Husbandry and Care

Our Holistic Philosophy

At Lofty Hearth we strive to raise our animals holistically in the classic sense of the word: caring for the whole animal and all of their needs in a well-rounded way that can include both traditional and modern methods of care. We give our goats as natural an environment as possible (mountains, rocks, pasture, brush). We try to adhere to the most up-to-date standards of goat husbandry and medicine which meet and sometimes exceed US regulations and recommendations for livestock welfare. We believe strongly that prevention is one of the most effective medicines, and we practice traditional preventative care methods such as pasture rotation as well as contemporary ones like vaccines. We use both traditional and pharmaceutical medicaments when needed. We have had great success with our management philosophies, with some animals in our herd being 6 years old and having never needed to be wormed.

Basics of Our Animal Care

All animals are given an initial series of CDT vaccines starting at 6 weeks of age, then boosted yearly. Goats are very susceptible to clostridial disease in many areas of the US and CDT vaccines are cheap insurance.
Dairy does are given the VIMCO staph mastitis vaccine while pregnant, which can also prevent topical staph.
All animals have free access to Sweetlix Meat Maker loose mineral and unlimited browse and second cut grass hay.
All kids receive colostrum within a few hours of birth to maximize maternal antibody transfer. Kids are given Kalmbach 18% Start Right kid feed medicated with decoquinate for coccidia prevention twice a day until the age of approximately six months.
Does in late pregnancy and does in milk are given Kalmbach 17% Milk Maker pellet and chaffhaye (fermented alfalfa silage).
We use and recommend sulfadimethoxine (Albon) for coccidiosis treatment in kids.
- Baycox (Toltrazuril) is illegal for use in all food animals in the United States and has failed FDA approval three times because of carcinogenic properties and detrimental environmental effects on plant growth. In addition, the grey market compounded products available for sale in the US are unreliable. To ensure the health of our animals as well as the milk and meat we produce for human consumption, we don't use or recommend Toltrazuril. See here for more information.
We use and recommend Land of Havilah herbal deworming formula during pasture season. Click here for Meryl's recipe for dosed herbal dewormer treats.
We do not band pet wethers. We follow EU standards for animal welfare which stipulate that banding after seven days of age causes animals significant pain and distress because of increased nerve and vascular supply to the scrotum. Because it is important to keep pet wethers intact for a longer time to maximize lifetime urinary health, we recommend surgical or burdizzo castration with pain management at 4-9 months of age for male goats sold as pets. This is usually a very cost-effective procedure and significantly reduces pain and stress on the animal.
Our parasite prevention program includes: 2g copper boluses in susceptible animals to help make the abomasum hostile to barberpole worms, monthly fecals on the entire herd during pasture season, weekly FAMACHA checks, pasture rotation, and Bioworma to reduce parasite contamination in the pastures. When an animal (rarely) requires a pharmaceutical deworming, we use the "combination deworming" method to reduce dewormer resistance in our herd and on our land. See the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control for more info.
When we (rarely) need to treat an animal with antibiotics or dewormers, we follow all milk and meat withholding and discard rules as advised by the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD).