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February 10, 2014

Five Must-Have Consumable Items for Goatkeepers



Five must-have consumable items for goats such as wormer, minerals and more.

You may have read about the ten items I think are must-haves for goat owners. (No? You should!) Those items are "equipment" rather than "consumable items". In other words, equipment is something that you buy once (unless it gets lost or broken or you want more than one) and consumables are things that you use up and must buy again.


This time I'm sharing the top five items on my list of must-have consumables for goats. My list might be different from yours; you might find that you use other items more often, and have never used one on my list. My goal is to get you thinking, and if you are new, to give you a starting place in your goat-raising efforts.

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You can read my full disclosure here.

So here, in no particular order, are my top five must-have-on-hand consumables for goats:


Loose minerals for goats, one of the 5 consumable items you need when you have goats.

1. Goat minerals (affiliate link) - I offer these free-choice to my goats. There are several brands available; use the brand your goats like best, because it won't work if they don't eat it. I strongly  recommend loose minerals instead of a mineral block. It's too much work for goats to lick a block and they won't get enough to do them good. My feed store carries bagged minerals; I pour them into a cat litter bucket to keep them dry.


Whether you use chemical wormers or herbal wormers, here are the 5 most important consumable items you need when you own goats.

2. Herbal wormer - There are also several sources of herbal wormers such as Fir Meadow and Molly's Herbals; I use one from Hoegger Goat Supply. If you don't use an herbal wormer, you will want to have commercial (chemical) wormers on hand.


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Molasses is one of the five important items when you own goats. Use it to perk up a tired or cold goat, and to mix herbal wormers into dosage balls.

3. Molasses (affiliate link) - I mix the herbal wormer powder with molasses to make wormer balls. Molasses mixed in warm water is a treat for a cold goat in the winter and provides energy to a tired doe that has just kidded.


Baking soda is important to have on hand when you have goats.

4. Baking Soda (affiliate link) offered free choice to balance the pH in my goats' rumen, and to keep their digestive system running smoothly. Like free-choice minerals, the goats will eat it if they need it. I use so much of this I buy it in bulk bags.


Syringes are of the five consumable items I recommend you have on hand if you own goats

5. Disposable syringes and needles in various sizes. My most-used size syringe for goats is 3cc, and I use 1/2-inch 20-gauge needles. I have diabetic syringes and needles for goat kids.



There are, of course, many items in my goat first-aid kit that I consider
pretty essential too.



Some of these items can be purchased from online sources such as Amazon, Hoegger Farmyard or Jeffer's Livestock, and you might find them at your local feed store or a farm store such as Tractor Supply. Others can be purchased at the grocery store.

What consumable items are on your must-have list?



This post contains affiliate links.



Related posts:
Ten Must-Have Items for Goat Keepers
How to Make Dosage Balls for Goats
20 Ways to Re-use Kitty Litter Buckets
Goat Fencing


This post has been shared at some of my favorite blog hops.


~~~~~

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13 comments:

  1. Great list Kathi, when we are milking I use the Hoeggers herbals too.

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  2. Thanks, Sandra. It's great that there is no milk withdrawal time with herbal wormers, isn't it?

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  3. Sadly, I can only read this and dream. I would love to have my own goats, but we have no place for another structure on our land, due the layout and location of the well and septic field. But I do love buying local goat products at farmers markets. BTW, my most recent post is on goat milk ice cream bases, if you're interested.

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  4. Janet, I'm sorry you can't have goats of your own, but hopefully you can visit some of those farms and get a "goat fix". Thank you for supporting your local goat farms and farmers market. I'm headed over to read your post.

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  5. I love it when the list is short and simple! I'm sure your goats are healthy and well-loved. Thanks for sharing this today on The Maple Hill Hop!

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  6. Good list! I've been reading up on goats lately since we hope to add some to our homestead later this year. I'll have to refer back to all your helpful goat posts as we get closer to bringing them home!

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  7. I'm a wonderful "goat enabler", Tammy, so if you have any questions I hope you'll ask!

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  8. I appreciate your sharing this info. I'm considering getting goats but I have questions no one seems to answer.

    1) the goat de-wormer you shown says you'd be giving doses of it "weekly thereafter". Does that mean you are on a constant regimen with de-worming only because it's a natural not chemical de-wormer?

    2) If you were going off grid, how would you replace these items? I know that people have kept goats for millenia (so to speak)in places without stores, and I don't want to get trapped in a feed-store-supplied cycle with goats.
    (At this time I'm working to get off all store dependence with the chickens).
    Thanks.

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  9. These are excellent questions, Illoura. I wish your comment had an email address so I could go into detail; I also visited your website but couldn't find contact info.

    Yes, the wormer must then be given once a week each week afterwards, so it would be an ongoing process. I've looked into planting those herbs in my goats' pasture as an alternative, and am working on that.

    I think I'll talk about this in a future post!

    I'd love to hear how you are moving your chickens away from feed store dependency!

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  10. If/When I get goats, I'll have to refer back to this. I made sure to add it to my "Goat" bookmarks folder. Thanks for taking the time to share this on The 104 Homestead Friday Blog Hop!

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  11. If/when you get goats, Jessica, please feel free to ask if you have any questions!

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  12. Anonymous1:46 PM

    I'm getting my first goat this week and I didn't know that I needed to worm him each week.besides grass what do I need to start off with..

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    Replies

    1. Hi! Weekly worming is for an herbal wormer; if you want to use commercial wormers it's a different schedule. I don't use those so I'm not sure of the current recommendations.

      Goats aren't necessarily crazy about grass, some like it more than others. They love weeds and brush. Mine will eat hay but don't care for grass.

      Here is a list of the ten items I call my "must haves."

      Delete

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