|
Established June, 2000 Roy & Julie Austin El Dorado, CA 530-621-2920 Our Mission Providing a green alternative method to reducing the unwanted vegetation for property owners all over El Dorado County and California while breeding top quality kiko goats Scroll down to view entire page
|
|
Animal Management Practices Goat Centraltm goats and dogs are our "employees". Unlike traditional employees, as the "owners" we have the ultimate responsibility of care for our "employees". This includes adequate food, water, shelter and health care maintenance. They are the very foundation for our business, and an unhealthy animal can not thrive.
Arthur, pyr/akbashX and a group of does working on a project, August, 2005
Our goats are adapted to working in rough terrain in a variety of microclimates. Much of the vegetation is chaparral. Rain occurs from November to April, with January and February being the coldest months, and by June, the land is hot and dry. Our does are bred, and will raise their kids, while working in these projects. Many of these projects are located close to the farm, giving us opportunity and time to do the necessary data collection we feel is important to evaluate our herd. Mother Nature will often times throw out a challenge that is not expected i.e. rains in summer, snow in spring,, drought, etc.. Our management is based upon the average of what Mother Nature does, not the unexpected. This will put an added stress on the herd and gives us a glimpse into what will happen under an extreme environmental stress. While a difficult challenge puts added stress on the herd and managers (us), it also identifies the superior animals, those that can adapt to the sudden change and still thrive. On the other hand, it identifies those that can not adapt quickly. This is the most difficult part of the challenge to face, as it will place an emotional and economic burden on the farm. Psychological stress can happen in projects, and we have to be as mindful of that as any other types of stress. Long term confinement, in a small area can have a significant impact on the herd behavior and coping ability. Projects are designed to maximize the goats ability to reduce vegetation, without compromising the health and well being of the herd. Deworming is done on an as needed basis. This way, we can see how the animals perform under these conditions and we do not over use worming medications. With this type of forage based management system, inferior goats are easily identified and culled from the breeding mob. Does that "breakdown" (hoof, pasterns or any other conformation problems) show up quickly under these conditions.
Nubian doe, on a brush project since 12-06. Photo taken in May, 2007 The herd also has free choice minerals and clean water available at all times. Goat Centraltm also does meticulous record keeping on our herd. Birth and growth rates are monitored at regular intervals. Any event, hoof trimming, deworming, etc, are logged for each goat. Any specific behaviors (timid, non aggressive browser, can’t be worked by the border collie when she has a kid by her side, out of season kidding) are all logged. This information is used to determine the overall production profile used to determine the status of the does in the herd. These traits can be just as important as "bloodlines". A doe that will not defend her right to eat the best will not get the best feed, and not perform as well, nor will her progeny. We typically keep only a few selected bucklings, and all others are castrated by 8wks. Bucklings failing to perform beyond this are culled. Our breeding is for either purebred or a breed up. We use dairy does that have proven to be as tough and hardy as our kikos in our breed up program. These does have worked with our kikos, and have shown their ability to adapt and be aggressive in foraging. We strive to raise our kiko goats in the fashion that they were developed-to survive and thrive being of the utmost importance and to be the best overall production goat. Imprinting the livestock at birth, makes future management needs easier and less stressful on both the managers and livestock. Training and conditioning the goats to the work makes them easier to manage. They know "the rules". Any animal showing signs of ill health, injury or stress on a project is removed and brought back to the ranch for assessment and appropriate management needs. Annual vaccinations for both the dogs and goats are performed. The dogs are rabies vaccinated every two years, and micro chipped for permanent identification purposes. The dogs receive monthly heartworm preventative. The goats receive CDT, CL and Lepto vaccinations. They are tattooed for permanent identification. Goat Centraltm is registered with the USDA for the Scrapie eradication, and our goats are tattooed and tagged with our herd identification. Both dogs and goats will be retired from "work" when their age or health requires it. These goats and dogs were born to do the work they are performing, and nothing can be more beneficial to these animals. Learn more about how we evaluate our individual goats To learn more about a chaparral environment, check out this web
page
Chaparral Community
|
|
Send mail to
webmaster@goatcentral.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
Welcome
To Goat
Central™
