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| Housing | |
| The goats tend to be kept in a similar way to sheep. The goats are loose-housed in Winter in deep litter yards. In the better months of the year they are out at grass with pig arcs for shelter by day and housed at night. They are bedded on barley straw. |
Adult females just in from the paddocks in November 2003 |
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| Feeding | |
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Early grazing in one of the paddocks, April 2003 |
After weaning the goats are fed hay, straw, and concentrate (17% protein dairy cattle pellet). Kids are fed a lamb creep until they are big enough to manage the larger beef pellets the adults have (usually at about 3-4 months old). Kids are weaned at 3 months old, and their mothers dried off. This coincides with the time of maximum grass growth in the goat paddocks. |
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| Breeding | |
| The Boer goats are kidded in mid to late January as they are early breeders with females starting to come on heat in July usually. This means the kids are well grown by the following autumn, which in the case of the males, means they are able to be used for breeding in their first year. |
Mother and daughter in September |
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| Health Status |
| The “Topknot” herd is CAE monitored with the British Goat Society and also Scrapie Monitored. The goats are disbudded at a few days old and kids are vaccinated with Lambivac at 3 months and 4 months of age. Pregnant females are also vaccinated about a month prior to kidding. Throughout the summer months all the goats are wormed regularly. The goats are weight recorded at birth, 3 months (weaning), 6 months, 9 months and 1year old. |
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