SCI Goats: Value Added Products Offer So Much

My name is Erin Link and I have been raising SCI goats in western Wisconsin since 2013. I have been making goat milk soap exclusively from SCI goat milk since 2015. As my goat herd grew I started venturing into selling extra SCI goats for meat and am now pursuing tanning goat hides. Tanning in general can refer to either hair on hide tanning or the leather making process. In this article I am sharing a hide on tanning method. There is a whole language around tanning, and I’m still learning new words and what they mean. This “Leather Dictionary” has been a helpful tool in this learning process. 

With this tanning journey, I will start off by saying that I am pursuing natural hide tanning methods because I do not like the chemical process of tanning hides for personal reasons. I encourage everyone to do their own research on more natural methods versus chemical methods. 

Another helpful thought I’ll share right away is that these natural tanning methods aren’t that hard. I’ll go into more detail of course, but these are your basic steps. 

BASIC STEPS:

• Salting a fresh hide.

• Fleshing the hide after it has been salted.

• Pursuing either a mineral or brain/egg yolk or other tanning procedure.

• Making sure you have time to stretch or break the hide as it slowly transforms into a beautiful and usable hair on goat hide. 

The steps are simple, but they do require a lot of physical work and some steps demand attention in a very timely manner. So, if you don’t have the time to spend on stretching and breaking the hide, your hide will turn out very stiff like a board. 

Tools are an important part of tanning hides. I have worked on fleshing hides without the proper tools, and it was really hard on my body. I advise you to obtain the following items. 

• A fleshing beam

• At least one double-handled fleshing knife and a smaller knife. I prefer an ulu knife.

• Large plastic barrels or buckets for washing hides in.

• Access to water, preferably an outside garden hose for rinsing off hides. 

  • If possible, use a power washer, but be careful as power washers can punch holes into your hides. Power washers allow you to more quickly clean up messy hides without using as much water. 

• Create a frame to stretch your hide or use random pieces of tools to help stretch your hide. I use a broken ax handle to help stretch my hides, as well as a support beam in my garage. I do just use random pieces of furniture to help me work on hides. I know it sounds a bit silly, but it works! 

Let’s start off with dealing with your fresh hide! To clarify, I’m focusing on the mineral tanning method. I have done the egg yolk and brain tanning but it’s a bit more complex. Tanning skins and hides with fats and oils is a very old method. It involves using fat-rich animal substances such as brain, fish oil, sebum or marrow. It can also be done with soap, claw oil, yak butter or egg yolk. In olden times, animals were mainly hunted for food, clothing and shelter and using animal fats to preserve their skins was common practice. Full tanning definition guide can be found here. 

1. Dealing with your fresh hide as quickly as possible is important. Bacteria start growing and the rotting process begins quickly. To inhibit the bacterial growth, you need to lay your hide down with the flesh side toward you. I often put my hides on pallets at a slight angle, and then use 50# bags of livestock salt and salt your hide liberally. Don’t hold back, put a good thick layer of salt on ALL of the flesh. If you miss spots, this will let rot happen and this will cause slippage. Slippage is when the hair on your hide starts falling out, and you don’t want that to happen!   

This is the hide about a week after it was salted. I have it over the fleshing beam so salt has already fallen off.

2. Keep your hide in an area out of the weather. Your hide will slowly start to dry out with the salt essentially curing it. There may be liquid draining off the hide, but make sure your hide stays covered in salt and reapply if needed. Check the hide at least twice a day for the first 3-5 days. Your hide can remain viable for at least a year more in this salted condition. I have worked on 5-year-old salted sheep hides and found they were no longer viable, so there is a limit. 

3. Fleshing the hide is the next step. You want to take your salty hide and rinse it off with a hose. Getting all the salt off both the flesh and hair side. Put your hide onto your fleshing beam and start fleshing. Here is a video link of that fleshing process. It’s a bit hard to describe, but you aren’t cutting the excess flesh off. Rather you are pulling the flesh down and off. It reminds me a bit of scraping gum off a smooth surface.

Youtube video-https://youtu.be/2ycDNTk3lCw

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View fullsize

Left: Fleshing the hide after I rinse salt off. Right: About halfway done fleshing the hide. This shows how the flesh is pulled down working from neck down to the tail end. The hide after the flesh is pulled off is nice and clean. I use my smaller ulu knife to flesh the edges. Make sure your knives are fairly dull during this process. Remember, you aren’t cutting the excess flesh but more pulling it away from the hide. 

4. It may take at least an hour to sometimes three hours to flesh a hide. You will be quicker and better as you keep working on techniques. 

5. After fleshing I wash my hide again. Often I will fill a plastic barrel with water and some laundry soap or dawn dish soap. This should be a wash where you get as much gunk off the hide and wash out any blood stains. Treating this as a final wash. 

