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Sheep bale grazing

Bale Grazing: The What, Why, and How

December 11, 2022

When it comes to grazing, there are so many different methods and methodologies that you can fall down a serious rabbit hole researching and trying to understand them all. And of course, that’s not factoring in the necessary switch in routine that has to happen during winter. Here in Wisconsin we get heavy snowfall during […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

working chute for goats blog

Working chute for goats

November 17, 2022

We recently invested in a working chute for our herd of meat goats. The handling system we chose is a portable chute from Sydell. We chose this working chute because we raise our goats and sheep on pasture with rotational grazing and needed a portable handling system option.

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Raising Goats

finding grants for farmers

Strategies for finding farm grants

October 29, 2022

It can be challenging to find grants for farming. Learn how to find funding for your farm, including where to find grants.

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Marketing Meat Goats

bale grazing results

Bale grazing results with goats

October 6, 2022

You can see the results of bale grazing with sheep and goats in less than a year. We will see visible difference the following summer.

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Grazing Meat Goats

grant writing tips for farmers

Grant writing tips for farmers

October 6, 2022

Applying for grants can be time consuming and the process is competitive. Learn how to successfully write grants to help fund your farm.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Yoga save this farmer

October 4, 2022

Four years ago I wasn’t in a good place. I was struggling. I’m not sure if many outside my immediate family sensed anything was off.

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On The Farm

how much does a goat cost? with goats lined up in the background

How much does a goat cost

September 30, 2022

There are a lot of factors to consider when planning how much it will cost to start your herd of meat goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

electric fence training for goats

How to keep goats in a fence

September 26, 2022

Training goats to respect electric fence is often overlooked. With simple training, you should be able to keep your goats in their fence.

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Grazing Meat Goats

How to select a buck

August 23, 2022

A breeding buck for your goat herd has the potential to greatly impact the future success of your entire meat goat herd for future generations. In fact, selecting the right buck is probably more important than the breeding does you might consider adding to your goat herd. I recently covered this topic in one of […]

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Raising Goats

New: Raising Meat Goats with Rotational Grazing Online Workshop

July 26, 2022

When I first learned about rotational grazing, I knew right away that’s how I wanted to raise goats. But no one was really doing it, at least in my region. So I dove in and learned how to raise goats on pasture using rotational grazing and regenerative practices. I should say I’m still working on […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

Can goats be trained to poly wire? One-strand? Two-strand? Live Q&A Replay

June 29, 2022

Live Q&A Topics: Using 1 or 2 strands of polywire with goats. Options for portable goat electric fence for dividing paddocks.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats and fly control on pasture | Live Q&A replay

June 22, 2022

This Live Q&A covered fly control with goats on pasture and using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats.

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On The Farm

garage screen door

Pack shed upgrade: Installing a screen door

June 21, 2022

Around the farm I’ve been making little changes and upgrades along the way. My most recent one was adding a “screen door/wall” to my pack shed.

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On The Farm

Getting started selling cuts of goat meat | Live Q&A Replay

June 20, 2022

This Q&A Replay covers how we got started selling goat meat, including planning from harvest to the type of cuts offered.

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Marketing Meat Goats

New Live Q&A Series

June 2, 2022

Catch the replay of the Instagram Live Q & A on all things raising, grazing, and marketing meat goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Using an auto feeder with bottle baby goats

May 5, 2022

Here’s a quick rundown on how our lamb and kid auto feeder works. We have a Lac Tek II from Biotic. We had purchased it when we were originally feeding male dairy buck kids. Since that time we’ve phased out of that part of our farm and have been focusing on our meat breed herd. […]

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Raising Goats

Recommended Books

May 2, 2022

Here are a variety of recommended books related to farming and marketing:

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Uncategorized

Bottle feeding goats research articles

March 27, 2022

Kid Goat Feeding Trial MSN174849 DATCP (PDF) Results of a trial conducted by Dr. David L. Thomas (dlthomas@wisc.edu), Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Tera L. Montgomery (montgomeryt@uwplatt.edu), School of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Early Weaning of Dairy Kids – report UW Spooner Research Station Raising lambs and kids artificially, University of […]

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Raising Goats

My favorite tool for the farm

February 15, 2022

I bet you’ll never guess what my favorite tool is for the farm! It’s my iPhone! Yes, that’s right.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Moving to e-commerce for farm sales

February 11, 2022

Moving to an e-commerce site was a big jump for our farm three years ago, but I knew it was the direction I needed to go with our farm business. This was pre-pandemic. At the time we had a basic website with an online form that operated as our means for placing orders.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Buying in bulk to help the bottom line

February 4, 2022

Running a business, especially a farm, can get expensive. With a farm that direct markets, the type of expenses can be more vast.

