About the Author
Patrice Lewis
Articles by Patrice Lewis
Goat Playgrounds: A Place to Play!
Goats are many things: lively, intelligent, playful, curious, useful. It’s the playfulness that can be the undoing of the novice goat-owner. For this reason, goat playgrounds are highly recommended.
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The Controversy of Dehorning
Horns serve a purpose: sexual competition, hierarchical status, protection from predators, attracting mates, and even a cooling method. For goat owners, the question is what to do with them.
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What is the Best Hay for Goats?
Why should you approach goat feed with scientific precision? The answer is simple: To maximize the health of the animal. But what is the best hay for goats?
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How to Make Goat Milk Taste Better
“Goaty” flavor springs from the enzyme caproic acid, strengthening taste as milk ages. Many things affect the taste of goat milk — diet, health, presence of a buck, cleanliness, environment, even a genetic component.
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Can You House Train a Goat?
As any toddler parent knows, overcoming the instinct to evacuate (urinate/defecate) is a significant milestone of growing up. We can use this same training on dogs.
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Preventing and Treating Coccidiosis in Goats
If you see diarrhea among your goat herd — especially among the kids — then it’s likely that your animals are suffering from coccidiosis. Coccidiosis in goats is both common and easily prevented. Treated, it’s minor. Untreated, it can kill young animals and have lifelong health effects on survivors.
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Training Goats to Pull Carts
Why don’t more goat enthusiasts teach their animals to pull carts? Goats have been used as cart animals for over 4,000 years. Why not train yours?
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Determining the Best Hay for Goats
When goats can’t browse, they need hay (3% to 4% of their body weight, per day) for their rumens to function properly. This can be fed free-choice or twice a day.
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Goat Fecal Float Tests – How and Why
What is the biggest health management challenge facing goat owners? Is it hoof care? Digestion issues? Mastitis? Nope — it’s parasites.
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America: Back to the (Goat) Farm
In a nation of increasing urbanization, more Americans are missing a connection to nature and to their food sources. This may account, in part, why goat ownership is on the rise.
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