One of the many rinses using my garden hose. A little tip! Fleshing your hide while it is still somewhat damp makes things easier. If your hide starts drying out when fleshing, just take the garden hose and give the hide a bit of moisture. 

6. Let your hide dry out for a while until the flesh side starts to become tacky and the hair side is mostly dry. Depending on humidity, this drying process can be as quick as an hour or half the day or even longer. If you can work in a controlled climate a dehumidifier would help the hide dry up quickly.

Letting my hide dry out a bit before I put my mineral paste on the hide side. 

7. This is where you will add either your mineral mix paste OR egg yolk or brain paste to the hide. This is where the egg yolk/brain tanning method and mineral tanning method will take different paths. 

8. You will add your mineral paste to the hide much the same way you initially salted your hide. The paste needs to cover every bit of the surface of the flesh to inhibit bacterial growth. You can put your hide down flat on a cement surface or pallet. 

9. The hide and paste will dry out over the next 3-4 days. You can leave your hide in this state for up to a few years as well! 

10. After that 3-4 day time period you can scrape the dried mineral paste off your hide. You can even re-use this dried paste for a future hide. 

11. There is a final quick wash, and this is where a power washer comes in really handy. Spray out the mineral paste mix and gently wash one more time if necessary. 

The final rinse! I shook out the mineral paste that had dried up on the hide. I then quickly rinsed the hair and skin side of the hide off. The cornmeal can be a bit messy. But remember that this hide will dry and you can easily shake or even vacuum out excess cornmeal. 

12. Shake your hide out and let the hide dry slowly. This is where you need to keep a keen eye on the hide. As the hide starts to have a tacky feeling this is when you start stretching and breaking the hide. You will see the hide become white in the areas that are drying out and being stretched. You need to keep working hard on this stretching process. Coming back to the hide every 15 minutes or so to keep working at it. 

13. After your hide is fully dry and stretched you can now move onto the sanding method. You can sand by hand or invest in an electric sander. This will help sand off any loose pieces and it helps to smooth and soften the whole hide. 

Sanding and stretching will happen after your hide dries out again. Sanding should be done specifically when your hide is dry. If the flesh side of the hide is still damp, the hand sander doesn’t work very well. 

During this process of stretching and sanding I take breaks and come back to the hide every 15-30 minutes. Stretching/breaking the hide is crucial during this time otherwise your hide will not be soft.

14. If you want, you can get a finer grain of sandpaper and buff the hide as well. 

Congratulations, you now have your finished mineral tanned hide! 

The finished product. The skin side of the hide should turn a nice white color. You may see some staining on the hide from fat or from tools you were using to stretch your hide. This hide is from a 5 year old buck. Even though I washed this hide at least three times he still smells a bit goaty. I let the hide sit outside in the sun and fresh air for a few days and used a tea tree oil spritzer to help diminish the goat smell. I have yet to try it, but a friend suggested spritzing vodka on the hide. This is apparently an old theater trick they use for smelly costumes! 

I will list resources below and I encourage people to do their own research and practice on their own. There are many recipes out there for a mineral tan mix, as well as some different steps taken during this tanning process. In addition to this mineral tanning process, there is also the above mentioned egg yolk/brain tanning as well as vegetable tanning. 

Creating tanned hides and leather are just two by-products that would otherwise be wasted. In addition to those are cleaned skulls and horns with a potential for cleaned hooves. If you have a SCI goat that dies or you are choosing to have your SCI goats enter the food chain, utilizing as much of the goat as possible not only honors the animal, but can also potentially help you the farmer or breeder bring money in from this value added product. 

Supporting each other is key to helping preserve SCI goats. I received a lot of support from a new WI based tannery when I inquired about my own pursuit in hide tanning. The women at Driftess Tannery offered a lot of important tips and tricks, and just general support. I highly recommend sending hides to them.

Finding purposes for our goats and utilizing them is one of many steps to helping preserve this breed or any other heritage breed animal. Being able to take this journey with my SCI goat herd has been eye opening and may pave a path for other SCI goat breeders to follow. 

You certainly don’t have to tackle this tanning process yourself. Finding a tannery to send your salted hides to is always an option. I see tanned hides selling from $150-$400+ depending on size and appearance. The same can be said for cleaned goat skulls that fall into that I have seen sell from $50-$200+. Paying for the service of tanning or skull cleaning to be done would still leave room for you the breeder to make some extra income. 

Keep your eyes and ears peeled. I’ll put in my own personal plug and say that I’m hoping to pursue offering my own hide tanning services next year. With that I have an idea to offer a discount to any of you wanting to get your own SCI goat hides tanned. You can keep up to date through all of EB Ranch’s social media and website- www.ebranchllc.com

We cannot and should not rely on the rarity of a livestock animal alone to set it apart from other like heritage breed species. We need to keep working on WHY new breeders would consider buying SCI goats, and think about what do these goats have to offer?  

