consistently 15-20 degrees higher inside my barn than the outside temps. Of course, it’s still warming up to the 60s during the day, with lots of bright sun. So, winter isn’t really here—yet!

If you follow this blog, you know that I had planned to have my girls on bare tables this winter. The reasoning was that pee would go down through (which it does) and I could clean off poo each day (which I now do) and they would be fine. The photo at the right is first thing each morning. Here’s where I detail the table construction.

Last winter was a mild one, and I used the kiddie pools, which worked well for warmth, but were difficult to clean out in the dead of winter. (I had to clean them out because pee was trapped in them and they became heavy and yucky within 10-14 days.) I have a friend in PA, though, who used bare tables for her does and had no problems last winter. BUT: it was a mild winter there, too. I wanted less heavy lifting in bad weather this year, so I decided to follow my PA friend’s lead, but wasn’t entirely sanguine about this plan. I had given myself the option of hanging radiant heaters over the tables, but upon pricing them, found them well out of our budget. So, I was unsettled.

The Dilemma

Then recently, a good and kind neighbor of mine (with a lot more experience with goats than me) had me come over and look at her barn, and talked to me about the benefits of deep litter. She had seen my blog posts and she believed that my goats would suffer from being on bare tables—that they would be cold and possibly get arthritis over time. I went away from our conversation thoughtful, and then prayed about her advice.

Now, I knew about deep litter before my neighbor spoke to me. We successfully use it with our chickens. But with goats, I do not like bare dirt floors. Been there, done that. We have clay for dirt, and the pee puddles as if the goats were on cement. And, I do not like cleaning out deep litter from mammals. In fact, my barn is designed such that if I had dirt floors, I could drive a tractor through it and clean that way (as opposed to the back breaking chore of using pitch forks and wheelbarrows). But, I chose to use rubber roofing over my clay floors instead of deep litter in winters.

I have had it for over a year, and I love this rubber because I can squeegee it daily and sluice it with water when it needs it and it gets really clean and the barn smells sweet because the pee runs out of the barn in our handy gutter. It takes less than an hour each morning to muck. I do it while my husband milks the goats.

In the picture at the right, that floor will be dry in 20 minutes or less.

BUT: I would not want my goats sleeping on the bare rubber floor. While the tables’ wood gave a decent R factor of insulation, the rubber on dirt has none of that. And then there was the cold air underneath the tables. Would they insulate the goats enough, being elevated? My neighbor’s advice kept rattling around in my head and heart, and I felt like I should heed it, but I didn’t want to give up that rubber floor!

My Solution

Deep litter boxes (instead of pools or bunks—the new experiment!)

After much thought and prayer, I had an idea. I decided to turn my tables upside down for the winter, building plywood sides that would keep hay in for bedding. This is similar to kiddie pools, but the cracks in the tables‘s boards allow pee to run out under the box, down the sloped rubber floor, and into the pee gutter that I now like and use.

The plan is to put a light topping of bedding over the poo each morning (deep litter) but not (as with pools) to put absorbent pellets in the bottom to trap the pee. Because the tables are rigid, we can simply elevate them over the sloped rubber floor. Note that we put blocks under the downhill side (front in these pictures) so that pee can run out from under the beds.

Construction step 1 is pictured at the left. Steps 2 and 3 (building plywood sides and then filling them with bedding) are below.

These plywood sides may stay on, becoming aprons after I flip them again in spring (to keep little kids out from under them) or we may just remove them. We’ll see!

With sides attached… bunks are still separate.

So, this was our prototype. We built it in an hour yesterday, and then waiting to see how the does would vote with their hooves! Where would they choose to sleep? Bare tables or deep litter boxes?

Spoiler alert! This prototype “litter box” was a tremendous hit. The left picture below shows mother and daughter exploring the possibilities before lights out last night. The one on the right was taken on our barn cam at 6:15 AM. There were 9 does in the box right before I snapped this picture, 2 does on the bare benches nearby, and one on the rubber floor next to the box. Clearly, the does had shown their preference, and my neighbor was correct.

Bluebelle and Briar Rose exploring last night.

So, this morning, my husband and I spent a couple of hours sawing up plywood pieces and repositioning the tables—upside down.

(Can I say again how MUCH I love modular solutions? SO glad that we didn’t build them into walls or build stalls in this barn!) These “litter boxes” aren’t screwed together; they are heavy enough that they stay put without it.

This is how it looked when I’d finished screwing the plywood sides in place, and putting in bedding.

