G6S:<\/strong> Our entire herd is G6S Normal, either by direct blood test (through TVMDL on 06\/09\/2011; & October\/November 2013 for Carolina and Misha) or by parentage.<\/p>\n CAE, CL, Johne’s & Brucella:<\/strong> \u00a0Our herd has tested<\/strong> NEGATIVE (that’s good<\/span><\/em>)<\/strong> for the following diseases: CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis), CL (Caseous\u00a0<\/em>Lymphadenitis<\/i>), Johne’s Disease, and Brucella. \u00a0We test annually for CAE.\u00a0 See our test results at this link<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0In addition<\/span> to their Negative test results<\/strong>,<\/em> our herd is and always has been abscess free, and we have never had any signs of Johne’s. \u00a0Our herd is Closed<\/strong> and our animals do not leave the property<\/strong><\/em> unless they require emergency care<\/span> of a DVM or\u00a0I feel they require a\u00a0chiropractic care and those professionals (DVM or chiropractor) are not available for a Farm Call. \u00a0We do not allow visitors\u00a0to access to our pasture\/barn area.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Raising Goat Kids:<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Since we test for diseases, I choose to allow my does to raise their own kids, which is by far the healthiest way. \u00a0Free access to milk is just part of the reason that we choose dam raise our goat kids. Dam raised goat kids seem to graze and eat hay much earlier than bottle fed\/lamb bar kids do. \u00a0The kids learn many important lessons while being raised by their dam and being allowed to be members within the adult herd. \u00a0They are raised on their dam for at least 8 weeks, at which point I either allow their new owners to pick them up, or I keep them with their dam until they are sold. \u00a0Any bucklings are removed from the doe herd at 4 months old (or when they discover their “boy parts”) and are put in with the big boys, so they are in a herd environment the entire time they are on our farm. \u00a0When the kids are played with\/handled every day, they\u00a0are very\u00a0friendly. \u00a0They DON’T mob you for food when you come out to play with them – they just want you to spend time with them!! I LOVE this about them!<\/p>\n Closed Herd:<\/strong> \u00a0We are a closed herd. \u00a0We do not<\/em> show, instead we participate in Performance Programs available through The American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA): the DHIR (official milk test)<\/em> and LA (Linear Appraisal)<\/em>, as they are done on the farm. \u00a0Our animals do not leave the property<\/em> unless they require emergency care<\/span> of a DVM or\u00a0I feel they require a\u00a0chiropractic care and those professionals (DVM or chiropractor) are not available for a Farm Call. \u00a0For biosecurity reasons, we do not allow outside breedings to our bucks<\/em>. We may have some high quality bucklings available\u00a0for sale<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/a> or we may have Reservations<\/em><\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/a>available. \u00a0We\u00a0do not offer disbudding service. \u00a0Please contact your local Vet or a breeder in your area.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n We opened\u00a0our herd for a period of time to bring in new bloodlines (from tested negative herds) between 2012-2014. \u00a0As of May 29th, 2014<\/span>, we officially closed our herd again.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Vaccination:<\/span><\/strong> After much research and prayerful thought, we have chosen NOT to vaccinate our animals. We feel it is detrimental<\/em>\u00a0to their health.<\/p>\n Now I have to expound upon this statement: When I say that “We choose\u00a0not to vaccinate” that does NOT<\/span> mean that I do NOTHING to protect our animals<\/em>. \u00a0If you also choose NOT to vaccinate, PLEASE be diligent in protecting your animals by supporting them with herbs or your choice of natural alternative(s).<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0I personally keep on top of these issues by putting my herd through Dr. Christopher’s cleansing formulas (GI Back on Tract<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a> mix, Kidney Formula<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>, Liver & Gallbladder Formula<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>, and Blood Stream Formula<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/a>) (see our Cleansing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span> page for further details, AND<\/strong><\/span> by keeping them on an excellent quality herbal vitamin\/mineral supplement (see Herbal\u00a0Minerals<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span>), AND<\/span><\/strong> I feed excellent quality hay\/grain\/etc. to provide for their nutritional needs. \u00a0I also practice herbal preventative measures when I perform\u00a0herd management procedures (disbudding, castration, etc).