-Erin Link, EB Ranch LLC

List of Resources

In this list you will find recipes for creating your own mineral tan mix

Aurora Blue Farm offers online classes on how to egg yolk/brain tan hides. I personally paid for this class and learned a lot from it.- https://www.aurorabluefarm.net/

An article listing many tanning methods and resources- https://www.backcountrychronicles.com/how-to-tan-a-hide/

The mineral or alum tanning or tawing process on video. This is basically the same steps I take in tanning my own hides with this method.- https://youtu.be/gY32A_Exgoo

Links
Two handled fleshing knife- https://www.wiebeknives.com/products/weibe-8-double-handle-fleshing-knife?variant=21076727681

 Ulu knife- https://lamsonproducts.com/products/ulu-knife

Driftless Tannery from Wisconsin has a few pages dedicated to proper hide salting, fleshing beam dimensions and tools.- https://www.driftlesstraditionaltannery.com/hide-preparation

Hide, skin and leather fact sheet- https://thesustainabilityalliance.us/u-s-hide-skin-leather-fact-sheet/

Skillcult has a wide range of social media, from a very informative youtube channel to beautiful pictures. This guy even tans goat stomach to create useable containers!- http://skillcult.com/

Buckskin Revolution also offers a wide variety of classes, tools, and tips- https://www.buckskinrevolution.com/

How many can you have? (SCI Goat Management)

By Erin Link, EB Ranch LLC

The answer is all of them, of course!! Who doesn’t want to keep adding these wonderful goats not only to their own personal herd but also to the world population?

Part of managing any livestock or poultry breed requires us to ask WHY are we raising that particular animal or breed. If it’s for profit, is there a demand specifically for SCI goats? If so, what are people looking for in this breed? I think the answer at large is that people are looking for doelings or mature does. SCI goats make wonderful homestead animals; they fit into meat, dairy or fiber production, brush clean up, pack animals, pets, etc. There isn’t a huge demand for bucks, even though they play a very important role in keeping the SCI goat breed diverse and healthy. 

A Bucky Topic

With rare breed animals, be prepared to perhaps keep multiple bucks, or if you are near other breeders perhaps set up trade agreements or use AI (Artificial Insemination). Long-term plans are really important when it comes to rare livestock breeds. For example, sturdy buck housing is a must to prevent accidental breedings, although goats have strong wills and even our best intentions can be knocked down and laid flat when it comes to those strong breeding instincts. 

While we figure out our short and long term plans, we also need to think critically about the maximum number of goats we should have. What can our land and finances support, both short term and long term.

Be creative and find ways to help you save a couple bucks. My friends gave me their old camper. I gutted out the camper, put a milk stanchion inside and now use it as portable goat housing. While investing in a new jack and using old materials to make a partition.

What About the Money - Obtaining Goats

The initial cost of obtaining SCI goats or any livestock needs to be taken into consideration. Often it’s not only the cost of the goats but also transport costs. With goats ranging from $250-$600 on average and transport costing around $600+ depending on transport distance, you could easily spend $3,000 on a starter herd of SCI goats, and that is just for goats, not for fencing and housing.

Feed Cost

Figuring out feed costs is vital as well.  For example, will you be feeding hay and grain year round or using your goats strictly to clear brush or even rotationally pasturing your goats? Choosing goats that are coming from a similar management style will be helpful in these cases. Choosing your management style will help you determine some of the cost of what it takes to keep one goat fed and healthy for one year. It can cost roughly $100-$300+ to keep a goat per year or per month, depending on hay and feed prices in your region. Resource here. 

If you are exclusively feeding hay and grain to your goats (also called Dry Lot), the number of goats you should have is set by being able to financially care for that number and also making sure you are not overcrowding your animals, which can lead to chronic illnesses and disease. One rule of thumb is providing 10-15 square feet of space per goat. Resource here. Also a resource here that also comments on 10 square feet of indoor space per goat. This resource goes into other details about indoor space management. In my opinion, this amount of space seems small. Look into goat friendly housing situations. Goats need to easily get away from another more aggressive goat. Creating hiding spaces or added some kind of enrichment in housing for goats is important. This resource is here. 

When putting your goats on rotational pasture and browse you need to monitor if your goats are getting the proper nutrition that your land has to offer. Taking soil and forage tests will help you determine the actual nutrition content. Taking hay quality tests is also good to know for the same reason. After you get a better understanding of what nutrition your land holds for your animals, it’s time to determine how many animals your land can sustain. Generally speaking, a person can raise 6-8 goats per acre. Resource here.  It is also a good idea to find out what your County’s limitations are for the property you are on and it’s zoning. 

