Act with Caution
It is important to do research before entering into any
business involving large amounts of money, and commercial goat dairying is no
exception. Those in the business will tell
you very clearly that you should not start construction, or buy goats until
you know for certain that you have been accepted on a milk route. In fact, you will find that many lenders
will not loan you money until they have written verification from the company
that you have been accepted on a route.
Be aware that if you buy an existing goat operation, you are not automatically guaranteed a place on the route that served that farm in the past. You will have to call the owner of the cheese plant to make sure that they will take milk from you, especially if you are buying a turn-key operation where you get the farm and everything left as is, and you plan to just walk in and start milking. Some sellers actually charge you for the value of being guaranteed a place on a milk route as part of the selling price, but this is not legally binding on the cheese company, so don't pay for it.
In addition, understand that about a third of the milk producers leave the business in three years or less. The reasons for leaving are:
1) Undercapitalization of the operation. That is they either couldn’t get enough money from the bank to buy enough goats to make a go of it, or they underestimated how much they would need to get on their feet. When they got into financial trouble the bank wouldn’t loan any more money.
2) They did not make enough money to pay their bills.
3) Someone got sick and they had to get a job with health insurance.
4)They worked themselves to death during birthing season and never wanted to do it again..
5)Their spouse was not as interested in farming as they were, and after not making enough money, and not being able to go anywhere because they had to be home to milk seven days a week, and not seeing their spouse for extended periods during birthing season, the spouse became upset and wanted out of farming.
In any case, leaving did not solve all of their problems, because the money they borrowed for the business had to be paid back.
Be aware that if you buy an existing goat operation, you are not automatically guaranteed a place on the route that served that farm in the past. You will have to call the owner of the cheese plant to make sure that they will take milk from you, especially if you are buying a turn-key operation where you get the farm and everything left as is, and you plan to just walk in and start milking. Some sellers actually charge you for the value of being guaranteed a place on a milk route as part of the selling price, but this is not legally binding on the cheese company, so don't pay for it.
In addition, understand that about a third of the milk producers leave the business in three years or less. The reasons for leaving are:
1) Undercapitalization of the operation. That is they either couldn’t get enough money from the bank to buy enough goats to make a go of it, or they underestimated how much they would need to get on their feet. When they got into financial trouble the bank wouldn’t loan any more money.
2) They did not make enough money to pay their bills.
3) Someone got sick and they had to get a job with health insurance.
4)They worked themselves to death during birthing season and never wanted to do it again..
5)Their spouse was not as interested in farming as they were, and after not making enough money, and not being able to go anywhere because they had to be home to milk seven days a week, and not seeing their spouse for extended periods during birthing season, the spouse became upset and wanted out of farming.
In any case, leaving did not solve all of their problems, because the money they borrowed for the business had to be paid back.
Breeding
for conformation, increased milk production and components
A Quebec study took 26 goat herds where farmers followed selection protocol-based traits that were balanced to 60% production and 40% conformation. The traits were: Milk protein, fat yield, fat and protein percentage, eight conformation traits of general appearance, leg strength, dairy character, body capacity, median suspensory ligament, front and rear attachment of the udder, and teat quality. They made their selections of the young stock based on the performance of their mothers and other related does. After 4 years there was an increase of 34.1-39.6 lbs of milk per goat per year, and annual average increase of 0.7-1.14 lbs. of butterfat and 0.7-1.10 lbs. of milk protein per goat. This increased income by $1400-1600 per year per farm (minimum). Records of the mothers and grandmothers are important indicators of milking ability in the present generation. If the sellerhas those records, pay close attention to them. When you are a new buyer, it might be helpful to have the seller mail you the records, so that you have time to go over them when you are not under pressure, and then go and look at the goats.
Links:
- Selecting Foundation and Replacement Goats www.uky.edu/ag/animalsciences/goats/presentations/selectingfoundationandreplacementgoats04.pdf
- Evaluating Meat Goat Breeding Stock (good information that pertains to dairy goats as well.) http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/evaluatinggoatbrstock.html)
- For regulations on moving goats from farm to farm or across state lines, see “Moving Goats” in the Reference section.
Bulk tank temperatures for four
day pick up
Most dairy contractors will tell you to set your bulk tank
thermostat so the milk is held at 38 degrees.
That is ok for cow dairies because they are getting their milk picked
up every other day, but when you increase the length of time between pickups
to every 4th day, as the Kolb Lena goat milk producers have to do, then you
will get increases in plate count, which in turn decreases your income. Goat dairies should have their tank set at
33 degrees.
What happens is that over time condensation forms inside the top of the bulk tank, and that is where the bacteria grows. The more time it has to sit in there, the more liquid forms in the top of the tank. When it reaches critical mass it starts to drip into the milk. The bacteria multiplies, especially when the milk is warm, so you need to cool the milk down to a lower temperature to slow bacterial growth. Check the thermostat every day.
Also, make sure you have a timer put on the bulk tank so that you can turn the agitator on for half an hour when you start milking. This ensures that the warm milk coming into the tank gets thoroughly mixed in with the cold milk. If you don't do this, especially in the flat top tanks, the warm milk will just sit on the top of the cold milk, and the bacteria will multiply rapidly.
What happens is that over time condensation forms inside the top of the bulk tank, and that is where the bacteria grows. The more time it has to sit in there, the more liquid forms in the top of the tank. When it reaches critical mass it starts to drip into the milk. The bacteria multiplies, especially when the milk is warm, so you need to cool the milk down to a lower temperature to slow bacterial growth. Check the thermostat every day.
Also, make sure you have a timer put on the bulk tank so that you can turn the agitator on for half an hour when you start milking. This ensures that the warm milk coming into the tank gets thoroughly mixed in with the cold milk. If you don't do this, especially in the flat top tanks, the warm milk will just sit on the top of the cold milk, and the bacteria will multiply rapidly.
Buying Goats
The following information is the advice of Harvey
Considine, summarized from his book Dairy Goats for Pleasure and Profit,
1996, Considine Creations, Portage, WI, pages 31-39..
1) Buy from a breeder who has his herd on DHIA test so he/she has records, and who lives within driving distance of your home. Ask for the names and addresses of other people who have purchased goats from them. Call those people and find out how they feel about their relationship with the breeder. If you get bad reports, seek another breeder.
2) When you find someone you can trust, call him/her and tell them how many goats you want, what breed, what milk production, what butterfat and what protein you expect in each goat. Ask him to select the animals he feels fit your criteria and to send you the paperwork on them.
1) Buy from a breeder who has his herd on DHIA test so he/she has records, and who lives within driving distance of your home. Ask for the names and addresses of other people who have purchased goats from them. Call those people and find out how they feel about their relationship with the breeder. If you get bad reports, seek another breeder.
2) When you find someone you can trust, call him/her and tell them how many goats you want, what breed, what milk production, what butterfat and what protein you expect in each goat. Ask him to select the animals he feels fit your criteria and to send you the paperwork on them.
