For the Love of Goats

New goat breeders frequently ask where and how they can sell their goat kids. When I started with goats in 2002, I bought goats from breeders who had websites, so I assumed I would also need a website for selling my goats. That has been the only sales channel for my goats forever.In this episode, Emily Nyman and I discuss what information you need on your website, such as an about page, health history of your herd, photos of your breeding stock, pedigrees, and terms of sale.We also talk about user-friendly options for building your website, so you don't have to hire a web designer.Because the cornerstone of every good goat breeder website is the photos, we spend a lot of time talking about the time of day, shadows, lighting, position of the goat, where to take photos, and more, including equipment.In addition to breeding goats, Emily is also a professional photographer. You can see her photography at her website Emily Nyman. See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/creating-a-website-for-your-goats/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

If you've ever thought about starting a business with your dairy goats, today's episode will give you a lot of valuable information. We are talking to PJ Jonas, founder of Goat Milk Stuff, which sells all sorts of products made from goat milk. Although they focus on soap and body care products today, they also sold cheese, yogurt, gelato, and caramels before the pandemic.PJ talks about why she started making soap and how it got turned into a business. She explains how she scaled the business from making batches of 28 bars in her kitchen to one of her sons making 415 bars per batch today. You'll also hear what it was like when her soap was featured in major media outlets like The Today Show and Oprah magazine.We also discuss the potential downsides of owning a business, such as liability and taxes, and what it's like dealing with some members of the public who make life challenging.See full show notes here >>  https://thriftyhomesteader.com/success-with-dairy-goats/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

Who wouldn't love free food for your goats? But before you call your local brewer or distiller and ask if you can pick up their spent grain, listen to this episode with Dr. Robert VanSaun, vet professor and ruminant nutritionist at Pennsylvania State University.Spent brewers grain and distillers grain are popular feed for cattle, but are less commonly used to feed goats. We've used brew grain to feed our pigs and chickens for about ten years, but have shied away from feeding it to our goats because it doesn't come with a guaranteed nutritional analysis or even an ingredient list.In this episode, Dr. VanSaun discusses the nutrients we know are in brewer's and distiller's grains and what may or may not be in them, including potentially harmful substances such as sulfur and mycotoxins. We talk about what questions you need to ask the brewmaster before picking up grain, as well as other sources of spent grains.Many thanks to our listener, Doris, who requested this episode.See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/brewers-grain-for-goats/ To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

If you've been looking for a smaller breed of goat that's parasite resistant, has excellent mothering skills, and comes in a variety of colors, the Arapawa goat from New Zealand might be a good fit, especially if you are interested in conserving rare breeds.In this episode, we are joined by Emily Nyman, Arapawa Goat Breeders Association President and Livestock Coordinator at Conner Prairie in Indiana, a living history farm museum that has a herd of Arapawa.Their feral history means that this breed is very hardy, but there are also challenges for those who want to raise them, such as finding breeding stock. With only 300 total goats in the United States, you probably won't find them locally.Emily talks about the Arapawa's history, appearance, size, and more in this exciting episode.See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/arapawa-goats/ To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

Can goats threaten your health if you're a pregnant woman? If you are a woman, there are some specific precautions you should be taking with goats giving birth and also when using drugs for synchronization.Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and a reproductive specialist, is talking about zoonotic diseases that are of special concern to pregnant women, including toxoplasmosis, chlamydia, campylobacter, brucellosis, and q-fever. We talk about wearing gloves, a face mask, and even eye protection to protect yourself from unexpected splashes of goat body fluids, which can contain infectious organisms that can threaten pregnancy and the unborn child.In addition to diseases, women of all reproductive stages can be affected by drugs like Lutalyse, Estrumate, and CIDRs when they come in contact with skin or mucus membranes. The potential for negative outcomes is much worse, however, for pregnant women.One of the things we forgot to mention in this episode is that you should never perform mouth-to-mouth on a newborn baby goat because of the risk of contracting a zoonotic disease, a topic that we did discuss in our episode on Infectious Causes of Abortions in goats.For more information, you can also check out our episodes on Zoonotic Diseases.See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/goat-diseases-and-womens-health/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