Just a few quick notes below, and then I’m done.

One thing I quickly realized this morning was that we’d made an oops putting the trial bunk (pictured up above) in that corner. The problem is that this is where our kidding stalls will be erected in late January, and I’m hoping to not have to move these litter boxes until early spring. So we moved the trial box to become the closest of the three pictured right above.

When we moved that trial box, I saw that if I used hay that I cleaned out of the bottom of our mangers, it would have lots of fine “hay dust” that will sift down under the box during the night. Because I don’t want to impede the flow of pee out from under these boxes, I made sure to use our round bale bedding hay, which is more like straw, rather than use waste hay from our mangers.

And here they were on November 1, looking so cozy. Makes my heart happy!

Posted on February 14, 2020February 15, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Building Bonding Pens with Creep Gate Option

We are still perfecting our infrastructure here at Storybook Farm. Last year, we had three goat litters widely spaced apart, and it was not hard to portion off generous parts of our barn spaces for moms and babies to bond and grow until they were ready to rejoin the herd.

This year, from late February to early April, we’re expecting six does to deliver, and some of those does are due only days apart. We have been doing research on “jug stalls” — small stalls that does and kids can inhabit for several days to bond tightly before rejoining the general population.

In addition, we have really found a benefit in providing a creep pen for kids who have begun to eat hay (which they do at about 2 weeks old). In this post, you can read about the prototype pen we made to see if we liked (or needed) such a space, and we found we really did. However, the creep gate that we bought from Premier 1 was both heavy and expensive, and not the easiest to join to our existing stall partitions. It’s great, and we’ll probably use it outside, but I got the idea of making jug stall partitions that would convert easily to creep gates, so that jug stalls could become creep pens for any number of little kids, should we so desire.

Below are shots of the construction of our three identically made panels. Obviously, you can scale to your space, but for reference, two of ours are 5’8” long, one is 5’7”, and all are framed in 2” x 3” lumber, with 10-gauge, 2” mesh fencing, 4’ high (purchased at Home Depot).

Each has a door that opens toward the humans, with the fencing towards the goats. When desired, the gate swings back and can be locked open, and then 1/2” metal conduit is inserted in pre-drilled holes so that the gate opening becomes a creep gate. There are construction notes on each picture below.

Step 1: framing. We decided to make the uprights the strong part, and so they are a full 4’ long. The horizontal pieces are 5’5”, giving an overall panel width of 5’8”. The center strut (to which we hinge the door) is 45”.

Step 2: frame the door and hinge it. (We made our door openings 24” wide; you can make them any width.) The only thing I’d note here is that I left a sizeable space (a good 1/2” or more) vertically between the overall frame and the door frame because the wood is “on edge” and I didn’t want it to catch when operating. The two uprights of this door are 44.5” (so as to leave 1/4” of space for it to swing top and bottom) and then the horizontals were 19”.

Step 3: If you’re using metal half-inch conduit (which is cheap and can be found in any hardware store) for your creep gate function, it usually comes in 10’ lengths. So, you’ll need a Saws All or hack saw to trim it. (In picture 6, we were just fitting it; we hadn’t trimmed yet).

You’ll need a 3/4” bit to drill the holes in the top and bottom of the frame, swinging the door out of the way first. Half-inch conduit is 1/2” interior; it’s wider on its exterior, so a 3/4” bit works well. In the beginning, I did not drill all the way through on the bottom of the frame, but then I thought of dirt and poops lodging in the holes, and decided to go all the way through.

Spacing is a matter of personal preference. We raise Mini Nubian kids, so I know that we wanted spaces that could be adjusted from 3” (can’t get thru) to 4” (can get thru when itty bitty) to 5” (lasts from about 3-8 weeks) to 6” (about the widest we’ll need). My measurements for these holes (on center, in inches) in a 2’ opening were as follows, left to right: 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 19, and 22.

Another trick on this step: drill partially through the top of the door frame on the ONE hole closest to its non-hinged, top edge. Then, you can use a piece of conduit scrap as your latch and save money and labor!

Step 4: Affix the fencing wire. We used regular staples on each division of the wire, and then reinforced those with some leftover insulated electrical staples (hence the blue plastic on them). We found that large, standard, barbed fencing staples threatened to split the wood.

