Limestone Kids

limestonekids@yahoo.com

 

Our Story

 

Our family consists of Mom, Dad, and three growing boys.  The boys are members of the Loudoun County 4-H Goat, Sheep, and Swine clubs.  We started out raising project animals for the county fair.  In 2004, Middleburg Bank donated a market goat back to our son, and thus our full time goat operation began. While visiting Springs Run Farm, we fell in love with our first registered Nigerian Dwarf goats, Spring Runs SG Kiska. and Spring Runs SG Suki.  The boys showed Kiska and Suki at the Appalachian Spring Mountain Show, in Warrenton and did very well. We were hooked!  We have met some truly wonderful and knowledgeable goat breeders at shows that we have attended.  We were very lucky to add several more Nigerians to our herd. With strong genetics in our herd, we have begun a breeding program with one goal to produce kids that are beautiful, conformational correct and awesome milker’s. This spring we will have our very first registered Limestone Kids.  

 

Herd Management

 

There doesn’t seem to be “right” way to keep goats, just as long as you are meeting their needs. Hands on experience and talking with many goat breeders, we have developed what works best for our family and herd.  As our herd grows and learn more we will incorporate them into our practices.

 

Housing

 

All goats need basic protection from weather extremes:  rain, snow, wind, heat, etc.  Housing need not be elaborate or costly.  Existing buildings can often be adapted for goat use. We built a 4ft, 3 sided shed with roof from chip board that we use in the pasture area.  It’s portable and easily moved when we rotate the grazing area. We have a barn for colder weather and use it during kidding season.  We have also used a large dog igloo for kids that have just been weaned. 

 

Feeding

 

We hang plastic feeders and buckets on the fence. It helps to prevent wasted feed, spilled water, and manure getting into the feeders and buckets.  We clean our feeding and watering equipment regularly. Fresh water is essential. We dump and replace water every day.  It the summer months it is replaced twice a day.

 

A very dear friend and fellow goat breeder, Janet Shlanta of Springs Run, gave us a wonderful “feed recipe” Our goats love it and we love what it does for our goats.  We feed our goats Purina goat chow mixed with black oil sunflower seed (about 6 parts goat chow to 1 part sunflower seed) along with alfalfa pellets to balance off the high phosphorus content of the sunflower seeds. Sunflower seed provides a good source of Vitamin E and is thought to reduce the risk of enterotoxemia. 

 

We offer our goat’s free choice goat mineral and baking soda (helps to buffer the rumen). Our goats also have access to as much hay as they want. A hay rack also will help to prevent wasted hay.  We quickly learned that any hay that falls on the ground quickly becomes bedding.

 

Fencing

 

A good fence is needed for goats.  It will prevent unwanted predators from getting in and your goats from getting out.  We have several different types of fencing around the farm.  We used wire panels with 4 inch opening to create a large coral around the barn.  We have metal goat panels that we use to rotate around in the pasture area.  The boys built portable 4 x 8 foot panels using wooden frames and chain link fence.  This works well for the kids. 

 

Health Care

 

We vaccinate with C D & T to prevent entertoxemia and tetanus.  We vaccinate does one month before freshening to provide passive immunity to the kids. Kids are then vaccinated at 8 weeks and a booster given at 12 weeks.  All goats get an annual booster.

 

We worm our goats every 3-4 months and worm a doe right after kidding because they are susceptible to worms during that time.

 

We trim hooves every 4 to 6 weeks, this helps to keep our goats on strong feet and helps to eliminate hoof problems.  Our milk stand has proven to be a real back saver.

 

To ensure that we are meeting everyone’s needs, we use a 3 ring binder to keep records for each goat.  Each goat has a page in the binder; we record all of the above information on that page.  We also started keeping a notebook for any treatment that the vet may provide.  It includes the diagnosis, symptoms, any medication used, and dosage.