I think that they were built, as their makeup, is that they were built with pretty tough coats and everything like that to be able to endure the weather conditions that they’re in. We have a very mild temperature here though, so we might not fight as many as those problems as places where it snows or you get really, really heavy…whatever element is involved, icy snows and things like that. The one thing that I didn’t say about feeding, which I think is really important is that it’s really important to feed your goats off the ground. A lot of people feed their goats…they just throw in hay and up here in the Northwest because we have such a damp climate and with the cold, wet ground, there’s a lot of organisms that can live in the ground and when you dump hay onto the ground, it just increases their possibility of ingesting some organisms and causing problems.

Tammy: Like mold and fungus and stuff?

Dr. Hradic: Absolutely. Yep. So it’s important to feed out of a feeder.

Tammy: Vaccinations, you talked about them, what sort of vaccinations do they need and what sort of schedule do they need to adhere to?

Dr. Hradic: Yeah this kind of follows the same line as parasite control is that it’s going to depend from one farm to the next and how many goats you have and what kind of schedule you’re on and what kind of pathogens you might have in your environment, what’s related to the geography. All those things are going to come into play. Some animals are going to require more, some will require less. You know up here in the Northwest, we’re on a six-month to a yearly vaccination protocol but there, again, it’s based on one herd to the next.
Previous Page (88)