- Look for two year old does. It takes 7 months for the doe to grow to breeding age, then 5 months until she births at one year of age. If you wait until the end of her second year, you will have about 305 days of milk records to look at. (She will not be milking the last 60 days before she gives birth the second time.)
- You want goats that produce at least 52 lbs of butterfat and 45 lb. of protein in that 305 day lactation.
- In order to get those levels of butterfat and protein, they will have to give the following amounts of milk, depending upon the breed you choose:
- If you buy older does, they should produce more butterfat (60 lbs) and more protein (51 lbs.)
3) Look over the materials the seller sends you.
- If you need help with the DHIA reports, go to your nearest DHIA office’s website (there is a list at www. DHIA.org) and download their materials on how to interpret their forms.
- If you need help reading the ADGA pedigree reports, go to www.caldairygoats.com/readperfped.htm. Make sure that the production, butterfat and protein tests meet the criteria you gave the breeder.
4) After you have made your selections, call the breeder,
give him the numbers of the goats you are
5) When the reports arrive, go through them, discarding those that indicate the goat is ill or has
6) Call the breeder and give him your final selection (reserving the right to examine the goats and
7) Arrange with the breeder for a date and time for pickup.
8) Tell the breeder that you will need all of the health records, including vaccinations, deworming and other health information.
9) Tell the breeder that you would like to buy two days worth of the breeders ration for the goats, and that you will need a copy of his feed ration so you can transition the goats slowly to your ration. (This will also give you time to have some of his ration made up at your feed mill, especially if you are buying goats over the weekend. You will need to leave the goats on their former ration for two days, then slowly replace some of the breeders ration with some of your ration each day until the animals are eating your ration entirely. Make this transition very slowly to avoid illness.)
Go to the Conformation page of this website to get information that will help you choose healthy goats.
5) When the reports arrive, go through them, discarding those that indicate the goat is ill or has
6) Call the breeder and give him your final selection (reserving the right to examine the goats and
7) Arrange with the breeder for a date and time for pickup.
8) Tell the breeder that you will need all of the health records, including vaccinations, deworming and other health information.
9) Tell the breeder that you would like to buy two days worth of the breeders ration for the goats, and that you will need a copy of his feed ration so you can transition the goats slowly to your ration. (This will also give you time to have some of his ration made up at your feed mill, especially if you are buying goats over the weekend. You will need to leave the goats on their former ration for two days, then slowly replace some of the breeders ration with some of your ration each day until the animals are eating your ration entirely. Make this transition very slowly to avoid illness.)
Go to the Conformation page of this website to get information that will help you choose healthy goats.
Farm Identification
Number
As of 2005, you are required by law to register your farm and
be assigned a farm ID number. This is
so they can track diseased animals back to the farm they came from if there
is an outbreak of a dangerous disease, or if people get sick from tainted
meat etc. You can register online at https://aii.wiid.org/WLIC/public/user/postLoginProxy.do. You will receive a premises ID card that
you have to keep somewhere safe. It
can take up to two months for our card to arrive. It takes about twenty minutes to fill out
the paperwork on-line. They need to
know what types of animals live on your farm, and the animals are listed if
they are on the premises, no matter who owns them. If you move, the farm I.D. number stays
with the farm.
Forms for goat sales
Go to the Goat Dairy Library's Forms page to find some sample contracts:
- Contract for Sale of Entire Herd Of Goats
- Bill of sale for goats (simple)
Note:
Most people do not use contracts for the sale of
goats, and that leads to big trouble when things go wrong. Take a
minute
to fill out a contract. It spells out each parties obligations and
prevents problems in the future. Buyers can print these forms and have
them in the car, just in case the seller doesn't have anything ready
General information about buying goats
Many goat milk producers say that you can expect to lose
about 20% of any herd you buy, due to illness and culling, so you'll need to
buy extra goats for that reason. Goats
get sick from being moved, even if it's just across town. A full 1/3 of our herd was sick with
shipping fever (pasteurella pneumonia) by the time they got here. It cost us nearly $1000 to save them. They cannot tolerate wind blowing in their
faces at all, as they get pneumonia very easily, so if the truck has openings
that allow wind to blow, you are in trouble right away.
As far as finding goats, be very careful to buy only the best quality. Buy fewer, very high production milkers, guaranteed CAE and Johnes free, with good conformation, instead of lots of 2nd rate goats. The future of your herd is dependent upon the quality of does and bucks you buy. When you buy from a commercial herd, unless the owner is going out of business, he would not be selling his best milkers, so be careful. Often you are buying goats with problems, or goats that are old. It is best to take along an experienced commercial dairyman when you go to buy your goats.
Some people buy young goats from a good herd, and then raise them, making them the foundation of their herd. If you can afford to feed them for a year before they have babies and milk, you can end up with a nice herd..
Be careful of dishonest sellers. Often, when people are getting out of the business, they are in deep financial trouble, and in their desperation to sell their goats, they will be dishonest. Talk to other goat milk producers in the area to find out what has been going on.
Example: One family paid a $10,000 down payment on a herd, and when they went to pick up the goats, there was a government agent there saying that they couldn't take them because the man didn't pay his loan, and since the goats were collateral on the loan, they were being confiscated. They couldn't get their money back because the dishonest seller used their money to pay a lawyer to help him declare bankruptcy for the third time, and there were 18 creditors ahead of them!
How do you avoid this? You get the person's name and address, and you go to the courthouse in the county the seller resides in, to find out whether there are any liens against the goats, before you buy. The owner cannot sell them until the lien is satisfied. You also look up the person's name in CCAP, which is Wisconsin's on-line court records. Many times a dishonest person will have a long list of court cases that show a pattern of behavior that does not make them trustworthy.
Make sure that you write the numbers of the goats you are buying on the contract form. Your trucker should check the neck tags or ear tattoos when he picks up the goats you buy. They should match the numbers on the contract. One family purchased goats after looking at them in the seller's barn. and didn't write their numbers on the contract. When the trucker delivered the goats to the new owner, they discovered that the seller had sent all his cull goats, instead of the goats agreed upon.
When you bring together animals from multiple farms, you are inevitably going to bring illness into the herd, and losses can be very large. Buy the best stock you can afford, and buy as many as possible from the same farm.
If you are buying from a breeder that has registered goats, be sure you know how to read the American Dairy Goat Record sheets before you go. The American Dairy Goat Association site www.ADGA.org has instructions for the forms.. If the prospective goats are on DHI test, read the excellent section on DHI records at the AgSource website at hhttp://agsource.crinet.com/page249/DHI.
A good place to find goats in is the Wisconsin State Farmer Newspaper. They have a regular goat column in their want ad section where goats are sold. Realize that few dairy goats are sold between October and March, as that is the base price-setting period for some of the cheese plants, and producers need every drop of milk they can produce in order to get their base price up during that period. They will be willing to sell goats before or after that time. They also will have young replacement stock for sale after birthing periods, which are generally from February through May for the natural birthing season, and October and November for those goats bred out-of-season (under the lights).
In 2005 people expected to pay $250 dollars for an average milk goat, purchased from someone going out of business. In 2006 that price went up to $300-350 because there were so many people trying to get into the business and the demand drove the price up.