Some of the SCI goat bucks enjoy luscious, long grass. This area housed pastured poultry just a month prior to them grazing in this spot. That nitrogen made the grass grow back quickly and more lush than before!

Infrastructure Costs

Fencing and suitable shelter can be its own topic. The short end of this is that you absolutely need to have both shelter and fence up before getting goats. Goats are hard on fences, they scratch themselves on it and are climbing masters. Solid fence is a must. Consider what your water situation is and how your infrastructure will do in your region. Think about extreme cold or heat, rain or natural disasters. When I worked with my Technical Service Provider they gave me a management plan that included fencing that I needed, as well as a highly improved water system. Just these costs alone for about 5 acres ran about $20,000. I could cut costs by half if I used a 6 strand electric fence instead of a field fence for my perimeter fencing. I currently have a “winter paddock” secured with a solid field fence. For the rest of my fence in the summer I use a portable electric net fence through Premier 1 Supplies electric poultry net fence. I use poultry type fencing as I keep poultry in my rotation. The goat and sheep specific fence have really large holes that my poultry can get out of. I urge people to do research on proper fences for your own set-up. Find a mentor in your area or visit other farms to get different ideas. Remember, for an electric net or any electric fence, take time to properly train your goats. This resource is a wonderful blog from a friend and fellow pastured goat farmer. 

Some of the SCI goats on pasture.

Using the Land

In my case, I hired a land/animal grazing management specialist or TSP (Technical Service Providers), and I worked with a nutritionist from a local feed mill to determine the number of goats my land could support and make sure they got the nutrition they needed. I have roughly 7 acres of open pasture with another 2 acres of possible browse. Two years ago when I hired my TSP my pasture quality was poor. The woman created a pasture mix for me to plant using a no-till drill as well as amendments to apply. I followed her instructions, and this year I saw massive improvements in my pasture quality and diversity, although we had drought conditions for more than half this summer. If it wasn’t for the plants I seeded in, I think our pastures would have completely dried up. 

With all of this, I have figured out a rough estimate for the number of animals that my land can sustain, and what I can financially provide. During the summer months keeping 40 goats is my rough limit. During the winter I do not want to keep more than 30 goats but would prefer even less. This number is determined by the size of my winter shelters and the amount of hay I can afford and store on my property. 

Another consideration is how you plan to properly handle the amount of goats you want to keep. You may need to invest in better handling equipment and create a system where you can sort and handle goats efficiently, such as milk stands or various other portable handling systems.

Chicory, plantain, red clover, alfalfa, and misc. grasses create a diverse and nutritional salad bar for the SCI goats. 

Being Prepared for Medical Needs

Don’t forget medical costs. Getting a well-stocked goat medicine cabinet is a must, as well as forming a good relationship with a vet who is knowledgeable in goat care. You might have a SCI goat with a rare bloodline that absolutely needs veterinarian attention. Are you ready to pay $300+ at a moment's notice if something happens that is beyond your control? Or are you ready to make a possibly hard decision to euthanize a goat as it’s just not within your budget to spend hundreds of dollars in an emergency situation? There is no “right” answer, it’s just preparing yourself for unknowns and how you would deal with them. 

Planning for Future Goat Population

I sell breeding stock and I also sell goats to go into the food chain. If I need to, I will always have an “out” if I need to decrease my goat population. I do make thoughtful choices as to which goats will make good breeding stock versus goats that go into the food chain, but I always have in mind that I need to offer healthy living conditions for my goats. 

Every year I create a new farm business plan and figure out if these goats are at least paying for themselves. In a nutshell, they usually are, although I would like to start making a profit from these goats next year. 

There are a lot of reasons why we raise SCI goats, and there are a number of breeders who breed SCI goats purely for conservation and without the thought of profit. Conservation breeders play a huge role in the future of the breed and are needed to preserve these goats and bloodlines. How do you manage your SCI goats? Do you have a business plan or budget for them? Do you have a maximum number of goats you want or should keep? 

Helpful hints. I worked with my local NRCS  (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to apply for a grant to pay for the TSP to come out and create a land management plan with me. One thing I am trying to figure out better is that SCI goats seem to be more thrifty with their forage intake. They are smaller than most meat and dairy goats, so there is a possibility that I could keep more goats on my property but for now I’m choosing to stick to what was prescribed. 

Being critical about the goats I keep back for breeding purposes is an important process. I need to keep animals that fit into my management practices, and I want to breed healthy and vigorous animals for future breeders. I cull heavily or find a farm with different management practices where a particular goat may do better. Being critical about what goats to keep stops me from finding excuses to keep back every animal, otherwise, I would end up with hundreds of goats and be financially bled dry! 