Fencing was affixed on the goat side of the partition, because mine LOVE to scratch themselves on woven wire, so we wanted the frame to be buttressing the strain. In this picture, as well, note the pressure-treated two 2” x 2” pieces on either side of the door. They are on the goat side, and are 14” long. (You do not need pressure treated, but it won’t hurt to have it. That’s what we could find, so we went with it.) See Step 5 for how we use them.

Step 5: If you try to simply bore holes for horizontal creep gate restraints in the same plane as the uprights, they will butt into each other. So, you need to create a deeper plane. Hence these pieces. We drilled three holes in each one, after screwing them to the frame, which is more than enough for our purposes.

Step 6: Fit your conduit into all holes to check for alignment, and then trim them to size. In this photo, we have yet to trim.

Final setup: above are our three panels, joined together with bolts and joined to each wall using eye hooks and conduit down thru them.

They will be divided with two 7’ lengths of the same 2” square mesh wire, to create three jug stalls and/or creep pens, depending on our stages of raising kids. We used bolts between the panels to join them together now, and (in keeping with our overall modular approach) to be able to take them apart when kidding season is over and we want the space for other things.

That door at the end leads to an area outside that we call “the playpen.” It is a kid-safe area outside where kids can go on nice days. The wire you see to the right divides this “nursery area” from the rest of the goat space.

Right now, we’re still storing round bales in the jug-stalls-to-be, but we’re going to clear that hay out this weekend and get the kid-warming huts set up, so stay tuned!

Posted on January 27, 2020February 15, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Creep Pen

We have some young kids in with the herd, and with our new mangers, I was concerned that they weren’t able to graze spilled hay anymore, and that — when the hay was eaten down some — couldn’t reach the hay. (Yay for no more hay waste! Boo for hungry kids.) Also, we might have something like 12-16 kids coming from February to March, and I’ll want them to have a good place to get away, eat, and sleep, too, so, we’ve been experimenting with a creep pen for them.

Left is a video of the kids first exploring the prototype version that we threw together so that we could learn. (Hit the triangle if you don’t see a preview picture.)

This pen measures 5’ x 5’. It first had the kids’ heat hut in it, mostly to train them to it, then it had just the heat lamp above the kiddie pool, and now it just has the pool with hay in a purple bucket.

Obviously, those three 5-week-old kids were barely fitting in that kid hut by this time, and we certainly weren’t going to fit 15 in kid huts this spring. Thus, we will need a creep space come March, and it will need to be bigger than this prototype we’re playing with now. (More on the new and improved version that resulted HERE!)

In case you don’t know what a creep space is, it gets its name from the creep gate that will only allow a small baby — goat or sheep, or sometimes a puppy — to creep in while keeping adults out. Some farmers give food that they only want babies to have, and others want to provide heat or a rest area free from adult bullying. We use ours for all these features.

Our creep gate was made by Premier 1. It is very sturdy. It is built with holes that are drilled at specific intervals both tops and bottom and side to side. Moveable steel rods allow the farmer to adjust the height and width of the creep openings to the size of their growing young ones.

The basic gate comes with 5 vertical steel rods inserted into PVC slip covers, and one horizontal one. We invested in four more rods (black in the picture) from a local hardware store, but you can also buy extra rods from Premier. We found by trial and error that we needed six-inch openings for our littles to get in, and still keep out a petite 6-month old doeling in our herd.

We attached two 5’ goat panels to the gate and wall with carabiners and wire. That wooden wall behind is really one of our gates that leads to our barn aisle. This has proved very handy in servicing this area, though one can remove the rods to get into the area from the front.

As you can see in the picture below, this creep space doesn’t take up much of our overall space, and the kids freely go out with the herd whenever they want to. We often find them in the pen in the early morning curled up together. (If you’re wondering about the kiddie pools, click here.)

Posted on January 19, 2020March 24, 2021 by Marcia — Leave a comment

A Better Manger

We have had a building hay crisis at Storybook Farm. We got a delivery of what looked like excellent hay in the fall, but as we’ve been going through it, about 1/5 of our square bales have molded! (We have a brand new barn with an excellent hay loft, so the hay had to have become damp somehow before it got here. Luckily, I buy locally, and the farmer who made it has 100 bales on reserve for me, so I have more on the way if we get a break in the weather. But I digress.

It was the combination of the concern about hay shortage and the crazy amount the the precious hay that I was sweeping up each morning as I muck our rubber-floored stall that made me decide, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. There has to be a better manger that saves hay!”

We just couldn’t afford to throw out any more!