Read Goat Dairy Library’s section on "Body Scoring" on the Medical page and study the Langston University body scoring pictures at "How to Body Score Goats" (directions and photographs) at http://www.luresext.edu/goats/research/bcshowto.html before you go out, so you know what to look for.
If you don't have a goat, practice on your dog, so you learn how to feel the fat and muscle.
When you go to the farm, look over each and every goat. Do not stand outside the pen and look at them all at once.
Ask the seller for all written records on the goats and history of problems with the herd such as CAE, foot rot, soremouth, abscesses, Johnes. If the goats have any latent problems they will come full bloom once they are moved, as goats do not handle the stress of moving well at all, so don't buy problem goats. Especially avoid hoof rot. Do not buy a single goat, even if it is symptom free, from a farm that has had any cases of foot rot. You will bring it to your farm and never get rid of it.
Also see the Conformation page on this website.
As far as finding goats, be very careful to buy only the best quality. Buy fewer, very high production milkers, guaranteed CAE and Johnes free, with good conformation, instead of lots of 2nd rate goats. The future of your herd is dependent upon the quality of does and bucks you buy. When you buy from a commercial herd, unless the owner is going out of business, he would not be selling his best milkers, so be careful. Often you are buying goats with problems, or goats that are old. It is best to take along an experienced commercial dairyman when you go to buy your goats.
Some people buy young goats from a good herd, and then raise them, making them the foundation of their herd. If you can afford to feed them for a year before they have babies and milk, you can end up with a nice herd..
Be careful of dishonest sellers. Often, when people are getting out of the business, they are in deep financial trouble, and in their desperation to sell their goats, they will be dishonest. Talk to other goat milk producers in the area to find out what has been going on.
Example: One family paid a $10,000 down payment on a herd, and when they went to pick up the goats, there was a government agent there saying that they couldn't take them because the man didn't pay his loan, and since the goats were collateral on the loan, they were being confiscated. They couldn't get their money back because the dishonest seller used their money to pay a lawyer to help him declare bankruptcy for the third time, and there were 18 creditors ahead of them!
How do you avoid this? You get the person's name and address, and you go to the courthouse in the county the seller resides in, to find out whether there are any liens against the goats, before you buy. The owner cannot sell them until the lien is satisfied. You also look up the person's name in CCAP, which is Wisconsin's on-line court records. Many times a dishonest person will have a long list of court cases that show a pattern of behavior that does not make them trustworthy.
Make sure that you write the numbers of the goats you are buying on the contract form. Your trucker should check the neck tags or ear tattoos when he picks up the goats you buy. They should match the numbers on the contract. One family purchased goats after looking at them in the seller's barn. and didn't write their numbers on the contract. When the trucker delivered the goats to the new owner, they discovered that the seller had sent all his cull goats, instead of the goats agreed upon.
When you bring together animals from multiple farms, you are inevitably going to bring illness into the herd, and losses can be very large. Buy the best stock you can afford, and buy as many as possible from the same farm.
If you are buying from a breeder that has registered goats, be sure you know how to read the American Dairy Goat Record sheets before you go. The American Dairy Goat Association site www.ADGA.org has instructions for the forms.. If the prospective goats are on DHI test, read the excellent section on DHI records at the AgSource website at hhttp://agsource.crinet.com/page249/DHI.
A good place to find goats in is the Wisconsin State Farmer Newspaper. They have a regular goat column in their want ad section where goats are sold. Realize that few dairy goats are sold between October and March, as that is the base price-setting period for some of the cheese plants, and producers need every drop of milk they can produce in order to get their base price up during that period. They will be willing to sell goats before or after that time. They also will have young replacement stock for sale after birthing periods, which are generally from February through May for the natural birthing season, and October and November for those goats bred out-of-season (under the lights).
In 2005 people expected to pay $250 dollars for an average milk goat, purchased from someone going out of business. In 2006 that price went up to $300-350 because there were so many people trying to get into the business and the demand drove the price up.
Read Goat Dairy Library’s section on "Body Scoring" on the Medical page and study the Langston University body scoring pictures at "How to Body Score Goats" (directions and photographs) at http://www.luresext.edu/goats/research/bcshowto.html before you go out, so you know what to look for.
If you don't have a goat, practice on your dog, so you learn how to feel the fat and muscle.
When you go to the farm, look over each and every goat. Do not stand outside the pen and look at them all at once.
Ask the seller for all written records on the goats and history of problems with the herd such as CAE, foot rot, soremouth, abscesses, Johnes. If the goats have any latent problems they will come full bloom once they are moved, as goats do not handle the stress of moving well at all, so don't buy problem goats. Especially avoid hoof rot. Do not buy a single goat, even if it is symptom free, from a farm that has had any cases of foot rot. You will bring it to your farm and never get rid of it.
Also see the Conformation page on this website.
Wisconsin producers who have been in the business a long
time will tell you that you cannot begin to have an adequate milking
operation with less than 150 goats milking at all times.
The largest goat cheese producer in Canada, Tony Dutra of Woolwich Dairy, states that the most efficient goat dairy is 250 goats. Smaller than that, you can’t make a good living. Larger than that, the management load becomes too heavy. He says that one full time farmer (and spouse) can handle 150 goats alone, but for 250 goats you must hire a full time person to help your family. (Dutra)
Several old-timers in the industry state that because expenses are so high right now, they fear that anyone with a loan to pay might not be able to make it. They said that those people who have their farm paid for before they start, have a much better chance. Many farms have one person working off the farm in order to stabilize their income and provide insurance.. This is critical when half the herd is dry and your milk check bottoms out. But if you are thinking that you and your partner can both work full time at outside jobs and still milk goats, you will find that it is impossible to do this during birthing season. Plan from the outset to have one person at home full time. If you birth twice a year, natural season, and under the lights, then you will be dealing with birthing goats, and feeding young stock for approximately 6 months of the year.
The largest goat cheese producer in Canada, Tony Dutra of Woolwich Dairy, states that the most efficient goat dairy is 250 goats. Smaller than that, you can’t make a good living. Larger than that, the management load becomes too heavy. He says that one full time farmer (and spouse) can handle 150 goats alone, but for 250 goats you must hire a full time person to help your family. (Dutra)
Several old-timers in the industry state that because expenses are so high right now, they fear that anyone with a loan to pay might not be able to make it. They said that those people who have their farm paid for before they start, have a much better chance. Many farms have one person working off the farm in order to stabilize their income and provide insurance.. This is critical when half the herd is dry and your milk check bottoms out. But if you are thinking that you and your partner can both work full time at outside jobs and still milk goats, you will find that it is impossible to do this during birthing season. Plan from the outset to have one person at home full time. If you birth twice a year, natural season, and under the lights, then you will be dealing with birthing goats, and feeding young stock for approximately 6 months of the year.
Insurance
You need to have property/liability insurance with a
clause that says that it will pay if you contaminate the entire truckload of
milk. If you contaminate a truckload
you will have to pay everyone that had milk in that truck, as well as testing
feeds and dumping fees.. According to
the Kolb Lena field man, Harvey Zeimer, it would be approximately $35,000 for
a full truck.
