Homestead Photos
On this page you will find:
Our livestock raising practices
Herd Health Information
Feeding Regimes for Goats and Chickens
Sales Information
Information on raw milk and legislation
Recipes
Visit wildrootshomestead.blogspot.com/ for a glimpse into our daily lives; informal stories and pictures of our animals and family.
Wild Roots Farm
Our Livestock Raising Practices and Herd Health Information:
We are entering our fourth year raising goats. We began researching goat care information more than a year before we ever got our first goats. We learned about disbudding, tatooing, vaccinations, feeding, hoof care, vitamins, minerals, feed supplements and so on. Here I am sharing how we are raising our goats. I am sure that our herd management practices will be an ever evolving system, as we learn from our experiences and make improvements.
Our goal is to raise goats as naturally as possible. There are limits to this goal, as we are keeping domestic animals in an unnatural environment, (on small tracts of fenced land, in stalls, etc). Herd management practices which are most important to raising goats naturally are that our does nurse and raise their young, and that they have a clean safe environment with quality food and water. We are raising our herd with a holistic approach. Which means we try to build strong immune systems, and treat the goats with herbs and homeopathic medicine when possible.
Summer 2009 we tested our entire herd for CAE, CL and Jhonnes. All test results came back negative. We plan on testing once more in the spring. After that I see no reason to test yearly unless our goats come in to contact with other goats or show signs of illness. As of yet we are not showing or transporting our goats, nor are we offering buck service. At this point I feel that frequent shots, blood tests and vaccinations may be more of a herd stressor than an aid. Obviously my herd is still at risk for common goat diseases and illnesses. Not vaccinating means that it is even more important that I know the risks, spend time with the goats so that we can catch anything in it's early stages and finally; have a plan of action for any possible situation that may arise.
Current Feeding Regime for Goats:
Our does are feed the highest quality brome hay we can find, some alfalfa hay, whole local barley and oats, wheat berries, black oil sunflower seeds, molasses and olive oil. They always have access to a sweetlix loose mineral and vitamin supplement for goats in addition to baking soda. We also give them a small amount of herbal vitamin powder which is a mixture of alfalfa, spirulina, flax seed, dandelion, nettle and stevia. We also give all the goats an herbal worm formula on a weekly basis. See Molly's herbal site http://fiascofarm.com/herbs/ for more information on her herbal worm formula.
What I'm feeding the bucks changes a bit with the time of year. They don't need as much as the milking does. This winter they are eating brome hay. They get a small amount of whole oats and barley with just a handful of both alfalfa pellets and sunflower seeds and a sprinkling of an herbal vitamin supplement.
Current Feeding Recipe for Adult Layer Birds: This will also be ever changing, depending on the time of year and whether we are feeding chicks, growers or layers. This is what I'm feeding my layers right now: 30lb cracked corn, 30 lb whole red winter wheat berries, 10 lb whole barley, 10lb whole oats, 5lb Alaska salmon meal, 5lb alfalfa meal, 4 lb kelp meal, 4lb flax seed, 1 lb salt, sprinkling of nutritional yeast and poultry vitamin supplement. They have access to free choice grit and oyster shell. The chickens also receive daily vegetable and bread scraps along with their crushed shells fed back to them. I give them kefired milk and home brewed kombucha several times a week, which supplies probiotics, vitamins and lots of other good stuff.
Sales Information: Registered Intact Bucklings $375
Registered Doelings $325
Wethered (not intact) bucklings $100
Registered Milking Doe $375 and up depending
We currently have a milking doe for sale, doelings, bucklings and or wethered males. Check out our kid and doe page for details.
Information on Raw Milk: Check out my blog for the occassional milk related articles http://wildrootshomestead.blogspot.com
Recipes: Coming.... I have tried all of Molly's cheese recipes and recommend them. They are available for free on her Fiasco Farm site fiascofarm.com/
