# Goatkeepers Tips & Tricks



## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

Since there's not a lot of stuff marketed towards goat keeping (although it is getting better), thought I'd start this thread so we can all share the *silly* things we do to make things work and make our jobs easier. We all know how it is when you're trying to do something and they 'just don't make that!'.  We have to think outside the box and come up with solutions ourselves.  Smart people we are!

No limits here on subjects. Tips and tricks about ANYTHING GOAT! Housing, feeders, babies, ANYTHING. 

Since it's kidding season, I'll start with these:

Rabbit water bottles: The perfect quart size bottle for kids. Gray lambar nipple fits the same as a pop bottle. To clean, I fill about 1/3 full of hot soapy water with a little bleach, add a handfull of craft rocks/stones from WM--craft section. Put a pop bottle lid on and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!

Gun cleaning kit: That little rod thingy...perfect for cleaning out lambar tubing. Use just a itty-bitty piece of cloth and PUSH it through in a sink of hot soapy/bleach water.

Add your tips and tricks and help make ALL our lives easier.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

My best trick is the stalls we built. They open completely up in the front and accommodate the tractor scoop. I can clean a winter's worth of bedding out in a couple hours.

I also feel that buying feed in bulk saves alot of time. We get feed once a month, and it goes into three trashcans. The reusable bags get rolled up and stored in the farm truck for the next trip. No opening bags and dealing with used feed bags and those annoying little threads.  And more importantly no daily lifting.

Developing routines helps - I sort my goats into batches and do routine tasks like hoof trimming, blood work, workings in batches. Bucks, March fresheners, May fresheners, dry does, etc.

Sorry, not really that out of the box.


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## Horsehair Braider (Mar 11, 2011)

This isn't really all that innovative, but it's how I make my chores easier. 

I bought some bolt snaps, and tied a short piece of rope to each of them, so that the rope forms a hoop. I take the hoop and loop it to the fence, running the snap through the loop. This make a nice tie for the goats. In the morning, I open the barn and let them all out and clip every last one of them to the fence. It stops that annoying spoiled goat I just got from jumping on me, I can fill feeders and waters without having to push the hay past a bunch of goat heads that somehow mysteriously are always in the way, I can walk back and forth milking very easily without worrying about escapes, and at the same time everybody learns some manners. When I take them to a show, none of them will be upset about being tied to the fence near the arena while waiting for their class to be called. The milkers get led back and forth, twice a day, and again are learning manners. (Although I admit, I still have the one who wants to lunge and leap and race to the milkstand, but I make her walk like a lady anyway...) 

Another tip: to feed my kids medicated meat grower pellets, I got a rabbit feeder from Tractor Supply, a "J" feeder with a nice secure top. It's made of plastic, and is easy to affix to the fence. I can put it up high enough to keep them from pooping in it and they can't knock it over no matter how hard they try... and when they no longer need the pellets it will make a dandy mineral feeder.


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

Old playpens make good kid keepers. Line with old shower curtain to clean out easy. Find them at garage sales pretty cheap. Works in a pinch if having to keep inside the house. Forst year with multiple kiddings and it has worked for us. They have stayed a few days, then out to the barn.

Also, I clip my does to the fence with clips and leads when cleaning, sorting, feeding etc ...


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## nlhayesp (Apr 19, 2012)

We have our English Shepherds herd all the animals from the barn before feeding them. That way I can do all the feeding in peace. When done, we open the door again. The animals now leave the barn automatically when I call the dog's names, whether they are actually around or not.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I LOVE the rabbit feeders. I use them in the baby pen. Solid bottom ones for minerals and sifter bottom ones for starter/grower pellets (keeps the *dust* from building up). 
I use one of the larger, two section feeders like those for minerals for the big goats. I hang it on the OUTSIDE of the fence in their barn pen so they have to put their head through the fence to eat it and they can't poop/pee in it. 
I hang all grain/hay feeders on the outside of the fence, so I can do chores from MY side and no poop in the feeders. I use the long black grain feeders, but in a pinch when I needed another one, I used one of those long plastic deck/patio planters. They have drain holes already in the bottom and I had DH drill a couple holes towards the top of one side so I could wire it to the fence. It's been there for two years and has held up.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

What a great thread! This goes perfectly with my new motto for this year: Work smarter, not harder.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

I have a gate between the barn and pasture, that I close at milking time, so that goats that are done being milked, get put outside (as long as weather is nice), and goats that haven't been milked yet are inside. Makes it much easier if animals are moving through the gates (to inside/outside part of pen) in only one direction.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I have a small set of WM scales that are SUPPOSE to weigh grams. It doesn't seem to work with copper boluses. I put a paper plate on it, tare, sprinkle the copper rods on--Nothing.  When I lift the paper plate off and dump the rods back in the container and put the plate back on, it gives me grams in Negative #'s. :/ What a PAIN that was!!
So, I use DH's reloading scales.  They weigh in grains, so figured out that 100 grains is approx 6 grams, which is what most of my goats get. I weigh out and fill all the boluses from the Copasure container in one sitting. Much easier to just grab and go when it's copper time.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I store minerals, BOSS and stuff like that in the 5 gallon plastic pails with the snap on lids. They can't get into them if snapped down tight, are water proof and stackable....and fairly cheap. If they break, I re-use them to grow tomoatoes or peppers in.