Licensed Wisconsin and Illinois dairy plants that buy milk from WI producers
(Informatin from Milk Plant List for Wisconsin http://datcp.wi.gov/uploads/Farms/pdf/WinterDairy2010.pdf
CAPRINE SUPREME LLC
W5646 State Road 54
Black Creek WI 54106
(920) 984 - 3388
caprinesupreme@yahoo.com
CARR VALLEY CHEESE CO INC
S3797 Cty Rd G
La Valle WI 53941
(608) 986 - 2781
sid@carrvalleycheese.com
CEDAR GROVE CHEESE INC
E5904 Mill Rd
Plain WI 53577
(608) 546 - 5284
DREAM FARM LLC
8877 Table Bluff Rd.
Cross Plains WI 53528
(608) 767 - 3442
diana@dreamfarm.biz
FANTOME FARM
6378 Rosy Lane
Ridgeway WI 53582
(608) 924 - 1266
atopham@mhtc.net
KOLB-LENA* (in the past called Bresse Bleu Inc.)
3990 N. Sunnyside Rd.
Lena, Illinois 61048
Plant phone:(815) 369-4577
W5646 State Road 54
Black Creek WI 54106
(920) 984 - 3388
caprinesupreme@yahoo.com
CARR VALLEY CHEESE CO INC
S3797 Cty Rd G
La Valle WI 53941
(608) 986 - 2781
sid@carrvalleycheese.com
CEDAR GROVE CHEESE INC
E5904 Mill Rd
Plain WI 53577
(608) 546 - 5284
DREAM FARM LLC
8877 Table Bluff Rd.
Cross Plains WI 53528
(608) 767 - 3442
diana@dreamfarm.biz
FANTOME FARM
6378 Rosy Lane
Ridgeway WI 53582
(608) 924 - 1266
atopham@mhtc.net
KOLB-LENA* (in the past called Bresse Bleu Inc.)
3990 N. Sunnyside Rd.
Lena, Illinois 61048
Plant phone:(815) 369-4577
*a division of BC
Cheese Inc., headquartered in Pennsylvania.
LACLARE FARMS SPECIALTIES LLC
855 Hickory St.
Cleveland WI 53015
(920) 849 - 2926
LAMERS DAIRY INC
N410 Speel School Rd.
Appleton WI 54915
(920) 830 - 0980
admin@lamersdairyinc.com
S.W. WI. Dairy Goat Coop
Mt. Sterling Cheese Factory
505 Diagonal St.
P.O. Box 103
Mt. Sterling, WI 54645
(608) 734-3151
Email: mtsterlingcoop@centurytel.net
MONTCHEVRE
336 S Penn St.
Belmont WI 53510
(608) 762 - 5878
jean@montchevre.comM
QUALITY DAIRY GOAT PRODUCERS
COOPERATIVE OF WISCONSIN
W2282 Cty Rd E
Chilton, WI 53014
(920) 849 - 2926
lindahedrich@hotmail.com
WISCONSIN PRIDE CHEESE CO INC
1042 E State Street
Mauston WI 53948
(608) 986 - 2781
sid@carrvalleycheese.com
WOOLWICH DAIRY USA INC.
425 S Roosevelt St
Lancaster, WI
(608) 723-3006
Fax (608) 723-3105
Milk Pickup
There is a charge for milk pickup. Kolb Lena charges $30 per pickup, It costs
between $210 and $240 a month total, depending how many pickups there are..
(Quality Coop charges $20 per pickup.
I am not sure what the others do.)
This amount is removed from your paycheck.
The milk truck has to be able to get in and out of your farm easily, in all kinds of weather. You have to have a very solid rock or tarred driveway area right up to the barn. We had to bring in stone just to put between the end of the tarred driveway and the milk pick up area, which was the length of the tanker truck itself, and that cost us $482.88. You have to have a milk hose chute installed in the window/wall of the milk room so the driver can put the hose through it to pump out the milk from the bulk tank.
Milk withholding (see antibiotic residue in milk)
The milk truck has to be able to get in and out of your farm easily, in all kinds of weather. You have to have a very solid rock or tarred driveway area right up to the barn. We had to bring in stone just to put between the end of the tarred driveway and the milk pick up area, which was the length of the tanker truck itself, and that cost us $482.88. You have to have a milk hose chute installed in the window/wall of the milk room so the driver can put the hose through it to pump out the milk from the bulk tank.
Milk withholding (see antibiotic residue in milk)
Milk Tests
The following information applies to Kolb Lena. I do
not know what the other companies do.
Kolb Lena will assign you a farm number. The field man should give it to you. Kolb Lena has its milk tested by Ag Source labs, and you can access your reports online using that patron number at http://cridata.crinet.com/comlab/patrons.Those on-line reports are available about 3 days after the test is taken. If you get accepted on the Kolb Lena line, you can call the Stratford Ag Source office yourself to arrange to have the reports put on the website. (715) 687-4165.
Kolb Lena pays for the regular milk tests. They do plate count, a regular somatic cell count (very inaccurate), and then sometimes they’ll do a green stain somatic cell count (the only accurate test for goat SCC.) Somatic Cell Counts are looking for for mastitis and inadequate cleaning of udders before milking and Plate counts are looking for inadequate cleaning of milking equipment. See articles on “Troubleshooting High Plate Counts”, and “Milk Quality and Mastitis” in the continuing education section of this site. You will receive penalties if your milk tests are bad. You will receive bonuses if they are very good.
If the milk pickup is on Friday or Saturday or the day before a holiday, you won’t get testing done because the lab is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. If you hit enough milk pick ups in a row which fall on weekends, it will be a long time between tests. You do have the option of running tests and paying for them yourself. You can get milk test vials from the trucker or you can call the lab and they will send them to you. You put the milk in the vial and drive it to the milk testing lab in Stratford. Make sure the vial is labeled with the farm name, farm number assigned by Kolb Lena, date and tests needed. You can request that they e-mail the test results s so you get them quickly.
Kolb Lena will allow you to have MUN tests run periodically to make sure you are not overfeeding protein, or that the protein/energy balance is ok in your feed program. But if you want regular MUN tests, you will have to cost share those.
Kolb Lena will assign you a farm number. The field man should give it to you. Kolb Lena has its milk tested by Ag Source labs, and you can access your reports online using that patron number at http://cridata.crinet.com/comlab/patrons.Those on-line reports are available about 3 days after the test is taken. If you get accepted on the Kolb Lena line, you can call the Stratford Ag Source office yourself to arrange to have the reports put on the website. (715) 687-4165.
Kolb Lena pays for the regular milk tests. They do plate count, a regular somatic cell count (very inaccurate), and then sometimes they’ll do a green stain somatic cell count (the only accurate test for goat SCC.) Somatic Cell Counts are looking for for mastitis and inadequate cleaning of udders before milking and Plate counts are looking for inadequate cleaning of milking equipment. See articles on “Troubleshooting High Plate Counts”, and “Milk Quality and Mastitis” in the continuing education section of this site. You will receive penalties if your milk tests are bad. You will receive bonuses if they are very good.
