The results are in!  More than 100 people have participated in the survey, and while it may or may not be a good representation of goat owners nation-wide, I do feel that it is a good representation of local goat owners since most of the responses came from Tennessee and nearby areas.  I think the results speak for themselves, so rather than analyzing the minor details for you, I will simply share the results with you.  You can view them by clicking here.

I did find some of the text responses interesting, especially the various answers for why each participant feels that their deworming practices are or are not working.  The vast majority of you are confident in your deworming practices.  Those who are not, have experienced the same conditions I have this summer, and blame the increased wet weather with creating ideal conditions for parasite proliferation.  This means that we must be even more vigilant in parasite prevention and, if necessary, consult a medical professional for advice.

A great many of you stated that you use fecal testing to verify the effectiveness of your deworming practices, which is, in my opinion, the best way to verify the size and type of worm load your goats may be carrying.  I must confess a tiny bit of jealousy however, for those of  you who are able to do your own fecal testing.  A good microscope is definitely on my wish list.


                                                              **Deworming Update**
As I described previously, I have struggled with worm prevention in my herd this year.  The first fecal confirmed my suspicions that my usual dewormer choices were not working the way they have in years past.  This was a bit unnerving because I was already using what is widely accepted in my area to be the most effective deworming drug.  My vet asked me to try Valbazen, which is something I have not previously used in my own herd, but I know it to be popular among sheep breeders in my area.  The follow-up fecal showed a vast improvement, and confirmed that the Valbazen worked quite well.  I am now adding this to my arsenal.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, Valbazen is the brand name for a drug called albendazole.  If that sounds familiar, it is because albendazole is in the same drug family as fenbendazole, otherwise known as Safe-Guard or Panacur.  This might explain why I have not attempted the use of Valbazen previously.  My past experience with fenbendazole was a very bad experience and, on the advice of the medical professionals I consulted at that time, I discontinued use of fenbendazole.   The receptionist at my current vet's office however, explained to me that they are finding fenbendazole to be effective in goats however, the dose required is double what is indicated on the product label.  Armed with this new knowledge, I may consider giving fenbendazole a second chance.  Knowing that parasites are constantly changing and adapting to whatever we throw at them, I am willing to have an open mind. I am willing to try both new things, and old things in new ways.  Knowledge, combined with vigilance however, is key.  I'm sure it annoys the heck out of everyone I know, but I ask a lot of questions and must always know "why?"  If this is not already your common practice, I highly recommend that you consider adopting it - to empower yourself.  

My Ameraucana rooster sure got himself in a pickle yesterday.  I still haven’t quite figured out how it happened, but somehow the genius got his foot entangled in the rope that is hanging from the ceiling of my chicken coop.  The rope is there to hang my auto-feeder from but the auto feeder broke so it is not being used at the moment.  Who would have thought a simple rope, attached to nothing except the ceiling, would be a danger to a chicken.

I also don’t know for certain how long he was hanging there, which was a bit scary to think about last night.  I left home for work yesterday morning at about 7:30 and all was well then.  I did not get back home until almost 9:00pm however.  I was doing my evening critter check when I discovered him hanging upside down, from one leg, because the rope was wrapped around it.  

The poor guy was understandably a bit woozy.  He really didn’t seem to be in much distress however.  I’m not sure whether he had been hanging there long enough to give up, or if maybe he had calmed down because it was dark, or maybe he was actually cool with “hanging out” in that position.  I know most chickens can be put into sort of a trance when held upside down by their feet, but one would think that hanging like that for a while would still be upsetting.  He didn’t squawk or fuss when I rescued him.  I offered him fresh water and he did not protest me dipping his beak, but he didn’t want a drink either (that alone makes me think he was not there for hours).  He had no feeling in that leg however, so I rubbed it some to help the circulation and put him to bed for the night.

This morning’s check brought good news.  He was very much able to get where he wanted to go, and could stand on both legs for short periods of time.  He has a terrible limp, and I think it may take a few days for the affected leg to fully recover, but I believe he is going to be fine.  I have removed the “dangerous” rope so that he, nor any of his hens, can entangle themselves again.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about hanging the auto-feeder once it is repaired, but I’m open to suggestions!

                                                                       ***Update***
I checked on the rooster again this evening and, as you can see from the photos below, he is doing much better.  He still has a noticeable limp, but he is standing for long periods of time, like any normal chicken.  I'm convinced he will continue to improve, and be back to his old self within just a few days.  And the girls may get a reprieve during that time as well!

I am conducting a survey of goat owners and their deworming practices.  If you currently own goats, I would very much appreciate it if you would participate in the survey.  If you have friends who own goats, please encourage them to participate in the survey as well.  If you do not own goats, the questions really won't apply to you - I'm sorry!
 