I make up each milkers milk stand grain ration ahead of time in a large coffee can and snap the lid on it. I can stack these in my back porch (where my grain room is) and simply carry them down at chore time.

I use the coffee cans and lids to store my new syringes and needles in. I keep these in my kitchen since my animal meds are kept in my home fridge or in a box in the kitchen. I get one of those red sharps disposal containers from work and put the used needles in them. When its full I bring it to the hospital where I work for disposal and get a new container. They do this free as a public service. I do use the used needles as tacks for hanging things too. When I feed in a group I mix the feed in a 5 gallon lidded pail well before feeding time. I usually get the feed mixed up the chore time before I need it. I do the same for the horses, chickens and dogs.


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

great thread!


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I recently found that rubber trailer ties work best for securing gates *tight* so babies can squeeze out. Newer ties, old ties stretch too much. 

I like flour sack towels for cleaning kids off at birth. I can shake them out and everything comes off of them. Then I wash them in hot water with bleach. They are handy in the barn the rest of the year too for sopping up all kinds of messes.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Like the needle thumbtack idea, Sully!


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## Lonestar Sky (Jul 8, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> I have a small set of WM scales that are SUPPOSE to weigh grams. It doesn't seem to work with copper boluses. I put a paper plate on it, tare, sprinkle the copper rods on--Nothing.  When I lift the paper plate off and dump the rods back in the container and put the plate back on, it gives me grams in Negative #'s. :/ What a PAIN that was!!
> So, I use DH's reloading scales.  They weigh in grains, so figured out that 100 grains is approx 6 grams, which is what most of my goats get. I weigh out and fill all the boluses from the Copasure container in one sitting. Much easier to just grab and go when it's copper time.


I use a gem scale that is used to weigh gems/gold that weighs in grams/carats/oz/pw. It is very accurate and can be had for cheap. I sourced mine on e-bay for $10. I use it for accurately weighing copper boluses/.

Don


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I go through everyone's drawers, and my previous years barn t shirts, if that isn't enough I hit a flea market. I cut the front of the t shirts from the back, at the shoulders and side seams, and use them to clean kids, clean lochia off rear udders before milking, so they can be thrown away and burned. No more dirty towels in my washing machine  Vicki


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

I am doing the same as vicki. Got questioned why all the tshirts. My answer: Would you like to wash all that stuff?


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

I use a cement mixer to mix feed in and a metal feeding pan fits perfect for capping the mixer opening to keep covered.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

I'd rather do more laundry than make more trash, so I do wash kidding stuff. I talk on phone or listen to the radio while doing laundry and find it kind of zen to sort, move, fold etc. In fact one of my goals is to make a nicer laundry room.

If my barn was far from my laundry room, I might feel differently, but mines only about 20' from kidding stall to laundry room, although I have to walk a bit further around and down a flight of stairs to the basement, so its probably 35-40' to walk. I do just throw non-nasty laundry down the stairs LOL, and pick it up next time I go down. Part of my planned "improvement" would be a pull out door, like for cabinet bins or the ones at the post office where you put parcels, so I can just open it from the milking area and toss stuff right into laundry room.

I did pick up at a surplus store, one of those rolling stainless steel laundry bag frames like they use in hospitals. It doesn't work with the stairs, but its pretty awesome to just be able to sort of "birth" the dirty laundry into the washer by turning the bag inside out and not getting stuff on me again. It has a foot pedal for the lid, really cool. I use giant mesh bags that also just go in the wash. I also have some that are sort of muslin/drop cloth material if I want solid bag. I thing athletic or uniform supply places have the bags. Or they are easy to make.

Locating my kidding stall near my laundry means its just close to the house and easy to check on them. For those of you with lots of kiddings at once, ymmv, I could easily see doing about 5 stalls in a keyhole design for similar convenience.

My milkstand is inbetween kidding stall and laundry room, its right up against laundry room wall, my dryer vent exhausts right next to my milkstand, smells nice and is warm on cold mornings.

Doing kidding and milking laundry asap is key before stuff dries on. Remember cold water for blood and protein removal without stains. I do often let it soak for after starting the soapy wash, just turn it off for a bit, I'm in and out of that laundry room so much that its easy to turn it back on in another trip down there.