If you've ever had a goat with wonky knees, today's episode will shed some light on the problem. When a goat has carpal hyperextension, it means that the knees bend backwards rather than being straight.We are joined today by Dr. Erica McKenzie, Professor of Large Animal Medicine, Oregon State University and Dr. Leah Streb, 3rd year Laboratory Animal Medicine Resident, UC Davis, who are just putting the finishing touches on the first study ever to look at this disease. They are talking about how it is diagnosed and the possible genetic link that they are seeing, which may mean that the disease can be passed on to offspring.The research on this disease is in its infancy, and if you would like to contribute to future research efforts, you can contribute through one of these options:Send a check payable to OSU Foundation at 4238 Research Way; Corvallis, OR 97333. In the memo section, specify Large Animal Medicine/Wonky LegMake a gift online by going the college’s giving page here. In the field underneath “I want to give to” press the x, and instead select or type in “Large Animal Medicine Fund/Wonky Leg.”Many thanks to goat owner and podcast listener Carole Zempel of Dragon Hollow Dairy Goats for letting us know about this study. See full show notes here >>https://thriftyhomesteader.com/carpal-hyperextension-in-goats/ To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

Have you ever had a goat get an udder even though you are 100% sure she has not been anywhere close to a buck so could not possibly be pregnant? Normally, goats have to go through pregnancy and have a baby before they produce milk, but it's not impossible for a doe to start making milk without getting pregnant.A precocious udder is one that fills up with milk even though the doe has not been bred. Most of these will just go away as mysteriously as they appeared with no intervention needed. However, that is not always the case.In this episode, we are talking to Dr. Jamie Stewart, Assistant Professor in Production Management Medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, about what causes a precocious udder and what we should and should not do in managing it.See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/precocious-udders-in-goats/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

Lisa Shepard, former Performance Program Coordinator for the American Dairy Goat Association, discusses the importance of milk testing for goats. Topics include different testing types, earning milk stars, and common challenges. They cover finding testers, one-day tests, and bucks earning stars through progeny performance.

Some of the most common questions I receive from new goat owners are on the topic of manure management. Many new goat owners think they need to clean out the barn weekly or even daily, so in this episode I'm talking about how our barn cleaning practices have evolved through the years.I am also joined by some of our Goats 365 Premium members so they can ask questions. We cover everything from the basics of mucking out stalls to deep bedding, stall mats, straw versus shavings, and different types of barn flooring.See full show notes here >> https://thriftyhomesteader.com/the-scoop-on-poop/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐

If your farm plans are bigger than your budget and you're not even sure where to start, help is available. Your local USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service office can help you with technical assistance, cost-share programs, and grants.Joshua Hammond, a public affairs specialist with the NRCS, joins us in the podcast to discuss some of the projects the government agency can help you with, including rotational grazing, fencing, and irrigation. For example, a specialist can come to your farm and develop a rotational grazing plan for you and then can help pay for it with a government grant. One hundred seventy conservation practices are at the root of what the NRCS does, such as using high tunnels, cover crops, composting, and irrigation water management.See full show notes here >>  https://thriftyhomesteader.com/natural-resources-conservation-service/To see the most recent episodes, visit  ForTheLoveOfGoats.comWant to support the content you love?Head over to -- https://thrifty-homesteader.ck.page/products/love-goats-tip-jarThanks for tuning in! If you’d like to support the content you love and help us keep bringing you new goat resources, you can do that through our Tip Jar. No one ever said raising goats was easy, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune or drive you crazy! You just need the right information. 🔹 Check out Goats 365 membership 🔹 Or explore The Goat Academy 🔹Looking for Deborah's books? They can be purchased wherever books are sold, or you can get an autographed copy on our online store. Happy goat-keeping! 🐐