Last week, I posted a flyer about a field day that was being held in Amite, LA. We were able to attend and I must say, we had a great time! It's always so nice to catch up with fellow goat friends and of course, make new ones. The first part of the day was held at the LSU AgCenter.
There were several topics presented the first part of the day. Our first speaker was Roberta Mckowen, DVM. Her session was focused around the priority pyramid that's in the background of this photo.
I took another pic a little closer, because I really agreed with the pyramid........especially the bottom/first priority being knowledge. Shane and I had read/gathered as much information as we could before we purchased our first goats. We even visited other farms and talked with several goat ranchers before we dove off into the adventure of raising goats. Even though we've been raising goats for several years now, we are still learning.
There were also presentations from a Sweetlix representative regarding mineral nutrition for goats. It was very informative! It's amazing the decrease in issues with your herd's performance when proper mineral supplementation is practiced. Minerals play a very important part in their overall health, which is true with any other livestock.
While we were in sessions, Mr. Mike Kimball was busy preparing goat jambalaya for us to enjoy. He had a specific method to his system. I was very impressed with his set up. You can tell he's done this more than a time or two.
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| Mike's world famous goat jambalya in the making |
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| Dillon getting to help Mr. Mike out |
I will say, I've tried goat meat prepared many different ways. This was THE BEST I've ever eaten. The flavor was perfect! I'm telling you, if you don't think you would like goat meat, you should definitely try his jambalaya. It was out of this world good! I don't know if his recipe is top secret, or if he has any special ingredients. Maybe I can get him to give me the recipe to share on the blog :)
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| Everyone enjoying the good food |
After lunch, we all loaded up and headed out to Nic Girgenti's farm.
They put a few goats in the working pen and if anyone was interested they were able to see how FAMACHA checks are done with the goats. Earlier in the day, Dr. Jim Miller, DVM did an excellent presentation on parasite management. FAMACHA checks is one of the best methods to use when it comes to parasite management!
If you'll notice, they had some very nice equipment to use to handle the goats. The equipment can be such a lifesaver! I do remember a time when we caught up goats using our two running feet and only a lasso and leg crook.....long story there, but I will tell you herding them up with the dog and having a head gate is AH-MAZING compared to the previous method :)
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| Getting the goat in the head gate |
In the photo below, Nic is showing how to hold the goats eyelids in order to see the mucous membranes to check for anemia (which is most often caused by the Barber pole worm; Haemonchus contortus )
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| Nic demonstrating how to check for anemia using FAMACHA method |
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| Mr. Mike opening the side gate to let the doe back to the pasture |
I enjoy seeing your blogs about LGDs, goats and cattle. The attendance at the LSU goat session seemed to be very poor. Does this indicate a drop in interest in goat production, or did the photos not catch the crowd? Since the last time I corresponded with Shane, I acquired a 12 month old 1/2 GP 1/2 ASD male dog. In the 7 mos. I have had him he has developed into a super keeper. I had him castrated about 3 mos. ago. Keep your blogs coming.
ReplyDeleteBob Monticello, FL
Thank you! There may have been a few more people in attendance than I captured in the photo, but I'd hoped to see more people. Something I've noticed, with a lot of people, is that they really believe there's not a lot to know about getting into goats. So, so, so many people get into the goat business thinking they can just put them out in a pasture like cattle and they will be fine. There's no desire on their part to attend an educational seminar because they feel there's nothing they need to learn.....I can't seem to understand that. Of course then, they'll run into many problems, and realize there's a lot more to learn and know about raising goats.......or they'll get out of the goat business. Seems like the latter happens most often. Seems like a lot of people want the quick easy way, and don't like hard work. All of this is just my opinion though. Glad to hear that you've found an LGD that works. They are amazing animals. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really do appreciate it!
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