Then I just turn it back on to run once more with hot water to get anything the cold water missed. I do alternately use bleach or the Oxygen type laundry booster as needed. I'd like to reduce/replace my bleach habit and use my laundry output in greywater system, but its a hard habit to change, bleached stuff just seems so clean. <g>


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I wash cloth diapers, so there's nothing nastier coming from the barn. I do like that stuff just flips off the flour sack towels easily. I like the tee shirt idea too.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

We use an incinerator, so no trash....think about 27 years of feed sacks, yep an incinerator is a must. Vicki


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I beg, barrow and swipe T-shirts from anywhere I can. (Don't *loan* me a T-shirt!  ) If I'm desperately low, I buy them at Good Will. The largest they have out of the .99c bin.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I buy the flour sack towels at that same price in a bulkpack at Sam's. I guess you could burn them at that price as easily as a T-shirt, but they come clean so easily.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I MADE A HAND MILKER!!  It was sooo easy once I figured it out. All it takes is a pump--like a gal pump--you put it in a gal of oil and pump it out. I don't remember where I got it though. I need to find it again. WSP, Lotioncrafter..? Somewhere like that. I use it to pump out my IPM. It fits in the oil bottles that I order for soap and lotion. I didn't have an empty one of those, so I used an empty gal jug from some oil I bought at WM. Doesn't screw on right, but it works til I have another empty jug from soap/lotion making. 

Ok--So ya take that pump, there's a piece of plastic at the bottom that just pulls out. Pull it out. Insert a length of lambar tubing--think I used a good 2 or 3 ft. Then the other end of the lambar tubing, you insert a weak kid syringe into without the plunger. That's the basic milker, but you can't pump and hold the syringe on the teat with only two hands....

So, I took the gal jug and cut a small hole towards the bottom of it and ran the tubing through it and up through the opening of the jug. (That's the tricky part.  ) Then attach the tubing to the pump and screw on. The end that comes out the bottom of the jug has the syringe on it. 

So I sit with the jug between my feet and the milkpail right in front of it. Hold syringe to does teat and pump.  It's *more* stable with the jug, but I think I'm gonna put some craft rocks in it or something when I have an empty one that the pump actually fits to make it *more* stable. 

This thing has some suction too!! If it seems like it's starting to get to be too much, I just break the suction and start again. 

This thing is WONDERFUL!!!!


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## hmcintosh (Jan 8, 2013)

Interesting thread!


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

super cool!

where's the pic?


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## happy vagabonds (Jun 24, 2012)

I posted about one before, but good to have here too, I think.... but I figured out to put an empty peanut butter container in the bottom of the homemade type mineral feeders to help reduce waste.

And I just figured out that a good short term way to warm new babies is with a hot air popcorn popper positioned a little bit above them. Frees up the hands... haha


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## happy vagabonds (Jun 24, 2012)

Well, I just came up with 2 new things (for me!):

1) Bottle warmers... those little crock pots for potpourri. 

2) This year my milking stanchion is actually in an enclosed shed. It's a wood stanchion that my husband built for me. 

Last year it was in a stall with a dirt floor. One great thing about that was that I was able to wash the stanchion every day. I would dump my unused udder wash onto the stanchion. 

I can't do that this year and already I am freaking out a little about how dirty it is. Fortunately, we have a friend who works at a print shop and is able to bring us all kinds of print shop paraphernalia. One thing we have gotten is some remnant vinyl banners! I cut one to the size of my stanchion and it's super great! The texture of it makes it non-slip and I can easily wipe it down when done milking.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

I use one of those wickless candle warmers that you plug in and set the jar of scented wax on--(does that thing have a NAME? LOL). Anyhow, I use it to make yogurt. I just put my milk with a tsp or so of starter in a half-gallon jar and give it a stir and set it on the warmer with just a lid set on the jar (no ring). I haven't made any yet this year, but think it took 6-12 hrs. I just keep checking it.


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I buy dog collars at the Dollar Tree or thrift stores. I use them on goats and also to close the wire garden gates I got free from the dump. They also work to attach cattle panels to wood posts. I do wash the towels I use for baby goats, but I buy them in bulk bags at Goodwill, so if some are just too nasty, I don't feel bad throwing them out. Our Goodwill will also bag T shirts that can't be sold for wearing due to holes or stains. At four bucks a bag, it's a good deal.
I get used plastic containers at thrift stores and use them for various things around the farm. The larger ones I use to send grain with goat buyers. My friend goes to the bakery at the grocery store and gets lots of plastic buckets that are good to store grain and also for water buckets at shows. For house babies, I buy my totes at the thrift store. They are cheaper if they don't have lids. I go to the ReStore to get scrap plywood for goat house repairs.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

If you can milk and it turns to *cheese*, all is not lost.  I pop the jar open and put my stick blender in it and give it a whiz. Liquid milk again.  Great for soaping and baby goats.


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