Any Plan is Better Than No Plan

What are your short and long term management plans for SCI goats? If you already have an existing herd, are a new breeder, want to get into the breed, this is a relevant question. Things change as time goes on, and that means our management plans may change and evolve over time as well. Do you have anything you would like to add or share your own story? If so contact the SCIGBA at scigbassoc@gmail.com

-Erin Link

www.ebranchllc.com

Other good resources in regards to this topic

https://www.qcsupply.com/blog/product-tips-and-how-tos/goats-vs-sheep.html

http://livestocktrail.illinois.edu/sheepnet/paperDisplay.cfm?ContentID=9808

Goat Handling Ideas- https://www.sheepandgoat.com/handling

Quality versus Quantity

By Sherri Talbot, Saffron & Honey Homestead

www.saffronandhoneyhomestead.com

When raising heritage animals there is a tendency to want to breed every animal for as many babies as possible. After all, they are endangered, right? We need numbers! Also, due to the scarcity of San Clemente Island Goats for some breeders, the desire to take whatever is available may seem a no-brainer.

However, conservation breeding needs to be about more than just numbers. In fact, because the numbers are so low, a bad set of genetics, or a poor build on a goat can mean far-reaching consequences for the breed as a whole due to the likelihood of the genes continuing to be passed on.

It can be hard to cull a goat, especially one that we have lots of time and love into. We run into this often with our rabbits, and I find myself making excuses for rabbits I’ve had to nurse along through some issue, or one who is especially cuddly but has bad feet. The problem is, if an animal needs that much extra attention, they probably shouldn’t be passing those issues on to the next generation.

I frequently see new goat owners on social media who picked up a baby goat based on a cute face or blue eyes. They are often posting for help because the baby is sick, and now they don’t know how to care for it. They have no bothered to research the health of the parents, body form, milking capacity or any of the other important traits needed in good breeding stock.

So, since many SCI goats do have body issues, what does one do?

Breed up.

We have two does who are cow hocked, meaning the hind feet aren’t parallel when they stand still. In the case of coats, the feet turn out and the knees turn in. In one case, the knees actually touch when she is eating. Since both goats are sisters with the same sire, this is likely a genetic issue that will continue through his other daughters.

In a perfect world, these does would never be bred. In fact, they would probably be culled in order to prevent accidental breeding. However, since the trait is in two out of five of our does, this is obviously not a great solution for us – financially or for herd structure.

 Luckily, Carson has great legs. We will try breeding both ladies to him and keep an eye on their offspring. They will not be sold until we can be sure that this trait doesn’t continue into the next generation. Does this mean we may end up stuck with goats with bad legs? Yes. Does it mean we may end up culling both these ladies and

their offspring? Yes. But we will know, and we will guarantee the quality of our future lines by making these hard decisions.  

A cute face and adorable personality is not enough to keep a goat, or to breed it. I am absolutely guilty of having done it and was very lucky with three of my ladies and both males. It can be hard to find good SCI goats though when shopping online for a goat in another state that you will never see until they reach you. So, here are some basic tips.

-          When buying your first SCI goat, don’t just get cute baby pictures. Ask for shots of the mom’s udder, hind end, etc. Has she ever has issues nursing or milking?

-          Don’t forget the dad. How are his teeth? Is he a good breeder? What does his form look like? And illnesses in the past? All these things can affect his offspring. Also, ask about his mother’s udder and milk production. Issues there are likely to get passed on to his daughters.

-          What is the lineage like? Learn from current SCI owners who some of the great goats are. Be warned though, some of those goats may have been bred so often that they are hard to find unrelated genetics from!

-          Don’t ignore a great looking goat because you prefer darker/lighter or bigger/smaller goats. Personally, I prefer the dark SCI goats and the reds. But Carson is a magnificent fellow with great parents – I wasn’t about to turn that down!

-          Cost may be a factor for you, but it’s better to pay an extra $50-100 for a healthy, happy goat than get a lower quality goat and spend that $100 on vet fees. Remember, in any breed, if someone is selling a goat for $50, it is likely because they cannot get rid of it any other way.  

-          Talk to people who know genetics when making your plans. Even if it isn’t in goats, we have gone well having experts in cattle look at our goats and planned breeding. Many of the body issues and genetics issues are the same.

-          Have a plan. What are you going to do with these goats moving forward? Do the goats you are looking at fit in to that plan? What will you do with the offspring if they don’t fit your plan?

In short, breed with care. And good luck!

Feeling Horn-y

by Sherri Talbot, Saffron & Honey Homestead

One of the striking features of San Clemente Island goats are their horns. The females have a delicate looking, short horn that sweeps gracefully back away from their face. The males have amazing horns that continue to grow as they get older, curling and twisting in a number of different patterns, depending on the boy.

