Roger and Alice Hall have raised dairy goats for thirteenyears at Hallcienda Farm. They have sixty head of Nubiansand Saanens, plus a herd of Duroc hogs which numbers morethan 30 head at the peak of the year, plus about fifteen headof Southdown and crossbreed sheep.

Alice is a director of the American Dairy Goat Association,a licensed judge with both ADGA and the American GoatSociety, she's president of the Paradise Valley Dairy GoatAssociation, past president of the California State DairyGoat Council, and secretary of the California Nubian Breedersclub.

Recently we have had several re-quests to explain management proce-dures we use. First, a word of introduc-tion.

Most techniques used were initiatedto save time and energy, since both Hallswere teaching when the animals came toHallcienda. Time and energy are stillimportant so management practiceshave not changed much.

In addition, we do not have a marketfor milk, and Grade A does not seemfeasible financially. For this reason, eventhough the herd is on DHI test, pushingfor production does not seem wise.

Therefore, even though our manage-ment practices work very well for Hall-cienda, they might not be practical forthose with commercial herds, little space,or a yearning for fantastic DHI records.

Feeding: Good nutrition is most im-portant, but we are not convinced thatdairy goats need to be fed like dairy cows.

Kids: Hallcienda kids nurse theirmothers for as long as they wish. Usuallyweaning takes place at about four months,but longer and shorter nursing times havebeen noted. The kids learn from theirmothers what else to eat, and they starteating hay and grain in the first week.

Since the DHI tester gives at least 12hours notice, we are able to separate thekids from the does for test day. Thisgives us one very noisy day a month.

Roughage: The herd is turned loose

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on Hallcienda's unfenced 82V4 acres ofChaparral immediately after morningmilking in good weather. They are freeto come and go as they please all day.Their pen is left open for them, but theydon't use it much. They love oak trees,and the hills are covered with scrub oak.They also browse on sage and otherChaparral brush.

For that reason, evening milk is notkept for house use unless the does arepenned for at least three hours beforemilking time. The herd comes homebefore dark or when called or fetchedby the Border Collie.

The feeders are filled with hay in theevening so the girls can eat all night.There is usually some hay left in thefeeders when they leave for pasture inthe morning. Alfalfa hay is used ex-clusively in nice weather when the doeshave pasture. However, in rainy weatherwhen they won't get wet for the sake ofvariety, some oat hay is also fed.

For about two weeks before a show,and three days or so before the DHItester is expected, the does are dry-lotted. It is difficult for them to givemuch milk or put on much flesh whenthey run the hills all day.

Water: With our own spring, the goatshave fresh running water at all times.Drainage is not much of a problem sinceall of Hallcienda is either up or down hill.

Concentrates: The milkers get an 11percent protein grain mix at each milk-ing. Even with kids nursing, every doe

Managementis milked dry twice a day. The mix isabout half rolled barley and half commer-cial dairy goat mix containing molasses.

Salt: A self-feeder is kept suppliedwith a trace-mineralized salt mixture towhich organic iodine and vitamins areadded.

Housing: Loose housing is practiced.All animals except bucks of breeding ageshare the same 2V* acre pen. Does withsmall kids are kept separate so kids donot get lost in the brush or eaten by thehogs. Most of the sows also have free runof Hallcienda except at farrowing timewhen they are penned or crated.

Barns: Barns are usually three-sided,with the open side to the south. Themilker's barn has part of the open sideenclosed in the winter so southeasternrain storms do not blow in on them.

Bucks each have their own 8' x 30'pen, about 1 /3 of which is under shelter.The present buck barn houses four bucks.

Although sheep, goats and hogs allhave separate pens and sheds, they allgraze and browse together during the day.Running goats with either sheep or hogsis a "no-no" according to most veteri-narians and herdsmen. The secret inkeeping everyone healthy is lots of space.There is no over-crowding at Hallcienda.

Drainage: All barns have drainageditches around them to keep waterrunning downhill in the wet season fromflooding the only dry places the animalshave.

Sanitation: Keeping housing areasclean is one of the most importantaspects of management.

Loose housing with lots of space peranimal, plus pasturing, which puts ani-mals out of their pens for a lot of the day,keeps needed cleaning to a minimum.

When massive pen cleaning is attempt-ed, it is usually done by tractor, and themanure is pushed into vacant areas andcomposted.

Sanitation is hard work. Sometimesit is easier to put up a new pen and movethe whole herd to a new location thanit is to clean a pen adequately. Space isthe answer.

Disease control: Discovering whatdiseases need to be controlled in a givenherd and area and what procedures are

Countryside & Small Stock Journal

._ T T I I • 1 by MrS' AI'Ce Ha"Practices at Hallcienda "allc'endaHFar™San Bernardino, CA

best used to control them, is quite ajob.

Prevention: Kids from does thathave been ill are given two three-dayseries of shots of Lincocin startingwhen they are one day old, with threedays rest between the two series. Onehalf c.c. of the drug is all that is usedper kid per day.