If the milk pickup is on Friday or Saturday or the day before a holiday, you won’t get testing done because the lab is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. If you hit enough milk pick ups in a row which fall on weekends, it will be a long time between tests. You do have the option of running tests and paying for them yourself. You can get milk test vials from the trucker or you can call the lab and they will send them to you. You put the milk in the vial and drive it to the milk testing lab in Stratford. Make sure the vial is labeled with the farm name, farm number assigned by Kolb Lena, date and tests needed. You can request that they e-mail the test results s so you get them quickly.
Kolb Lena will allow you to have MUN tests run periodically to make sure you are not overfeeding protein, or that the protein/energy balance is ok in your feed program. But if you want regular MUN tests, you will have to cost share those.
Minimum milk production levels for goats in a commercial herd
Goats usually lactate for 8-10 months and produce about
750 quarts of milk during that time. (Considine, 1996)
Tatiana Stanton of Cornell University (Stanton, p.19) estimates that a commercial fluid milk operation needs more than 2000 lbs. of milk production per head in order to be profitable. That means that goats in a commercial dairy should give at least 8 lbs. of milk per day. Make sure you see the milk production records on the herd you are buying.
Tatiana Stanton of Cornell University (Stanton, p.19) estimates that a commercial fluid milk operation needs more than 2000 lbs. of milk production per head in order to be profitable. That means that goats in a commercial dairy should give at least 8 lbs. of milk per day. Make sure you see the milk production records on the herd you are buying.
Regulations/ Plan Review/ Inspection
Your regional Dept of Ag office can send you a copy of the
regulations so you set up your barn and milk room properly. They will also give you the regulations on
milk production, and they give you some summary sheets that help you make
sense of the regulations..
To find your regional Dept. of Agriculture office, see this website: http://datcp.state.wi.us/core/aboutus/locations/index.html
You can find all of the regulations online at http://datcp.state.wi.us/core/regulation/food/.
The dairy contractor or other person who is going to install your milking equipment has to submit a plan, and an "application for plan approval" form, to your regional Dept. of Ag office, and it should be approved before you start work. There is a $25 charge for plan review. They will write to you when the review is complete. Make sure the diagram you send has all of the measurements between pieces of equipment, sink, floor drains etc. for your milk room, and that it complies with all regulations.
The field man from your cheese plant will need to run a water sample a week or so before you start milking. Caution: Do not take that sample out of any tap that has new pipes attached to it. Take it out of a tap that has been used frequently. The new pipes have sand and debris in them that ruin the water test.
When you are ready to start milking, the field man will inspect your whole set up and approve it, then he will send out the inspector from the Dept. of Agriculture for the final inspection and licensing. The final inspection takes place just days before you start milking. Make sure everything is done right before he comes or you will have to do it again.
Note: You will be re-inspected every other year, on the same date as your first inspection. You do not have to schedule it. The inspector just shows up. Also, the inspector can come any time he or she wants to, if they receives a complaint about your farm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional help:
You can find all of the ag extension offices in Wisconsin at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/
You can find all of the tech schools in Wisconsin. Many of them have a Farm Business Advisor that will help you: http://www.wtcsystem.org/office/college_directories.htm.
To find your regional Dept. of Agriculture office, see this website: http://datcp.state.wi.us/core/aboutus/locations/index.html
You can find all of the regulations online at http://datcp.state.wi.us/core/regulation/food/.
The dairy contractor or other person who is going to install your milking equipment has to submit a plan, and an "application for plan approval" form, to your regional Dept. of Ag office, and it should be approved before you start work. There is a $25 charge for plan review. They will write to you when the review is complete. Make sure the diagram you send has all of the measurements between pieces of equipment, sink, floor drains etc. for your milk room, and that it complies with all regulations.
The field man from your cheese plant will need to run a water sample a week or so before you start milking. Caution: Do not take that sample out of any tap that has new pipes attached to it. Take it out of a tap that has been used frequently. The new pipes have sand and debris in them that ruin the water test.
When you are ready to start milking, the field man will inspect your whole set up and approve it, then he will send out the inspector from the Dept. of Agriculture for the final inspection and licensing. The final inspection takes place just days before you start milking. Make sure everything is done right before he comes or you will have to do it again.
Note: You will be re-inspected every other year, on the same date as your first inspection. You do not have to schedule it. The inspector just shows up. Also, the inspector can come any time he or she wants to, if they receives a complaint about your farm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional help:
You can find all of the ag extension offices in Wisconsin at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/
You can find all of the tech schools in Wisconsin. Many of them have a Farm Business Advisor that will help you: http://www.wtcsystem.org/office/college_directories.htm.
Scrapies tags
If you are going to sell any goats at the livestock
markets you have to put Srapie tags on their ears. If you don't, the market will deduct $5.00
for every goat. To get the tags, call
(608) 270-4000. They ask you how many
goats you think you'll have this year, then they round that number up to the
nearest one hundred, since the tags come in boxes of 100. They send them to you free of charge. With the first order you also get the tool
to put them in the ear. We don't put them in all the goats ears routinely, as
we are afraid of them tearing out, so we just attach them when they are ready
to load in the truck to go to market. They will assign you an animal ID
number (NOT the same as the Farm ID #), which you need to write down
somewhere, because you need it to reorder.
They would like everyone to order enough so they only have to send the
tags out to your farm once a year.
Start-up costs
According to H&R Block, all money paid out for
expenses before the first milk pickup (considered your first “sale”) are not
entered on your tax form as expenses.
They are entered as “start up costs” which are amortized over a long
period of time, similar to depreciation. You may want to consider only buying
the supplies you absolutely have to have to get through you first milk
pickup, and THEN go out and buy the other things.
Supplies You Will Need To Buy
NOTE: Please read the "Start Up Costs" section above,
so you don't buy things too soon and screw up your taxes for years!
Supplies needed for
birthing
- Bucket for warm water
- Long, OB gloves (Fleet Farm) , or if you are not using gloves, then you need a nail clipper and nail brush to clip and clean your fingernails and hands, and Betadine (povidone) scrub to disinfect your hands after you wash them, and before assisting a difficult birth..
- Surgilube or KY Jelly or Walmart brand Equate Lubricating Jelly (lots of it.) Keep it where it won't freeze.
- 7% iodine and small cup or empty prescription bottle for dipping navel. Keep it where it won't freeze. Available from Fleet Farm, Hoegger and Caprine Supply catalogs and Walmart.
- OB Loop (rubber is best) (Fleet Farm sheep section, or Hoegger and Caprine Supply Catalog)
- Newspaper separated into single sheets for wiping off babies. You'll need lots.
- Scissors
- Dental Floss for tying off umbilical cord if it bleeds
- Molasses or dark Karo syrup. Keep it where it won't freeze.
- Paper towels
- Udder wash (Fleet Farm, goat/cow supply catalogs)
- A dozen clean old towels (You can buy these at Goodwill, rummage sales etc. You'll need a dozen or more of them.)