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Raising Goats

Regenerative Agriculture Blog Series

February 2, 2022

Learn more about regenerative agriculture in this recent Blog Series

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On The Farm

Cold-weather gear + tools to get the job done

January 28, 2022

It’s Wisconsin. It gets cold, but we as people and livestock adapt every season. But it helps to have good gear and tools to get the job done.  Here are some of my favorites ? For the farm Sweeter Heater: infrared heater for our warming huts for goat kids. Nice way to get a bit […]

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On The Farm

Livestock can help with carbon sequestration

January 24, 2022

On our farm, much like many across the region, the trend to pull livestock off the land started to happen about 60 years ago. For our farm, that noted the beginning of our oak savanna grassland no longer seeing livestock.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Always becoming a better keeper of the land

January 20, 2022

My work as a farmer is really rooted in idea of lifelong learning. I’m always learning, whether it’s daily through observation of my livestock or from season-to-season how our pastures grow and flourish (or, not so much with a drought year like last summer).

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On The Farm

livestock guardian dog with goats on pasture

Tips for getting started with regenerative agriculture practices

January 19, 2022

Getting started with regenerative farming or conservation practices may seem a bit daunting, especially when what you’re doing is already working or even if you’re just getting started with your farm. Where do I start?

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On The Farm

Can you still practice regenerative agriculture in the winter?

January 17, 2022

Yes! While it may seem like when everything goes dormant for the season, our work with the farm and the environment around us slows down. That is true, but there are ways we can prepare for winter and during the winter months that still keep the environment, in particular, soil health in mind.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Top 12: Premier 1 goat supplies

January 13, 2022

If you raise sheep and goats you know how hard it can be to find livestock equipment that works for these smaller four-legged farm animals. Just recently I was trying to find a larger stock tank that was only a foot high. I could only find one manufacture and they were out! How could there be ONLY one option?!

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Raising Goats

The importance of soil health

January 11, 2022

Regenerative agriculture, or any agriculture for that matter, starts with the soil. Soil is at the core of everything we do as farmers. It supports the pastures and crops we grow to feed our livestock and our communities

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On The Farm

Land Stewardship Project meat marketing video feature

January 10, 2022

Last summer ​we had the opportunity to have a videographer out to the farm to talk with us and visually capture how we’re marketing our farm and meat.

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Marketing Meat Goats

Goats and sheep in a woven wire fence

Regenerative agriculture: it’s the foundation of what we do on the farm

January 6, 2022

For our goat farm, regenerative agriculture is really at the core of everything we do.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Wisconsin Small Business Development Center Success Story

December 16, 2021

We were recently featured on the Wisconsin Small Business Development website as a Success Story. Last spring I worked with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls SBDC to help build a business plan and financial projects for a USDA grant application I was working on. I was able to work with a consultant to get this […]

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Marketing Meat Goats

Marketing tips from real farmers

December 7, 2021

I love sharing what we do, but I love even more learning about what other farmers are doing in this space, marketing approaches, and lessons learned (we all have them!).

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Marketing Meat Goats

Leslie Svacina

ebook: Goat Meat Primer is here!

December 2, 2021

It’s FINALLY here! I’m SO excited to share the Goat Meat Primer ebook officially launches today!

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Raising Goats

New puppy on the farm, a herding dog

November 19, 2021

Meet Clover, our new border collie puppy! I made the day trip to southern Iowa yesterday to pick up our new herding puppy from Fiona, who is also the livestock manager for Premier 1 Supplies.