However, horns have their draw backs. In many states goats cannot be shown if they have horns. Dairy farmers may require more space for each goat if they have horns. Parents may worry

about their children getting injured. Owners may worry about goats getting their horns caught in fences.

However, horns have their draw backs. In many states goats cannot be shown if they have horns. Dairy farmers may require more space for each goat if they have horns. Parents may worry about their children getting injured. Owners may worry about goats getting their horns caught in fences.

Despite these issues, we at Saffron and Honey do not disbud our goats. In part, this is because we believe many of these issues to be more about convenience than true need, and the rest are issues we can work around.

 Goats, however, suffer without their horns, just as a cat who is declawed or a dog with a docked tail suffer. A goat without horns in a herd of goats with horns is automatically at the bottom of the pecking order. Like cats who have been declawed, goats who have been dehorned will sometimes take to biting to defend themselves. The iron used to disbud is incredibly hot. Burning the horn is like giving a person a third-degree burn. The nerves may die, but the act of burning hurts. The surrounding area suffers second degree burns and remains painful for some time.

 Shock is common for the kids and so are improperly burned horns, resulting in jagged half-grown horns that are brittle and painful for the goats. I have seen - in person - adult goats who have had their horn improperly removed and they are terribly to look at. I have also seen maimed and scarred goats because someone wanted to make sure the horns didn't grow in and left the iron on too long. Some evidence suggests that even properly disbudded kids can suffer pain for their entire lives.

There are physical needs for goats to keep their horns. Goat horns are designed to regulate their body temperature. Large blood vessels carry blood in and out of the horns as the temperature of the environment changes. Goats also use their horns to get that hard-to-reach itchy spot. Imagine if you could never reach that spot between your shoulder blades to scratch it!

And, as an additional note, goats use their horns as tool to pull down yummy branches that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach. While this may not be critical from my point of view, I bet the goats disagree!

 Finally, goats without horns seem very nervous. I have experienced this and other goat-owners have documented it as well. Even when not picked on by other goats, they appear more timid and skittish than other goats.

We also have considered the ethics of disbudding. Please understand that while we love our animals, we still do consider them animals and we use them for meat, eggs and other products. However, we try to give them the best life we can, with good care and no pain while they are with us. In our opinion, disbudding does not fit any of these goals.

 For these reasons, I choose not to disbud my goats. I am aware this puts me in the minority but I believe (and hope!) that this will change over time. I am also aware this means I will not be able to show my goats but I believe that my ego and the possibility of a blue ribbon are not worth my goats’ comfort or potentially injuring them.

  We have a history of maiming animals to make them look and act the way we want

• We used to cut the ears and tails on dogs to make them look tough.

• We pull the claws out of cats to save our furniture

• We put blinders on horses and crop their tails

Over time, we are coming to realize that these things are wrong. I hope that education and public pressure will also change out outlook on the need to allow goat's to live as nature intended. This is my two cents and how I have made my decision.

 Good luck with your own.

IT'S THE SEASON: Kidding Preparation

By Erin Link, EB Ranch, LLC

It's better to be prepared early rather than last minute scrambling when it comes to animals giving birth on the farm. Over the years I have been put into different situations where I had to make emergency trips of 60 miles round trip to buy antibiotics or even just syringes. Because we can't always be prepared for everything, it's always good to find and get to know a local vet before bringing livestock to your farm. 

Just a few days ago I cleaned up and re-organized my goat medicine shelf. I went so far as to label plastic totes and list what the contents were in each one. I have specifically a "kidding tub,"  a "health check tub" and a "ear and hoof" tub. In some emergencies I can just ask my partner to grab the kidding tub for me in case of an emergency. Listing items in each tub and taking stock of what is on the shelves let's me know if I need to replenish supplies. I'm happy to say I seem to have everything I need in stock. 

Admittedly, when I first started raising goats about 10 years ago I didn't have a great back stock of medical and supplies for my goats. I often shrugged off getting extra items thinking I would never encounter an issue requiring that item to be necessary.  And oftentimes, I regretted not buying those items due to that unheard of circumstance actually happening. 

Not always, but it's assumed that when you own goats you are probably living out in a rural environment, and you need to stock up on emergency items that may not be easily accessible. For myself, I'm thankful to have a local hardware store just 5 miles away, though they close early on Saturdays and are closed all day on Sundays. As emergencies seem to happen on weekends, the only other option is to drive 30 miles one way to get supplies I need. It not only takes valuable time if you are dealing with an emergency, it's also an extra cost on fuel and added stress. It may also be valuable to know people in your area that might have extra supplies on hand in case of livestock emergencies.

This brings me to finding a mentor to help out. There are many valuable online resources and communities. But sometimes, being able to have a person there with you physically is important. Or, help out a mentor when their own goats kid or maybe when they are dealing with an issue so you can learn. 