- White board, markers and eraser (to record births)
- Blank neck tags and nylon cord to assign numbers to baby girls, and marker to write with. (NASCO Farm and Ranch Catalog)
- Birthing record sheets (see Forms section of this site)
- Index card box and tabbed index cards (Office Depot) Write the kids number on the tab and keep their records on that card. (See Producer tips page for details.)
Supplies needed for
milking
- Wipes for cleaning the udder or washcloths, buckets for water, and udder soap
- Foaming (or regular) Teat dip cups (foaming saves money on teat dip)
- Large amount of teat dip
- 1 gallon Utensil cleaner
- 1 gallon sanitizer or acid sanitizer (ask your dairy contractor)
- 1 Milk strainer
- 1 box Milk strainer filters
- Hand soap (liquid works well)
- Paper towels (case)
- Pop Bottle brush
- 1 box Milk socks
- Extra rubber parts for your equipment
- Bag balm
Supplies
needed for feeding grain , making milk and colostrum for a 100+ goat herd
- Grain scoops
- Note: try to find some that hold 1 lb of feed, 2lb of feed etc. and mark the handles so you know what the scoop holds. Have a variety. You need them in every building where you feed goats.
- Grain tubs to fit the stand
- Buckets
- If you are going to bucket feed all of your kids:
- Note: This option costs more money at the onset, but saves a lot of time because you don't have to fill and wash bottles every day. You make your milk in buckets, cover them and carry them to the barn. Then you pour the milk into the bucket feeders when you get to the barn.
- 12 lamb buckets (come with 3 nipples each) or 4 caprine buckets (10 nipples each) or 5 square feeder buckets (6 nipples each.) Have extra nipples on hand.
- Lamb buckets and square bucket nipples are located near the bottom of the bucket, and have one way valves to control the flow of the milk. You will need to buy both latex nipples for newborns, and red rubber nipples for those over a week old. the buckets that are fitted with Pritchard nipples, leak badly, wasting milk. The tan latex nipple work very well for newborns.
- Caprine bucket nipples are located near the top of the bucket, and have tubing that runs down to the bottom of the bucket. They often come only with long black rubber nipples. Some newborn goats have difficulty using this nipple.
- You will also need about 6 water bottles, fitted with Pritchard nipples, for those little goats that just won't drink from the bucket right away. You may need to bottle feed them until they get stronger.
- Buckets for carrying milk:
- (12) 1 gallon plastic buckets with lids (buy at Fleet Farm paint department, or use plastic ice cream pails)
- (6) 2 gallon white buckets with lids (buy from bakeries)
- (2) 5 gallon buckets
- Bottles:
- If you are primarily going to bottle feed newborns and
young kids or use a combination of bottle and bucket feeding:
(NOTE: This option is less expensive to get in to, but requires many hours of filling and washing bottles every day during birthing season when you are exhausted. If you want to use this method, and you have enough help, one person can make milk and wash bottles, while the others can birth and feed. Making bottles of milk for the day and washing the used bottles, on a day when you also heat-treat colostrum, can take as long as four hours at the peak of birthing season. )
- 45 Pritchard nipples
- 125 or more 20 oz. empty water bottles, You will use many, many bottles for milk, and fewer for colostrum, but if you freeze colostrum, quite a few bottles are tied up in the freezer and are not available for making milk. (Sam's club water bottles, from Sam's Club or Walmart, fit the Pritchard nipples perfectly. If you buy elsewhere, take the nipple along and make sure it fits.)
- 5 gallon buckets or large dishpans with good, strong handle areas on them, are handy for carrying the bottles to the barn.
- Pop bottle brush
- Funnel
- One cup measuring cup
- Half cup measuring cup
- Storage containers for bottles:
- three or four "over the door" cloth shoe holders to hold bottles (see it in the Producer Tips page under bottle holders) or 6 large dish pans
- Storage containers for nipples:
- 3 drawer plastic drawer unit with deep drawers (Walmart)
- Candy thermometer.
- Make sure the clip is strong. Wal-Mart's Ekco
brand's thermometer works well, but it's metal clip does not hold after the
first time you use it. If you already have one of these, you can make
an adapter to hold it on the pan. Take a plastic pipe bracket from the
plumbing department
, and slide it on the
thermometer. - Bend coat hanger wire to hold the thermometer so it doesn't touch the bottom or sides of the pan.
- Slide the thermometer and pipe holder onto the wire loop.
- Adjust the thermometer so you can read
it.
- Very large, thick bottomed kettle with a cover for heat-treating colostrum and pasteurizing milk. (We collect colostrum for a couple days, then do it in a big batch, as it is very time-consuming.) If you are going to feed goat milk to the babies, you might want to invest in a pasteurizer. You can buy one that will do milk and colostrum. (two different temperatures.)
- Thermoses for holding colostrum while heat treating it (We have 6 of them that hold about a half gallon (8c.). We buy them at Goodwill or other thrift stores.)
- 2 Large plastic tubs with tight lid for milk replacer powder..
- 1 refrigerator dedicated to holding milk bottles and colostrum. (No it won't fit in your regular refrigerator.)
- Milk Replacer 50 lbs. (We use Land O' Lakes non-medicated.)
- Sulmet liquid (gallon jug) or Deccox M (bag) for coccidiosis control
Supplies needed for
breeding
For pen breeding:
- Buck or ram harness for each buck
- Harness chalk: 2 colors. Have extras on hand
For individual breeding:
- same as above plus long leash (so you can remove the doe by pulling her out instead of getting in the pen and risking attack by the buck. Even friendly bucks can attack during breeding season.).
For artificial insemination:
- A.I. Kit
- Semen tank
- Straws
Supplies needed
for medical care
- Plastic tubs with covers or a sealed cabinet to keep medical supplies in to keep them clean..
- hoof trimmers
- bolus gun (small, calf bolus gun works well)
- drencher
- calf feeder bag
- dehorning iron (Rinehart 40 or 50 work well)
- doe and buck tips for the dehorning iron
- Tray for carrying supplies
- Box of 3/4" long, 18 or 20 gauge needles for thin solutions such as vaccines
- Box of 3/4" long, 16 or 18 gauge needles for thick solutions such as Penicillin
- Syringes: 1 box 3 cc. 1 dozen 6 cc. 1 dozen 12 cc.
- 12 disposable scalpels
- 1 Box surgical gloves
- 1 box OB (long) gloves
- Q-tips
- Betadine liquid (pharmacy)
- Colored duct tape in several different colors to mark the legs of goats (see Producer Tips page on this website.)
- CD&T vaccine
- Epinephrine
- Propylene glycol or Karo syrup
Penicillin
Supplies for cleaning quarantine pens:
-
Virkon The Wisconsin distributor of Virkon is IVESCO LLC, 161 Ensch Street, Mauston, WI 53948, phone 608-847-1146.) This is the only chemical that kills everything including spores, which have a hard shell around them that most disinfectants can't dissolve. Nolvasan and other soaps are good for most things, but do not kill spores. (Haskell)
-
Broom brush, pitch fork, floor scraper, shovel .