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Raising Goats

Bale grazing: Good for the soil, pasture + livestock

November 17, 2021

Now that we’re in the in between stages with grazing and the full, on set of winter, we’ve begun to feed hay to our meat goats.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Integrazers

October 25, 2021

Integrazers is a vegetation management business in Northern Califorina, running sheep, goats and cattle for wildlife prevention.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Lauren Manning

October 22, 2021

Meet Lauren Manning of White Hoof Acres in Arkansas. I’ve been able to get to know Lauren through Instagram. She’s also raising meat goats, mostly-Kiko, with rotational grazing practices. I admire (and know the challenges) her work to build a low-input, resilient herd of goats. She’s also a talented writer. If you don’t follow her on Instagram, I encourage you do so.

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Raising Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Fiona Harrar

October 19, 2021

Meet Fiona Harrar, livestock manager for Premier 1 Supplies in Iowa. I’ve gotten to know Fiona and the other farm managers at Premier 1 through Instagram. I love this equipment supplier has a working, experimental farm to test and use its products for sheep and goats. Name: Fiona Harrar Farm: Premier Experimental Farms Location: Southeast […]

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Raising Goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Ben Habig

October 14, 2021

Meet Ben Habig of Habig Livestock in Parker County, Texas. I connected with Ben through Instagram and love seeing him rotationally graze his goats in Texas. And, not to mention he only uses TWO STRANDS OF POLYWIRE with his herd of 100 goats. He also has a growing YouTube channel as well.

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Raising Goats

Cherrie Nolden with goats

Goatober Farmer Profile: Cherrie Nolden

October 7, 2021

Meet Cherrie Nolden of 1DR Acres Farm in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

‘ve heard Cherrie speak at a meat goat producer meeting when I first was getting started raising goats, then later met her through our state-wide grazing organization, GrassWorks. There aren’t many of us in Wisconsin raising meat goats on forage alone, so it was great to connect with her. She’s a wealth of information when it comes to grazing and goats and have appreciated her willingness to share what’s she’s learned through her work with goats and research as well.

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Raising Goats

Kate Estrade with goats

Goatober Farmer profile: Kate Estrade

October 4, 2021

Meet Kate Estrade, goat farmer from Rio Louisiana.

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Grazing Meat Goats

Grazing Goat

3 Things you may not know about raising goats on pasture

September 27, 2021

1. Goats can be trained to electric fence Yes, it is true. Goats can be trained to respect and stay in electric fence. How does it work?  Fence training. Then, keep the fence hot at all times, make sure there’s enough pasture to eat, and repeat offenders/troublemakers find new homes. 2. Quick rotations are important […]

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Grazing Meat Goats

Grazing Grass Podcast: Meat Goat Production in Wisconsin

May 5, 2021

You probably know I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks while working on the farm, doing deliveries or running errands. So I was very honored to be asked to join Cal on the Grazing Grass Podcast to talk about our grazing practices with our meat goat herd. Thank you Cal for the invite and including […]

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Raising Goats

Review: Book explains how to manage water on the farm for long-term resilience

July 15, 2019

As a farmer it’s hard to not think about the weather. What’s the temperature going to be? Is it going to rain? Is it going to be clear for a stretch? Will we ever get any rain? Will the rain ever stop?Our lives revolve around the weather, more specifically precipitation, otherwise known as water, our lifeline as farmers to grow crops and raise livestock.

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On The Farm

Upgrading our pasture: Part two

September 30, 2015

When we purchased the farm four years ago, it hadn’t been in operation for quite some time. Since then we’ve done a lot of work around the farmhouse, on the pole sheds/barns and put up new pasture fence. The fields appeared to have been in some sort of CRP or set aside program at one time and then later let nature take its own course.

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Raising Goats

Why we farm

July 23, 2015

While farm operation is my “thing,” my husband Scott is just as invested in it as I am. While farming is hard work, and not to mention, a lot of work to start a farm operation, it’s something we truly enjoy doing. Here’s a little more on why we farm:

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On The Farm

Science on the farm: Water tank quality

July 16, 2015

One of my recent projects is a science experiment of sorts. I created a chlorine floater for the livestock tanks that are out on pasture. When it gets hot out the water in the tank can start to build up algae. With our recent rains and hot weather, the water in our stock tank was starting to show a little green.

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Raising Goats

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