One of my biggest problems (besides waste) has been that, because we dam raise, little kids get into most mangers and do “the pee and poop dance” there. So, I was looking specifically for a solution for a group of mixed-aged does. I have kids that are 5+ weeks old, one that is 6 months old, three that are 9 months old, and then full-sized senior does—who range from small to large Mini-Nubians. Indeed, one of my does is almost the size of a standard Nubian.

These were my challenges going in, but I couldn’t be more pleased with the solution that I’ve found!

Fair warning: this manger solution is not for horned goats. That said, there are enough of us out there with disbudded goats that I think it’s worth the share. The above picture is the “before” shot. The picture at the right is the “after” shot.

I want to give a big shout out to the designers of this manger: creds to Thorcrest Farm in Canada for this outstanding design. From what I read, they’ve been tinkering with it for 25 years. They raise show-quality standard Nubians, but I followed their exact directions (using screws in case I needed to make adjustments) and so far, it’s working like a dream with Mini Nubians.

Some kind soul posted this picture of one of Thorcrest’s farm page posts, and the build was super easy. It took me (with a bit of help from Scott in a couple of places) about four hours to build from scrap wood found around our farm.

Below are pictures and videos (just hit the triangle even if there’s not a preview picture) of our does using the manger, and beside each one are comments that answer common questions that I’ve received on the Internet about this manger. Enjoy!

This video shows the step, which is about 5” deep. Skylark (at 5 weeks) can just balance on this step, but her tubby little body is too wide for her to turn to eat or to jump into the manger. YAY! Problem solved about kids playing in the manger!

She can, however, reach the manger from the floor. That opening is 2.5’ up from the floor, so she can’t just jump in. And, when the does eat it down to about half full, she can’t feed from it. But, since littles are still nursing and don’t need a lot of hay (and because they have their own hay in their creep pen, this feeder is just fine for her.

The picture (below right) shows does of three ages using the manger together. The doe at the right is a mid-sized, adult Mini Nubian, and can eat with all four feet on the floor. The doe in the middle is 6 months old, and easily reaches into the feeder. The doe on the right is six years old, quite pregnant, and is chowing down with her lips reaching to the bottom of the trough.

Note that the actual hay section of this manger is only 9” deep, so when feeding, throw in enough batts (flat) to fill only to the level of the lower edge of the opening. DON’T overfill it! If you do, they will “grab and go,” creating spills (also known as waste)!

I’ve been asked about the possibility of goats slipping on the step and hanging themselves. From my observations, this is highly unlikely. Small goats can get their heads out quickly, and larger goats can eat with all four feet on the floor if they are skimming the top layer of hay.

When a goat steps up on the step, she’s standing on four legs and perpendicular to the feeder. If she gets butted, she moves a bit, but has time to get her head out, and usually has one foot on the step even so.

Also someone asked if the does pull their heads out and waste hay that way. My answer is, “it depends.” MOST of the time, they leave their heads in and browse and munch. SOME of the does are nervous, and pull their heads out to look around. But, overall, there is SO MUCH LESS hay waste. I’m thrilled. THIS is the “after shot.” Below is the “before.”

Our plan is to build three more of these feeders for our goat space, replacing the feeders seen in this video. I think it’s clear why by now!

Final picture. Here I show that there’s a great space under this manger for kids to use as an away space. I sweep hay that does drop down to the floor (minimal) under the manger most days, and they can snuggle into it for a nap.

Note the end of the manger: we put a door on ours so that I can clean it out. With any manger, I’ve found, there’s a build up of tiny leaves and sticks that needs to be cleaned out from time to time. This little door makes that simple.

We also built a freestanding (therefore portable) version of this feeder. Details and more pictures are HERE.

And more recently, since we were running out of wall space for mangers, we began to convert our wall mounted ones to freestanding two sided ones, still with all the same great features. All we had to do was duplicate the side construction, and then put end boards on to stabilize it. We kept the cleanout door. It’s such a great feature.

This change now doubles the number of goats that can eat at one manger. Interior width is 32″: enough to lay two bats side by side down the length of the manger (which is six feet). To get an idea of how many goats this can serve, I include a picture from last week of them all crowding around to get at the hay we had just fed. This gives you an idea of why we needed to convert these mangers to give more linear feet.

Gallery of pictures below. it is the manger on the right in the first picture that was converted.

Overcrowding… but very little hay waste!

Posted on January 3, 2020January 21, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Herdshares at Storybook Farm

It’s 2020, and for those of you who are local to Storybook Farm, it’s time to launch our herdsharing program! I am SO excited about this!!! If, after you read this article, you are interested in sharing our herd, please sign up for the monthly newsletter from the box below. (Most of this post is excerpted from this month’s Herdshare Group newsletter.)

