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

Can You House Train a Goat?
September 21, 2021 · · Ownership

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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What Is the Best Hay for Goats?
August 5, 2021 · · 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?

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Preventing and Treating Coccidiosis in Goats
July 5, 2021 · · Health

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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Goat Playgrounds: A Place to Play!
November 21, 2020 · · 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.

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Training Goats to Pull Carts
April 29, 2020 · · 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?

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Determining the Best Hay for Goats
March 30, 2020 · · 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.

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Goat Fecal Float Tests – How and Why
March 5, 2020 · · Health

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
December 9, 2019 · · 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.

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Building a Goat Playground
June 1, 2019 · · 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.

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