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5 Reasons to Raise Fainting Goats (Myotonic Goats)

If you’ve been following along on our adventures for the past 20 years you know horses are my first love and I’ve had other smaller livestock come and go throughout the years.  My last big herd were alpacas.  I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of happy I don’t have them anymore. I’ve got 2 fiber boys left and they will be my last!

With the horses living on a track system it leaves a lot of pasture land open on my property that screams, PUT SMALL RUMINANTS ON ME!  if alpacas are no longer an option what is my newest choice and why?

Myotonic Goats!

  1. Allergies!  – My main reason why I chose goats over sheep is due to my own allergies.  I’m terribly allergic to sheep and break out in hives if I’m around them or handling them for any length of time. Therefore, no sheep for me!
  2. Fencing/Pasture – Goats are notorious when it comes to destroying things.  There often isn’t a fence out there the average goat cannot escape from.   I wanted to get a livestock that could live within my current fence I had up for the alpacas.  Fence that I currently have is, field fence, hog panels, goat panels, rotational electric netting.  Myotonic goats tend to freeze when they are overly excited so extreme jumping or climbing skills is not quite in their wheelhouse
  3. Pasture – My farm is 11 acres of which 5 of it is mowed and fenced pasture.  Goats don’t care about the fancy groomed pastures I have.  They are not grazers.  They are browsers. What’s the difference?  Horses graze, they eat with their heads down to the ground and will eat grass right to the root.  Goats browse.  They eat  head up and clear brush, trees, weeds etc.  Since half of my property is totally wild goats are a good choice.  Using the electric netting I’ve been having them clear away areas of the property I’ve never set foot on before!  It’s like having an adorable landscaping crew.
  4. Size/Personality – I work a full time job with OnCall with insane hours and stress.  the farm is my happy place and having livestock that makes me happy is most important.  Goats were for some reason on my no-no list for years for some reason or another.  After researching and visiting myotonic goats I finally took the plunge.  What a great choice!  Personalities like my hens, they are always at my feet, begging for cookies and I’ve got a few that are very social and don’t mind a bit of love.  The few kidding’s I’ve had so far the mothers have been very easy to work with and no one has decided that ramming me was a good idea to protect their young.  All in all they are a friendly goat!They aren’t an overly large goat and are smaller in size than they are in weight since they are a meat breed.  Most of mine are around the 50-75lb weight and under 20″ at the shoulder.  Small size makes them great for small acreage!  Which means I have have more goats/acre than I can have with other livestock.  I typically run 7-10 goats per paddock. paddock size is about 1/4 acre and I rotate that every week to new grazing.  More on rotational grazing in another post.
  5. Survivability – Part of owning livestock is keeping them healthy.  There are some breeds that make this job more difficult that others.  Myotonic goats when managed appropriately tend to be less prone to parasitic infections, difficult births and poor mothering habits.  This doesn’t mean I can slack on my husbandry skills but means I’ll have less time spend battling things like barber pole worm or coccidia than other breeds.
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Polio in Goats, Sheep, Lambs, and Kids

DOWN GOAT! Today we will be discussing Polio in goats.  Causes, symptoms and treatment.

Disclaimer:  The information available in this video is intended for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be a substitution for consulting a veterinarian or obtaining veterinary advice, diagnoses and/or treatment.

Polioencephalomalacia (PEM) has no relation to the Polio virus found in humans and can be successfully treated at first sign of symptoms.

Cause: The most common cause of Polio in ruminants is Thiamine (B1) deficiency.  B1 is a water-soluble vitamin that is crucial in the role of glucose metabolism.  The brain is a high consumer of energy, which comes from glucose.  Any disruption in this process can quickly cause issues as the brain is the central command center. Sheep and goats get their thiamine not from cells, but from microbes within the rumen.

Most often Polio symptoms are seen in lambs and kids as they transition from milk to forage as it will often take time for their rumen microbiome to become established.  Other things that can affect the production of thiamine is stress, change in diet, poor diet, sulfer-rich diets (grains from distilling), as well as thiamine robbing organisms like coccidia and it’s treatment.

Symptoms: Catching symptoms early directly correlates to how effective treatment will be.  So knowing these signs could save your lamb or kids life! Since the brain is our highest consumer of glucose symptoms first materialize as neurological.

      • Droopy ear, head tilt
      • Involuntary eye movement
      • Blindness
      • Dilated pupils
      • Weak gait, inability to stand and seizures
      • Advanced stages an animal will have the “death arch” to their head and neck

Symptoms can be very similar to Listeriosis and early treatment is key Treatment: Since Thiamine treatment is rather benign, starting treatment at early symptoms is recommended.  Having access to a vet to provide you with prescription Thiamine, Antibiotics, and pain/inflammation medication is ideal.  But, if it’s a holiday weekend and a vet isn’t available (like what happened to me) there is a way to treat with over the counter medications as well.  The following video will follow the timeline of symptoms and treatment course that I followed over a long holiday weekend.