No identifying information will be asked in the survey, and all responses are anonymous.  You will not be contacted based on any response given in the survey.
 
The survey can be found at https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/8FBVuX
 

Thank you so much for your time!

All the wet weather we have experienced this year seems to wreaking havoc on the local caprine population.  It is widely accepted in the world of goat ownership that excessive deworming is counterproductive, so common practice is to only deworm as needed.  Each goat owner has their own methods for determining what "as needed" means.  Some have their vets run routine fecal exams.  Some have the ability to do their own fecal exams.  Some rely on regular FAMACHA exams.  Many use some combination of these practices.  I fall into that later group.  Those of you who have attended my goat workshops know that my usual practice is to do frequent FAMACHA exams, and periodically confirm the effectiveness of my dewormers by having my vet do a fecal exam.  Many of you know that I prefer to do everything as naturally as possible, including avoiding chemicals unless absolutely necessary.  Unfornately, I have not been able to avoid chemical dewormers, however I have been able thus far, to use them only sparingly.  Generally, I deworm with a combination of pyrantel pamoate (brand name: Strongid) and moxidectin (brand name: Quest).  In the past, this method has worked exceptionally well for my herd, and was an infrequent necessity.  This summer however, my usual practice just isn't cutting it.

I am doing FAMACHA exams approximately every 10-14 days right now.  When I find that one of my animals needs to be dewormed, I do so and recheck FAMACHA 7-10 days later.  I am finding that my goats are needing to be dewormed much too frequently for my comfort.  This year I  dewormed in the spring when they needed it.  Most of them required a second dose when I did the recheck.  One of them required a third dose.  My one sheep required a forth dose.  I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking this alone was excessive.  In doing the FAMACHA exams, I am seeing anemia creep back in with record speed.  Some of my goats needed to be dewormed as quickly as 6 weeks after the initial deworming, and while this may be common for some, it has previously been unheard of for my herd.  Recently I checked my saanen doe's eyelids and, according to the FAMACHA chart, she was in that borderline area, where one basically makes a judgement call - either deworm now, or watch closely in case deworming is needed in the near future.  She has some other health issues going on right now as well, so in the interest of checking out every possibility, I asked my vet to run a fecal exam.  His reaction to what he saw was, to question whether I had dewormed her at all.  That tells me the worm load was much higher than my FAMACHA exam indicated, which means the rest of my herd is likely in the same condition.  At the suggestion of my vet, I administered a different deworming medication to my entire herd and he is going to recheck the fecal in 10 days.

I still stand by using FAMACHA as a tool when determining whether to deworm or not.  However, normal circumstances allow for a bit of wiggle room if the eye membrane color falls in the middle of the spectrum (example C(3) on the FAMACHA card).  I am recommending that, if your goats do not resemble example B(2) or better then consult your vet.  Do not assume that what has worked for you in the past is still working.  Do not assume that because you usually only need to deworm 2 or 3 times each year, that you can get by with doing FAMACHA once per season.  Ask other breeders, local to you, what they are experiencing this year, and for the sake of your goats, talk to your vet.  Wet conditions like we have experienced in my region this year, promotes parasite proliferation.  In talking to other breeders local to me, the parasite populations this year are out of control, and are not responding to the usual treatments.  So I will repeat: for the sake of your goats, talk to your vet!

As I learn more information, I will share it with you here, but do not rely on me as your only source of information.  I am only one person, and I admit to being wrong sometimes.  Check your goats often, and talk to your vet!

I had to buy milk.  It's insane, I know.  But we use milk for so many things, that it has become an absolute necessity in our home.  I just hate when I am required to buy milk.

Fresh, raw, goat milk is the norm for us.  We prefer the taste, raw milk is healthier, and having a milk goat means I always have the good stuff in our fridge.  Except right now, I don't.  And it hurts.  It makes me sad.  Store-bought milk is pasteurized, homogenized, and it tastes funny.  And oh. my. goodness. look at the expiration date on that jug that I bought yesterday - August 22nd.  This stuff doesn't expire for two solid weeks - and I have no idea how long it has already been in the store.  Something just seems terribly wrong about that.  Granted, my raw milk will often last up to two weeks as long as it is handled properly, but we generally use it much faster than that so I really don't know for certain just how long it would keep.  Maybe two weeks really isn't all that strange.  Maybe seeing it in print is what is strange to me.  *shrugs*

Right now, we only have one goat in milk, and that is Molly.  Molly may have mastitis - we're waiting on the lab results to know for certain.  The at-home test results have been negative every time we have tested, and there are no visible symptoms.  Something is wrong with the milk however.  After about three days, it tastes awful.  It should taste creamy and maybe a little sweet.  It should taste like the best, most awesomely rich, fresh milk you have ever experienced.  It should taste that way for a minimum of a week, but as I said above, it usually stays fresh for two weeks if we actually keep it around that long (which doesn't often happen).  Nothing has changed about my milk handling practices.  I make sure my hands are clean and I thoroughly wash the udder and teats, using the same udder wash I have always used.  I use clean glass jars that have been through my dishwasher for sterilization, and I chill the milk as quickly as possible.  After milking, I dip each teat in the same teat dip I have always used.  Not one single part of my usual routine and handling practices has changed.  But the milk has changed, so the first logical thing to do is have the milk tested.  The samples have been delivered to the vet and all we can do now is wait for the test results.  And buy milk if we absolutely cannot get by without it.  Yuck.