There are many different ways to set up kidding for your own goats. It often depends on your region, and what kind of season you decide to kid in. Many people try to have their goats kid on pasture, but that just isn't always an option for some. For me, I try to kid in the early spring, and it's too wet and cold outside in western WI for pasture births. Though if I'm able to breed goats to kid in the early fall season, I would opt for pasture births as it's usually dry and the temperatures are mild. 

What's in Erin's kidding tub?

Strictly for "normal" or low emergency kidding items:

• Clean towels

• Triodine/iodine

• Measuring tape

• Hanging scales or just a platform scale

• Tube feeding equipment

• Glass bottles with a couple pritchard nipples

• Rubber hot water bottle

• 4 digital thermometers (backups in case of malfunction)

• Scissors

Why Lines?

WHY LINES?

In “Managing Breeds for a Secure Future,” Dr. Phil Sponenberg reiterates numerous times the importance of preserving lines in order to preserve certain genetics and have them available for the future.  He says, “Managing the bloodlines, strains, and varieties within a breed is important for long-term maintenance of the genetic variability that is crucial in breed viability.”  By having breeders whose focus is the linebreeding of lines, the SCI goat population can maintain maximum genetic diversity, maintaining pools of unique genetics for other breeders to access to add to their herds. 

It is a challenging task to attempt to preserve a line at this stage of the SCIGs life on the mainland. Until approximately 2008 when Leslie Edmundson started organizing San Clemente Island Goat history, lines were unknown in the SCI Goat community.  Without access to a complete herdbook with the population’s true founders, with the exception of the Rivetti herd in California, Leslie started from scratch with the herds she could locate which were a compilation of true foundation genetics.  Her lines were:  Ahrensberg, Blake, Earth Spirit / Warren, Nellie Gail, New Hampshire, Plimoth, Rivetti, Tepper, Gil, and Vancouver Island.

The SCIGBA currently has committees working on compiling histories and pedigrees for our lines, filling in gaps to help breeders better position SCI goats for the future.  As our research progresses, our understanding of these starting lines and the genetics represented by each will continue to be presented to the breeder community.

This work is critical and time sensitive as every year we lose more genetics and information to the past.  From current data, the Blake and Gil lines have been absorbed into Canadian herds and no longer exist as separate bloodlines.  Ahrensberg, Tepper and Plimoth appear to be much less available, and individuals who are alive and identifiable are of much lower percentiles. Our breed is nearing a stage where there are almost no primary lines left, but just blends of lines.  

To help understand, let’s compare lines to the primary colors:  red, blue, yellow.  Imagine starting with individual cups of limited amounts of each color.  Once utilized, they are gone.  Mixing any two of the colors will give you a secondary color with the shade dependent on the ratio: orange, purple, green.  The mixing represents your breeding and the resulting color and genetics represented in your kids.  Start to mix all three and the paint starts to turn brown, with no resemblance to the starting primary colors nor the secondary colors.  Plus, there are no remaining primary colors to help turn the paint to a different shade. If you needed a red, yellow, or blue; it would be too late.  

What if the red represents genes which are parasite resistant or resistant to a new goat disease?  How would you reintroduce these genes to the population with all of the red gone?  If we have breeders preserving each of the primary colors, i.e. lines, they can be accessed at any time.  Every painting needs some brown, so not every SCI herd needs to represent a line, but as a whole community, we need to be able to track these genetics to ensure enough focus is being placed on these genetics, and this brings up again the need for a comprehensive Herdbook which includes all San Clemente Island Goats and is accessible to the community.

We are talking about this, not to be a harbinger of bad news, but to bring attention to this situation and hopefully attract more breeders to pursuing Tepper and Plimoth, particularly.  The Ahrensberg is currently being worked on by a co-op of breeders.  

New Hampshire:  Laurel has been involved with bolstering the New Hampshire line.  It was named this because it started at Dave Adams’ East Hill Farm, in New Hampshire.  It was heavily contributed to by Leslie Edmundson and Heamour Farm, Shannon Nichols, and some others.  Dave Adams was particularly fond of goats with the light tan coloring with San Clemente pattern and this is what he bred for. ( Note: Not all NH goats have this coloring now.) 

There are currently 8 breeders working together on the NH line to maintain genetic diversity within the line and increase its numbers. If you have goats you believe to be 50% New Hampshire or higher, please contact Laurel Sherrie.  From Laurel’s 3 years of research and tracking down goats of high % New Hampshire (above 50%), where we stand today with young and breeding age goats is 26 does and 14 bucks. However, on the bucks, the 14 derive from only 4 separate genetic lines, so careful planning has to be done with current resources. Only 1 or 2 bucks have had semen collected & stored.  