-
You can buy a stiff brush that is mounted on a broom handle. (Fleet Farm) This works really well for scrubbing quarantine pen walls and floors.
-
Never use the quarantine pen equipment anywhere else. You will need a separate set of equipment dedicated only to that pen.
-
It would be great to have a drain in the quarantine area, and to have a hot pressure washer.
-
NIOSH 95 white face masks
-
Disposable plastic gloves
-
Disposable boot covers
Those
Difficult First Weeks of Milking
DO NOT expect to milk alone when your herd arrives. You simply can't do it. Even if you have the same type of milking
stand that the goats are used to already, and have a similar pattern of
entering the milking area, you still will have a lot of trauma for about two
weeks. If you have a different stand
and a different pattern to enter the parlor, you will have absolute
bedlam. This is normal. You should have two or more easy-to-put-on
dog collars and leashes. many times,
one person actually has to get in front of the goat and pull, and the other
has to get in back and push to get them on the stand at first. Our first milking, with two people working,
took 8 hours. We stopped milking and
then started all over again. Do not
plan any other family or outside activities for the first week. You won't be able to do anything but milk
and fall into bed. Our friends had 5
people working for the first week, and it still took 5 hours to milk. After a week or two, the goats get the hang
of it, and things gradually get better.
You will cry, laugh, and curse your goats for a while.
The best way to make your goats go where you want them to go is to use a water spray bottle. Don't buy the cheap ones as they don't hold up. Buy sturdy sprayers. We have one in the holding pen, one on each end of the milk room, one at each end of the barn, buck house, kid pens, young stock pens. Goats hate to get wet, so if you get behind them so that you are facing the direction you want them to go, and then spray the water mist over their backs, they will move straight ahead in front of you. After a while, all you have to do is to get out the bottle and they will move. You don't even have to squirt the water. I see people all the time yelling at their goats, pushing them, and just generally upsetting themselves trying to move the herd. Once they learn this water bottle trick they are so relieved! Of course there are some goats who will totally ignore this too.
The best way to make your goats go where you want them to go is to use a water spray bottle. Don't buy the cheap ones as they don't hold up. Buy sturdy sprayers. We have one in the holding pen, one on each end of the milk room, one at each end of the barn, buck house, kid pens, young stock pens. Goats hate to get wet, so if you get behind them so that you are facing the direction you want them to go, and then spray the water mist over their backs, they will move straight ahead in front of you. After a while, all you have to do is to get out the bottle and they will move. You don't even have to squirt the water. I see people all the time yelling at their goats, pushing them, and just generally upsetting themselves trying to move the herd. Once they learn this water bottle trick they are so relieved! Of course there are some goats who will totally ignore this too.
Understanding Taxes
The Small Business Tax Workshop (video) http://www.irsvideos.gov/virtualworkshop/
Veterinary issues
Many drugs are not approved for use in goats, so the
label directions for dosage, route of administration and meat and milk
withhold times, meant for other livestock, may be incorrect for
goats. By law, all drugs which are not approved for goats, must
be given under the supervision of a veterinarian who works with your herd
on a regular basis. Do not treat your goats without consulting with your local veterinarian first.
Keep a notebook of accurate, dated records of all phone calls and conversations with your veterinarian. The laws and regulations regarding the administration of medications to livestock are complicated and they carry penalties. If you ever have a problem, a written record is good protection.
Once your veterinarian knows you, he or she can give you standing orders and treatment protocols that enable you to do some of the medical work on your farm yourself. You should get those in writing, and make sure they are dated and signed by the vet. The legal guidelines the vet must follow when leaving medications at your farm for your use are listed in http://luresext.edu/goats/field/dawson10.pdf in the Health section.
It is cost effective to learn to examine your animal and take it's vital signs. That will help you identify all peramiters of the problem, and get organized before you call the vet. If they come out, hand the vital signs over to them when they arrive. This saves the vet time, and you money. Remember that most vets are working long hours and may be very tired. Anything you can do to enable them will be greatly appreciated.
Keep good records of all illnesses, vaccinations and treatments. There are record-keeping forms on the Forms page of this website.
Whenever possible, call the vet early in the morning during normal working hours Monday - Friday. Do not wait until Friday afternoon or during the weekend or right before or during a holiday to call for help. Keep in mind that many vets will not be inclined to come out to your farm on a weekend or holiday to treat your goats if you haven't done business with them before that. Support your vet, and he or she will take good care of your herd.
Keep a notebook of accurate, dated records of all phone calls and conversations with your veterinarian. The laws and regulations regarding the administration of medications to livestock are complicated and they carry penalties. If you ever have a problem, a written record is good protection.
Once your veterinarian knows you, he or she can give you standing orders and treatment protocols that enable you to do some of the medical work on your farm yourself. You should get those in writing, and make sure they are dated and signed by the vet. The legal guidelines the vet must follow when leaving medications at your farm for your use are listed in http://luresext.edu/goats/field/dawson10.pdf in the Health section.
It is cost effective to learn to examine your animal and take it's vital signs. That will help you identify all peramiters of the problem, and get organized before you call the vet. If they come out, hand the vital signs over to them when they arrive. This saves the vet time, and you money. Remember that most vets are working long hours and may be very tired. Anything you can do to enable them will be greatly appreciated.
Keep good records of all illnesses, vaccinations and treatments. There are record-keeping forms on the Forms page of this website.
Whenever possible, call the vet early in the morning during normal working hours Monday - Friday. Do not wait until Friday afternoon or during the weekend or right before or during a holiday to call for help. Keep in mind that many vets will not be inclined to come out to your farm on a weekend or holiday to treat your goats if you haven't done business with them before that. Support your vet, and he or she will take good care of your herd.
What happens when you are applying to be on a milk route (Kolb Lena)
This section is one producer's story about getting on the
Kolb Lena milk route.
"We called Kolb Lena and told them we wanted to get on the route. The field man called us back and asked us to send him a letter telling him who we are and why we wanted to be on the route.
Then he came out to our house. He looked at both the house and barn and visited with our family for about an hour and a half. He told us later that the very first thing he looks at when he is thinking of taking someone on his route, is the cleanliness of their house. He figures if their house is clean they are going to treat the barn and the goats the same way.
After he looked over our farm he asked us when we would be ready to ship milk and we gave him a date several months away. He accepted us on the route.
He said that Kolb Lena would like you to have enough goats to provide a 2000 lb. milk pick up every time the truck comes, but they give you a year or so to build up to that level.
He said he doesn't expect your whole place to be set up before he takes you on the route. He knows that you cannot make the investment in equipment before you are accepted, because most banks will not loan you any money until you get on a milk route and have proof in writing that you are on the route. Obviously, you can't start remodeling and buying equipment until you get a loan, so they do understand that it will take you a while to get the barn ready. But, if you get your planning done while you wait to get on the route, things will go more smoothly when you do get accepted. (Red River Farm)
"We called Kolb Lena and told them we wanted to get on the route. The field man called us back and asked us to send him a letter telling him who we are and why we wanted to be on the route.