What is a Herdshare?

In many states, West Virginia included, it is illegal to buy raw cow or goat milk. However, there is no law against a person drinking raw milk from his/her own dairy animal.

But, what if you don’t farm, or can’t keep a cow or goat, but want all the wonderful health benefits of raw milk? WV law provides you an opportunity to purchase part ownership of a dairy animal, which then entitles you to consume milk from her. You, quite literally, are sharing the herd with the farmer and other raw milk lovers. At Storybook Farm, we raise only dairy goats, so we’ll talk about only goat milk for the rest of this discussion.

In a herdshare agreement one first pays a one-time fee per share of a goat. Each share makes you a part owner of the herd, and thus entitles you to a set amount of milk from your herd per week.

Because you now are part owner of one (or more) goat(s), you must also pay a farmer a monthly fee for boarding your goat(s), caring for the goat(s), and milking the goat(s).

The herdshare owner thus obtains (but does not purchase) the milk from his/her own herd. This arrangement is similar to arrangements of owning a share in a condominium (a timeshare), or to a CSA share for farm produce.

Additionally, some farmers also offer “value added” products, where they will turn your milk into cheeses or yogurt, for instance, for an added fee.

How Does it Work at Storybook Farm?

Farm herdshare agreements (which are legally binding contracts) vary from farm to farm. Here is how we intend to start our program for our first year at Storybook Farm.

First, the cost of a share in this first introductory year will be $25 per share. This is the cost of ownership of one share of the herd, and entitles the shareholder to 1/2 gallon of milk weekly and one truckload of manure, suitable for preparing garden beds each spring.

If you want to consume more than a 1/2 gallon per week (or get more manure — LOL), you can purchase two or more shares. We will have a total of 30 shares to offer in 2020.

The monthly board expense for the goat(s) per share will be $12.00. There are four weeks in the month, plus a few days. Some months are five week months. The board fee averages out to $2.50/week per share.

There will be modest start-up fees. The herdshare owner will need to purchase at least two (2) half-gallon mason jars (with lids) for distribution purposes. These will cost $3 apiece.

Storybook Farm will work out with each member of our herdshare how best to transfer the milk. Some will need to pick up at the farm; others can get delivery in/from Franklin, WV. Each week, herdshare owners must return a clean 1/2 gallon jar per share to the Farm for fulfillment of their milk allotment, unless they are receiving value-added products instead. (Obviously, since each shareholder owns two jars per share, you can return the empty jar(s) when you pick up each week’s milk.)

Storybook Farm will be offering Feta cheese, Chevre cheese, Mozerella cheese, and Greek-style yogurt as value-added products. Thus, if you wish to convert your weekly milk allotment to any of these products, you will add the cost of processing only. The end prices of these products will be similar to what is purchased in Franklin grocery stores from cow’s milk, but, of course, superior in terms of healthiness, freshness and taste!

Milk Comes with Babies!

Speaking of milk, we confirmed that 7 of our 9 adult does are pregnant! For those who are interested, our Breeding Plan and due dates are here: https://storybookfarmwv.com/breeding-plan/. Why not go there now and choose the doe of whom you’d like to purchase a share?

You may notice (on that page) that we’ve already kidded out Sparrow. Her kids (below) came on December 9 (making a busy month along with preparing for our family of 22 people for Christmas). Sparrow gave us three gorgeous doelings. You can read all about them here.

Help Us Spread the Word!

If you are local to Storybook Farm (and/or Franklin, WV, where we’ll be making deliveries) you can join in! Please forward a link to this post to friends and family who would enjoy becoming joint herd owners.

In next month’s Herdshare Group’s newsletter, I will be detailing the many benefits of goat milk and giving a tour of our state-of-the-art milking facilities. I’ll also discuss ways that we will be making our milk as safe and sanitary as possible, including getting the herd tested for TB and Brucellosis in early March. Milk distribution will start in late March.

I plan to send an email to this group monthly, at the least. My goal is to inform you of events that are of interest to those who partner in our herd, or are considering doing so. In busy months where our herdsharing is in high gear (from late March through early September) we may be sending updates or information more frequently.