Just 40 breeding/young goats nationwide out of approximately a population of 1400.  Except for a couple of bucks, semen and eggs have not been collected as of yet.  Some of these are not available to the NH Breeding Program.  Many others have been lost due to not having any record of who they were sold to.  Many others have passed on due to age, accident, etc.   

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Most importantly, we need proactive breeders.  The first step is enrolling your herd in the SCIGBA Registry - the only comprehensive, accessible registry owned and operated by the SCI Goat breeders with copies held by The Livestock Conservancy.

Registration and record keeping is essential in breed conservation. We encourage all breeders to participate. Pedigrees produced by the SCIGBA Registry are not copyrighted and can be utilized by breeders in their marketing, sales, and development of breeding programs plus by the association for projects such as the Lines Preservation Project discussed above.

To learn more about the SCIGBA Registry, please follow the link: https://scigba.org/registry-introduction

Secondly, once you receive your pedigrees, study their lineage and bloodlines, if you don’t already know them.  For any goats that have 25% or greater of a line, reach out to find other high % goats. And reach out to Laurel Sherrie with this information as well.

Lastly, VOLUNTEER.  We need help with research.  Interviewing past and current breedings.  Tracking down historical records and pedigrees.  And so much more.

By Sarah Howell & Laurel Sherrie
Reach us by Private Message on Facebook or at scigbassoc@gmail.com.

PRE AND POST NATAL DAM CARE

by Laura Griffin Farrell

In the weeks before and after kidding, it's easy to focus primarily on the precious new kids and overlook some mama care that plays an equally important role in the health of your growing herd.  Here are some things you can do to ensure the best scenario for your kidding does:  

One month before and until no longer nursing

• Increase grain feed to 1 pound per day - this is the amount my vet recommends, and you may want to adjust it to comply with your doe's needs. That said, even with triplets I haven't seen advice to offer over a pound a day.

• Add alfalfa to her diet.

Five weeks and three weeks before

• Some like to give selenium gel at this time, but you have the best sense of your doe's nutritional status regarding selenium. 

Three weeks before

• Administer a CD&T vaccine.

One-three days post 

• Deworm

If you don't know your doe's due date, your best guess is often good enough.

Immediately after kidding (some of this will depend on whether or not you were present for the birth)

• Provide mama with plenty of water. mine like it warm with some molasses stirred in. If the birth has been long and arduous or if weather is unusually hot, add electrolytes

• Check mama over, looking at her vulva

  • Is her placenta still being expelled? Are there signs of it nearby? She may have eaten it depending on how long the kid(s) have been on the ground. Do not pull the placenta! 

  • Is she swollen? If so, she had a challenging time and you may want to administer banamine to ease her discomfort and allow her to focus more on her kid(s).

• How is her energy and demeanor?

  • If she's attentive to her kid(s), talking to and cleaning them, you can give her space to bond and settle into her new role.

  • If she's agitated or fearful, be sure her kid(s) are clean. Move her and her kid(s) to a small private spot if she's not already in one. Talking to her, reassuring her, and maintaining your calm presence can help set the tone in the barn. 

Multiple kids?  Especially in cases of 3 or more, be sure your doe is attending to the last born. These are often the smallest, and you may need to put them repeatedly in front of mama for cleaning and tending. 

If your doe is ignoring or rejecting her kids, it's important to:

• Tend to the kids.

• Isolate mama and babies to promote bonding. 

• Determine if there's a physical reason she won't bond. If so take steps to give her comfort and aid.

• You may need to put her on a stanchion to allow her kid(s) to nurse. nursing stimulates the release of oxytocin which will increase her mothering instincts. This worked well for me last year when a first timer had a difficult birth overnight in my absence. A day of stanchion  feeding, time alone with her kid, and a dose of banamine for her swelling/pain was just the trick, and she became a sweetly attentive and protective dam.

• If no efforts produce a maternal response, the kids should be bottle fed colostrum for 24 hours followed by whatever milk you use for the long haul bottle feeding.  In this case, make good notes about the doe's situation (are there clear reasons why she rejected her kid(s), has she been an attentive dam in the past? ) to help you decide if she should be bred again.

The peri-kidding season is full of anticipation and joy, but there are also times of fear and grief. Everyone has a different way of handling lost kids or lost does, and none of them are easy. If you find yourself in this position for unclear reasons and are able to manage the logistics and emotions around the effort, consider a necropsy to determine cause of death. This information will inform future breeding for you, and it might uncover important information for this small gene pool we're working with to create a sustainable, healthy population.

All said, I wish you all the best of results with your kidding and encourage you to ask questions on the San Clemente Island Goat Breeders page as they arise. Often there is someone online who can help in a pinch, and you'll always find a supportive and non-judgmental community there.