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Highway Hay

It’s happened to the best of us.  You’ve got a load of hay on and a gust of wind or a poorly negotiated corner and POOF! a bale rolls off your load.  Do you notice? Nope, you’re too focused on driving home as fast as you possibly can because the skies are about to open up and drench you and your beloved hay score off of Craigslist. You know the kind, must pickup today $1 a bale things.

Pulling into your barn, negotiating the aisle like an FEI 4 in hand driver on a mission, you’ve beaten the rain!  For the heck of it you actually decide to count the bales as you toss them into the barn. 17, 18, 19…. Where’s 20? Damn it I gave the guy a $20, did I miscount loading? Nope, one of the bales decided that becoming fodder was beneath its purpose in life and cast itself into the unknown.

Do you go back for it?

Depends.  $1 probably not, $7 to $10 2nd cut compressed bale. Oh heck yeah you will. Retracing your exact steps in hopes of finding the $60lbs of forage that costs more than your morning DD.

But beware! Once your bale has become a roadside hitchhiker it’s going to do just that.  Enter the opportunist in the micro mini compact car or other small farm vultures. I myself have scarfed up a cast bale or two in my day.

Last week while driving north on the highway I spotted a rouge bale in the southbound shoulder.  Perfect, no one is going to get that one, MINE, I thought as I continued up to “the city” for supplies.  Wrong!  As I crested the hill preparing to put my blinker on to make my way for the deliciously green bale I had seen earlier I was shocked to see the micro mini had beat me to it!  She had already gotten to the side of the road and was cramming the soft, leafy, tightly bound goodness into the back seat of her coup. A bounty she obviously was willing to sacrifice the car for.  Smells of fresh cut greens swirling in her nostrils the whole ride home.

Touché my tiny donut wheeled friend! Until next bale.

 

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Train Your Mini to Drive – Part 4 – Dragging

So your line driving has been going well and you’re able to turn, stop, and your pony doesn’t try to turn around and face you.  Awesome! Time to add on the next step, having them drag something!

While I tend to do everything by myself it’s often safer at this point to have a friend up at the head of your horse while you line drive behind.  That way if there’s a spook someone is right at the head to calm things down before they get too wildly out of control .

You might be excited to purchase a harness at this point but you don’t have to.  Here’s a way to make a quick breast collar out of a dressage girth and some bailing twine!


One thing you will need is a single (swingle) tree.  This keeps the traces away from one another instead of pinching in on your pony when weight is added.  You can pick one up from https://www.mydrafthorse.com/ they have them in mini size. If you’re using a “real” harness you’ll want to pick up some Chain Tug Conversions too.  This will allow you to use a slot trace with a chain to a single tree for quick hitch.   Dont’ want to spend the $, you can also make one out of a 2×4 with some eyebolts on each end and another in the center of 1 side to hook whatever you’re dragging to.  See, so far teaching to drive is cheap!

Drag everything you can.  LOTS of different things and weights.  Anything to make noise too.  This step can last a while to make sure everything is 100% before  spending $ on a vehicle and a harness.

For reference the harness and vehicle I purchased for my mini is the ComfyFit Harness and HyperBike.

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Train Your Mini to Drive – Part 3 – Long Line

How has your mini been doing?  Have they figured out “walk-on” and “whoa?” Have you taken them places and asked them to do some obstacles? Great you’re ready for part 3!  Let’s start driving!

Well, maybe not driving but long line driving.  The next step is to get behind your  mini and have them do everything you asked of them while you were walking them by their side.

Tools needed:

      • Mini Halter
      • 2 lead ropes
      • Dressage whip

I bet you have all of that in your barn already! See you don’t need to buy a harness or cart yet for this step!

Clip the lead ropes onto the halter one on each side and get behind your little fluff butt and ask them to walk on.  Keep your reins low, below their bum so if they try to turn and face you you can easily redirect them the correct direction. If they just aren’t getting it, you can use a friend to help lead them on to start.  I find they usually figure things out pretty quick.

Practice your “walk-on” and whoa.  If they trot, make sure you asked for it. If you didn’t, have them slow back down to a walk.  To slow a gait you can say Easy, or sloooooow, or purr at them. Remember don’t say Whoa unless you mean stop and stand.

Once they are able to do straight lines go and whoa, start adding in some turns and go out on adventures.  This time if you walk down the road with your mini your neighbors won’t laugh at you and say things like “that’s a big dog” or “I thought you’re supposed to be driving that horse not walking it like a dog!”

If you’re just doing 10 or 15 min sessions this step should take you about 1-2 weeks.  Make sure when you ask them to Whoa that they stop and stand without moving or turning around.  They must do this without complaint before you can proceed to the next step.