Then he came out to our house. He looked at both the house and barn and visited with our family for about an hour and a half. He told us later that the very first thing he looks at when he is thinking of taking someone on his route, is the cleanliness of their house. He figures if their house is clean they are going to treat the barn and the goats the same way.
After he looked over our farm he asked us when we would be ready to ship milk and we gave him a date several months away. He accepted us on the route.
He said that Kolb Lena would like you to have enough goats to provide a 2000 lb. milk pick up every time the truck comes, but they give you a year or so to build up to that level.
He said he doesn't expect your whole place to be set up before he takes you on the route. He knows that you cannot make the investment in equipment before you are accepted, because most banks will not loan you any money until you get on a milk route and have proof in writing that you are on the route. Obviously, you can't start remodeling and buying equipment until you get a loan, so they do understand that it will take you a while to get the barn ready. But, if you get your planning done while you wait to get on the route, things will go more smoothly when you do get accepted. (Red River Farm)
What to do
if you can't get on a route
It is sometimes very difficult to wait to get on a route. You are stuck in this holding pattern where
you have a lot of interest and energy in moving forward with your plans, and
yet can't do that without some reassurance that your operation will be
viable. You feel an urgency to get
ready just in case the route opens up, yet you can't get a loan until you're
accepted on the route. It is a
very frustrating time, further complicated by the fact that cement, plumbing,
drainage, construction, fencing and dairy contractors lay out their work
calendar in January and February for the entire year, and if you don't get
your name in the bucket at that time, you often cannot get the work done
until the next year. Also, cement
contractors cannot work in the winter at all, and they can't work in the
spring until the Highway Department announces a release date, which indicates
all the frost is out of the ground and the cement trucks can be out on the
road, usually in May.
What do you do in the meantime? One of the things that might be helpful is to realize that there is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into creating a working dairy operation, and you can do an awful lot of work toward your goal while you wait to get on a route. This is not busy work. It is actually the same work you would have to do if you were going to get set up right away, but you are lucky enough to be able to be able to take your time and plan well before you start.
What do you do in the meantime? One of the things that might be helpful is to realize that there is a tremendous amount of planning that goes into creating a working dairy operation, and you can do an awful lot of work toward your goal while you wait to get on a route. This is not busy work. It is actually the same work you would have to do if you were going to get set up right away, but you are lucky enough to be able to be able to take your time and plan well before you start.
- Visit other goat farms. You can find lists of farms at the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association website.
- Go to goat field days. These are tours of goat farms, and they are held all through the spring, summer and fall. Email eanne Meier at jeannemariemeier@gmail.com to receive emails about these field days.
- Look at the sample farms on this website (high tech, medium tech and low tech), with pictures of the stands and stanchions, barn diagrams, rations, how they handle young stock, etc, so people who can’t visit a goat farm can at least see what other people are doing. These are located in the Building and Planning section.
- Examine different ways of using the land and buildings you have available. Draw diagrams of the buildings and lots figure out the best way to use that space. I went out a measured all of the buildings and lots and made detailed drawings with measurements on them. Then I put the diagrams in a clear sheet protector and used a white board marker to try out different ways of laying out different arrangements. I could just wipe it off with a damp cloth to start over. Once I got a final drawing, I put it in the computer. The reference section on this site has information about how many goats can fit in a given space for feeding, grazing, drinking water, etc. It also has information on lumber sizes, hay storage space, conversion tables and math formulas for figuring area, volume, perimeter, circumference and other things you can’t quite remember from high school.
- Decide what work you can do by yourself, and what you have to hire someone else to do.
- Outline what work has to be done by each individual contractor. Prepare packets with diagrams of the buildings and a letter stating exactly what work needs to be done. You can send out the letters and take bids before you are accepted on the route. You will need the bid amounts to know how much money to borrow. When contractors come out to do a bid, they can help you solve problems, and often come up with ideas you never thought of. They also will tell you if there is other work needed before they can do their job. Most importantly, you get a good idea whether you will like working with the guy or not. If you are uncomfortable with a contractor at the time you show them around the barn, do not hire them. If you do like them, make sure you get the correct spelling of his full name, and the correct name of his business. Also ask for the names, addresses and phone numbers of people he has done similar work for and call them all. Make sure that the contractor comes back if there are problems after they are paid.
- Check out each contractor that you might want to hire. Go to CCAP on the internet at http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl, which is where the Wisconsin court materials are kept, and see whether he has had any cases filed against him for non-payment of debts, or for fraud, etc. Check both his name and his company name on that site. If his name is William but he calls himself Bill, check both names. The cases are sometimes listed under nicknames too. If there is more than one person with his name, you will be able to weed out the other cases by knowing his address.
- Every community has a few dishonest contractors who take money from people and never complete the work, or they do the work, but don't pay the bills to the lumberyard or other vendors. Those vendors can file a lien against your property until those bills are paid. If the contractor doesn't pay the bills with the money you paid him, you will be asked to pay them yourself. You may have to sue the contractor to recoup your losses and that costs time and money, but in the mean time you have to pay the bills.
- The contractors that are dishonest often have a long history with the court system, and that is what you will find out if you check CCAP. If they have cases on CCAP, you can go to the courthouse and look at the files and read exactly what has happened. If they have a history of bad dealings with customers, take them off your list.
- Draw up lists of what you need to buy for your part of
the construction and seek out sources and prices for those items. Then use those lists to make shopping
lists for each store or catalog.
- Do the same thing for dairy supplies, milking equipment, stands etc.
-
Educate yourself about goats. Read everything you can get your hands
on, especially about birthing and illnesses.
- Make notebooks with the information you find so you can locate it later. Before you start, read Anatomy and Physiology of The Goat at http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/goat-health/anatomy.pdf. It is an excellent quick-to-read overview of goat anatomy (digestive system, reproductive system, feet, embryology, udder) and physiology (liver function, kidney function, reproduction, digestion.) Diagrams of goat, skeleton, moveable joints, stomach and intestinal tract, reproductive tract, reproductive organs, skin, lower leg and foot, normal hoof, egg fertilization, fetus, cross section of udder and position of fetus in abdomen. It will help you understand the other articles you read.
- Join the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association and go to the spring or fall meeting. Or go to Arlington Research Station in November for their education seminars. You will meet other people who are interested in goats, find out what commercial dairies are near you, and make contacts that will sustain you in the future. Those same people can also let you know when they hear someone is leaving a milk route and possibly will talk to the field man about you. They often know where there are goats for sale.
- Subscribe to goat journals for education, and farm newspapers to find out what goats are selling for so you know how much to budget.
- Learn as you go by offering to help a commercial producer with their work. Learn to deliver babies, feed and dehorn kid goats, give shots, build fences, trim hooves...whatever needs to be done, so you are working toward your goal. You will see the work that is involved and might decide that you are not interested in dairying, but if you are still interested, you will gain valuable skills, make a friend and give someone else a helping hand.
- Go to the Conformation page of this site and read the section on "How to examine a goat before you buy." Practice this over and over, until you can do it quickly and easily.