About the Author

Patrice Lewis

Patrice Lewis is a wife, mother, homesteader, homeschooler, author, blogger, columnist, and speaker. An advocate of simple living and self-sufficiency, she has practiced and written about self-reliance and preparedness for almost 30 years. She is experienced in homestead animal husbandry and small-scale dairy production, food preservation and canning, country relocation, home-based businesses, homeschooling, personal money management, and food self-sufficiency. Follow her website patricelewis.com or blog rural-revolution.com.

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Articles by Patrice Lewis

Training Goats to Pull Carts

April 29, 2020 · Patrice Lewis · Kids' Corner

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?

What Is the Best Hay for Goats?

April 3, 2020 · Patrice Lewis · Feed & Housing

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?

Determining the Best Hay for Goats

March 30, 2020 · Patrice Lewis · Goat Notes

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.

Fecal Float Tests – How and Why

March 5, 2020 · Patrice Lewis · Health

What is the biggest health management challenge facing goat owners? Is it hoof care? Digestion issues? Mastitis? Nope — it’s parasites.

Goat Playgrounds: A Place to Play!

February 14, 2020 · Patrice Lewis · Ownership

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.

America: Back to the (Goat) Farm

December 9, 2019 · Patrice Lewis · Ownership

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.

Building a Goat Playground

June 1, 2019 · Patrice Lewis · Goat Notes

Without a suitable outlet for a caprine’s rambunctious nature, playfulness can translate into destructiveness for infrastructure and fencing. For this reason, goat playgrounds are highly recommended.