Kids are vaccinated for ClostridiumCSNS and perfringen types C and D, andfor Corynebacteria-Pasturella. Two c.c.of each bacterin are given at dehorningtime and again in two weeks. Also ahalf c.c. of coli-Staph-Strep bacterin isadministered at the same time.

All animals in the herd are vaccinatedwith the above three bacterins in Januaryand July every year. Five c.c. are givento each doe of the first two, and up to8 c.c. per buck. Two c.c. of the CSSbacterin are administered. The bacterinsare given at the same time, but not in thesame syringe. There is sometimes somelocalized reaction to the Clostridiumbacterin, and sometimes, especially inhot weather, a drop in production isnoted.

Treatment: Although isolating sickanimals is a good idea, this is only done

when the animal is too sick to noticethe trauma of loneliness.

When an animal goes off feed or looksrough, her temperature is taken. If thereis no temperature, there usually is notreatment. Also, her respiration and pulseare checked with a stethoscope.

Generally, does with soreness in theknees or hocks are treated with Pen-Strepfor ten days. Does with lameness in thestifle are treated with sodium-iodide.Animals with lung congestion are givenErythromycin or Terramycin. Calciumis given does that go down, and this isused often in conjunction with electro-lytes and antibiotics.

Scours are usually treated with Kao-pectate first, followed with Sulfa orFuracin and then hemicellulose if Kaodoesn't work. Rumen boluses andmineral boluses are kept on hand forthose animals that quit ruminating.Uterine boluses are kept for does thathave had kidding trouble, and post-pitis on hand for the same reason. VitaminB complex is used on does with consis-tently rough coats and no other symp-toms.

Unless a doe has acute mastitis, a casethat shows up with very abnormal milk

or with a strong reaction to the CaliforniaMastitis Test (given monthly), mastitis isnot treated.

Treating milking does is not usuallyas successful as we would like to see it.If the mastitis causes the doe to dry off,she is treated then, like a dry cow. If themastitis causes low production, she ismilked continually and not treated in theudder until she is dry. Systemic treat-ment of mastitis in a milking doe is moresuccessful, that is, antibiotic injectionsinstead of udder infusions. Treatment isalways more successful if the milk iscultured for specific causative organismsand a sensitivity test for antibiotics run.

It is best to have the professional helpof a veterinarian in treating animals, but,when one is not available, these stop-gapmeasures are often the difference be-tween the life and the death of the ani-mal.

Antibiotics are not given for sniffles,nor are they given for scours or roughnessthe first day of illness. We think it is bestto let the animal have a little chance toget well on its own first. Over-use ofantibiotics is detrimental since the organ-isms do learn to resist them, and they losetheir usefulness.

The Hallcienda Nubians and Saanens roam 82 acres of unfenced Chaparral. Exercise, good browse, and plentyof space are important parts of the management system for this southern California dairy goat breeder.

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August 1974 37

Routine care: Whether we like it ornot, certain things must be done tokeep animals looking and feeling well.

Hoof trimming is done only as neededat Hallcienda. With all the running theanimals do up and down hills, hooves donot need to be trimmed as often as theywould in dry lot or on sod. Alice preferspruning shears. Roger prefers a knife.But no matter how it's done, the hoovesshould be trimmed parallel with the growthrings that are in evidence when viewing thehoof from side and top. Any growth thatkeeps the hoof from setting square andflat is removed, even if this means trimmingoff part of the frog or heel. On somebreeds of goats, dew claws also needtrimming.

Hair trimming must be done regularlyin a commercial herd, but at Hallciendait is only done for show or to help keep adoe clean at kidding time. Fine bladesare used on head, tail, belly and lowerlegs. Plucking blade is used everywhereelse. Hallcienda animals are never "skin-clipped" because of very chilly eveningsand days that tend to sun-burn.

Dehorning is done at Hallcienda on allhorned animals. It does not pay to leavehorns on dairy goats. We use the electrichot iron to burn off horn caps. Kids arenot dehorned until they are two to sixweeks old. At that time, the doe kidshorns are still small enough to use thekid dehorning iron. The buck kids' hornsare big enough so that the large calf-dehorner must be used. But the largerdehorner is large enough to deodorizethe buck at the same time so that extraburning at a later date does not have tobe done to get rid of the musk gland.

Tattooing on colorful Nubian kids isdone at the same time as dehorning.Saanen kids, being too much alike totake chances on, are given a tattooearlier so there is no confusion as towho belongs to whom. Besides, Saanenkids are a lot less particular about whothey nurse so tattooing them early iseven more important.

Milking: All does are milked twice aday, even though they may have kidsnursing them. Udders are washed, anddoes with no kids have teats dipped.

The procedures outlined here workat Hallcienda with a minimum of timeand effort expended to yield strong,showy, self-reliant animals that produceat an acceptable level. Changes in themanagement program would have to bemade to meet different goals or satisfya different set of circumstances.

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Countryside & Small Stock Journal