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Posted on December 31, 2019December 31, 2019 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Sparrow’s Kids

Those who follow this blog regularly will remember that we purchased Echo Hill’s Sparrow last July as a foundation doe of our new herd. (We had previously purchased Sparrow’s son, Rigel.) Two days before we were to pick her up, Rigel’s sire broke through electric fences to mate one last time with his lady love. (So romantic!) Bethany Bisherat gave me the option of canceling the sale, but I love Sparrow and Rigel was great, so I went through with the sale.

I couldn’t be happier that we made that choice! Sparrow is a beautiful, refined doe, who easily earned her milk star last year and, as Bethany put it last February, “turned into a Holstein”! Her udder is capacious and her teats are soft. She is a joy to milk. She is docile, sweet, and has proved to be the most attentive and patient of mothers.

The Kids Arrive

Of course, the icing on the cake is that she gave us three beautiful copies of herself to populate our new herd! We were amazed to be blessed with three doelings. The video below is of them only hours old. Mom is patiently still washing her new kids; Maggie (far right) is learning to scratch herself while standing up!

In keeping with our practice, we have thematic names that help us remember blood lines. Since Sparrow is a bird, her doelings needed to have bird names. First born was Chickadee, then came Skylark. We thought we were done. There was a significant time lag while we waited for the placenta–but lo! A third doeling, Magpie, was born. (Then, two placentas!)

I have since learned that a goat’s womb has two “horns.” Each can house multiple kids. It’s probable that Chickadee and Skylark were in one horn, and Magpie (Maggie in the barn) was alone in the other. This would explain why Chickadee and Skylark are smaller than Maggie, who is the longest and deepest of the sisters. Chickadee and Skylark have moonspots.

Meet Them One by One

This is Chickadee, hours old. She is mostly brown, with some white and many moonspots. I so love her ears and breed character! She was firstborn, and the smallest by quite a bit.

This is Skylark at 3 weeks old. She has a very pretty, feminine face, and is both deep and long.

At first glance, she’s hard to distinguish from her younger sister, Maggie. The way we most quickly tell is that the spot on her back is not connected to the brown on her side, she has moonspots, and there is no black on her legs.

Below is a gallery of Maggie shots. She is the third born and biggest of the three sisters. Viewed on her right side, she is hard to distinguish from Skylark, but from her left side, the brown markings form almost a map of North and South America!

After two weeks, a friend online pointed out that she was folding her ears back (bottom left). This is a fault if left unattended. Thus, we devised a “hat” for her to train her ears. It needs to stay on for about two weeks. Naturally, she loses it regularly! We then tape it back on. She’s really good about it; it’s mostly lost when she battles her sisters for a drink from Mom’s two teats.

Of course, the biggest joy of having baby goats is sharing them with our grandchildren!

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Milk Stand Upgrades

When I first started with goats, I purchased two milk stands made of wood. They have served us well, but they bother me because, even though we wash them down with bleach and soapy water every day, they never look clean. I just know that dirt (and germs) are seeping into the wood, and while the milk never comes in contact with them, they still bother me, especially when seen in relief to our new milking parlor!

I decided to upgrade our milk room stands and use these two older ones elsewhere for things like clipping, hoof trims, the buck house, etc. In all, we’re making four new stands for the milk parlor.

The first thing I decided was that I wanted metal mesh stands, because I could hose them off, and the dirt would fall through them to the floor. Good luck! Each one costs $200+ (not counting shipping)! We weren’t going to pay that (no money left after barn building—LOL) so I thought of making a heavily painted white wood frame using the same basic design as our original ones, but getting a local welder to make metal floors that will fit onto the wood frames like shoe box lids. They are thus removable for cleaning.

I found a local welder who made them out of expanded steel, #9 (which means that the diamond-shaped holes are 3/4”), and raised (not flattened) for extra traction for the goats.

It cost me $60/stand to have these fabricated. Then, we built the wooden parts and tried the new floors on for size. They fit perfectly!

So far, so good!

However, in researching this approach, I discovered that the steel, left unpainted, would rust. 😢 So, of course I had to paint them.

This was not at all difficult using spray paint.

I used Rustoleum brand high-gloss white—again, working for that washability! I sprayed both sides of the metal floors.

After the floors of the stands were each spray painted with two coats, I took the wooden part of the first stand outside and used a brush to paint it.

It was more labor intensive than spraying, but the high gloss paint went on nice and thick with a brush—which was important to me for washability in the years to come.

That’s about it! I love how they look in our new milk room, and they are working just as I wanted them to: the dirt drops through them, and the raised expanded metal gives plenty of traction for my does as they jump up and down.