My goodness, it has been a while since my last post!  I'm so sorry!

"Farm" life has been busy lately.  Most of the garden is coming along nicely.  If you look closely at the photos of the bean arbor, you can see how close the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks are to my garden.  Unfortunately, Norfolk Southern cares absolutely nothing about property lines or gardens, because they sprayed weed killer on the approximately 2-3 foot wide strip of my garden that is closest to the tracks.  One side of my bean arbor lies within that space, so I have lost half of my beans. *insert sobbing sounds here*  I have also lost two tomato plants (I didn't label them when I planted, but I think it was the yellow tomato *sniff*), all of my cabbage, half of my brussels sprouts, all of my yellow squash, and the eggplants are iffy.  After consulting with my grandfather (who admittedly does use chemical pesticides and herbicides on his garden), I have been assured that it has been long enough since the spraying, that plants will still grow in that same soil should I decide to replant.  I may...I'm not super excited about planting my veggies in soil that has been contaminated with weed killer, but I may give it a go anyway.  I'll let you know.  On a happier note, the other side of my bean arbor is growing well.  The beans haven't put out runners yet, so they are not yet climbing the arbor, but the plants are large enough that I expect to see those runners just any day now.  I promise I'll take pictures when they begin to climb!  I do have other tomato plants in various stages of growth.  The earliest plants I put out are sitting full of green tomatoes now.  My cocozelle squashes are monstrous sized plants (and the squash are tasty!), and my purple kohlrabi are excellent both in size and flavor.  I planted it late, but my corn is growing well.  I only hope the almanac was correct in saying it was okay to plant the corn as late as I did.

This year's goat clinics were a huge success.  When I first entertained the idea of having a goat clinic, I expected to have one, single, solitary clinic, and only hoped there would be enough participation to not be embarrassed.  Much to my surprise, the demand was exceptional.  We ended up putting on four clinics, and have had numerous emails from people wanting more.  I'm afraid of the summer heat and humidity being oppressive, and it often gets miserably muggy by mid-morning, so I have decided to take a break for the rest of the summer.  I am trying to organize a meat rabbit clinic for September, so there will be no goat clinics during that month either.  If time and weather permits, we may try to have another goat clinic in October or November, but I won't know if that is possible until closer to that time.

If you are like me, the summer projects you planned in late winter and early summer have turned out to be much more than you actually have time for, but then again I am inadequate at time management.  Maybe you have more skills in that department than I have!  I would love to hear from you! How are your summer projects coming along?

Last weekend (Memorial Day Weekend), I built my bean arbor and planted some blue lake pole beans.  I saw a picture of an arbor similar to this last year and fell in love with the idea.  Now, I cannot find the original pictures I saw, so unfortunately I cannot give credit to the person who built it, nor can I compare mine to theirs.  I built mine based solely on what I remember that one looking like, but by golly, I think mine will work.
I started by driving a short (approximately 12-14 inch long) piece of rebar about halfway into the ground.  I slid one end of the pvc pipe over the end of the rebar and then carefully bent the pipe in an arch to see how tall I could make the arch without putting the pvc in too much of a bind.  I marked the spot on the ground and drove a second piece of rebar in, and slid the other end of the pipe onto that piece of rebar.  Then I measured out how long I wanted the arbor to be (this one happens to be 7 feet, but it's really your choice) and arched a second piece of pvc in the same manner as the first. Next, I used some scrap hay string and lashed a 1 inch square wooden stake (purely because that's what I had on hand) to the top of each pvc arch, near the center (see the bottom right photo below).  Finally, I stretched plastic bird netting across the whole structure to form a tunnel of sorts, and wove more hay string through the netting and around the pvc (again, see the bottom right photo below).  Down the center of the tunnel, I layered empty feed bags and covered them with straw, to help keep the weeds down.  I planted my beans down each side of the arbor, for 14 total feet of planted beans.  
Today I noticed that all of my beans have sprouted!  We have had steady, gentle rain all day today, which I'm sure helped a great deal, because the beans are 2 inches tall already.  Once they begin to climb the arbor, I will take more photos to share with you.  Have you ever grown pole beans on an arbor like this?  What is your favorite trellis design for pole beans and why?