Goat Care
It takes a village
Caring for the goats takes the collective effort of about 10 people including part-time staff and volunteers who fill-in about 6-8 hours of hands-on work daily towards farm activities that directly impact the goats.
Volunteer Allison enthusiastically feeding goats.
Our priority has always been to ensure that our animals are healthy and happy. Our farm is unique in that we do not breed, slaughter, or sell our animals. They are part of our family and with the help of a small army of volunteers we care for all of them including old goats and goats with special needs. Our goats receive preventative and as-needed medical care from Dr. Emily Wahl & Dr. Cathy Mittenson at Flat River Vet Hospital, and we use the amazing team at NC State Farm Animal Hospital for specialists and emergencies.
Vet care
Coconut is always eager to assist Dr. Emily Wahl even during late night emergency farm visits. She gets paid in Honey Nut Cheerios.
Our animals have access to plenty of pasture but they are also fed individually twice a day, which facilitates early detection of health problems and an opportunity to account for all of them. They also have access to adequate shelter including a 2,000 sq.ft. barn generously donated by our community in 2021. The barns and lounging areas are cleaned daily and all the waste is transported for composting away from their living areas. Their waters are changed twice daily and their buckets are scrubbed weekly.
Range-free life
Goats spend approximately 75% of their day ruminating. It is important that they have clean and comfortable areas where they can lay down to ruminate.
Every day, they consume an average of ~350-400 lbs of hay, ~30 lbs of hay pellets supplemented with minerals, and ~5 lbs of chopped fruits & veggies. Some of them receive extra snacks of bananas, Honey Nut Cheerios, and sunflower seeds to help them maintain a healthy weight. In the summer months, their waters are supplemented with electrolytes and probiotics. Finally, we use a combination of pine shavings and straw as bedding, and we use fly predators from Spalding Labs from March through October as part of our biological fly control program.
Hay girl, hay
Hay is essential to keep our goats healthy. It is our highest cost and finding a reliable source was a challenging process. Luckily, we now have a dependable farmer who brings excellent quality hay and an equally good backup source.
Our regular goat-related operations require an average of 6-8 hours of hands-on work daily for animal feedings, routine goat care, and cleaning. This estimate does not include the time required to manage emergencies, repair farm infrastructure, etc. Our animal care practices are more labor intensive and costly than average, but our standards of animal welfare are also much higher than most goat farms. We are committed to keeping our animals as healthy and happy as possible, and we rely on our amazing volunteers and the generous support from our community to achieve this goal. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact sandra@elodiefarms.com to learn more. If you would like to become a goat sponsor, click on the button below.