<\/p>\n Please do not simply choose to not vaccinate your animals and then do nothing to protect against the issues that the vaccines supposedly prevent. \u00a0Have a plan in place<\/span> AND<\/span> the natural alternative on hand<\/span> to deal with these issues if they DO appear.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I also mentioned that I feel that vaccines are detrimental to their health. \u00a0Let me qualify that statement:<\/strong>\u00a0 Observe<\/em> your animals next time you vaccinate them – they COMMONLY get sick or have a reaction around the vaccination area. \u00a0I see a HUGE difference in the goats that are born and raised here – they are more hardy, milk better, grow better, etc. \u00a0(Sideline: I DO have slow growing lines, so our kids take longer get to their full size, BUT their ancestors appear to hold their LA scores longer than the fast growing lines in most cases.)<\/p>\n I\u00a0saw\u00a0a big difference in our\u00a0horses as well. \u00a0Vaccinations\u00a0overwhelm\u00a0the immune system and it drops everything it was guarding against to fight the battle that you intentionally introduce directly into their system when vaccinating. \u00a0This bypasses all the body’s natural barriers to prevent disease.<\/em> \u00a0This is a firm belief here at the farm.<\/p>\n A team at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine conducted several studies (1,2) to determine if vaccines can cause changes in the immune system of dogs that might lead to life-threatening immune-mediated diseases. They obviously conducted this research because concern already existed. It was sponsored by the Haywood Foundation which itself was looking for evidence that such changes in the human immune system might also be vaccine induced. It found the evidence<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Do a search online and get informed about vaccinations. \u00a0Search for the insert that comes in the box with every vaccine. \u00a0A good place to start a general search is www.mercola.com<\/span><\/a><\/em> – Dr. Mercola is a D.O. (A doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) is a physician licensed to practice medicine, perform surgery, and prescribe medication. \u00a0This is a link<\/a><\/span> to his bio.)<\/em> \u00a0We choose to support their immune system instead – using herbs, etc. \u00a0<\/strong>DVM’s are beginning to question their safety and they are also observing\u00a0some of the same things I have witnessed in my vaccinated animals. \u00a0OBSERVE<\/span> your pets after vaccination, NOTE<\/span> the animals that you lose to sickness and death – were they vaccinated repeatedly?? \u00a0I’m willing to bet they were.<\/p>\n Holistic Health:<\/strong> I firmly believe in Holistic Health, and treat both my family and all our animals by this line of thinking. \u00a0I use homeopathics, herbs, and other holistic methods in treating sickness here at our farm. \u00a0We DO NOT use\u00a0chemicals\u00a0unless we HAVE to resort to them\u00a0for life saving measures, and I personally draw the line at antibiotics because the herbal\u00a0alternatives have brought faster results in every case I have worked with here at our farm. \u00a0The natural alternatives do not adversely affect the friendly flora, so I go with them every time.<\/em> <\/strong>\u00a0We do our best to use grains\/herbs that are certified organic\/organically raised OR are non-GMO and<\/em> unsprayed. \u00a0I have not been able to locate an affordable source of organic Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, so I buy that at the feedstore.<\/p>\n Other Miscellaneous Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n DHIR.<\/strong> We are signed up for the ADGA DHIR program (Dairy Herd Improvement aka “milk test”) this year (2010)! \u00a0I will be starting this program as soon as my does freshen in 2010. \u00a0We will be on Standard Test, so our doe’s milk records will appear on their pedigree, they can earn their milk star, and they will be eligible for Top Ten Breed records,etc. \u00a0I was pleasantly surprised how little extra time this program requires of me. \u00a0The milk is simply weighed and sampled at the AM & PM milking once a month on test day.<\/p>\n Linear Appraisal (aka “LA”).<\/strong>\u00a0 We also participate in ADGA’S Linear Appraisal program each year, so we have scores on all our animals that are old enough to be appraised at that time. Each animal’s LA score is listed on their page.<\/p>\n Go to the American Dairy Goat Association (ADGA)<\/a><\/em><\/strong> <\/span>website for more information on these programs. \u00a0Here are\u00a0direct links\u00a0for more information on\u00a0Linear Appraisal<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong> and Production Testing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span> (this is DHIR).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How we choose to raise our herd G6S: Our entire herd is G6S Normal, either by direct blood test (through TVMDL on 06\/09\/2011; & October\/November 2013 for Carolina and Misha) or by parentage. CAE, CL, Johne’s & Brucella: \u00a0Our herd has tested NEGATIVE (that’s good) for the following diseases: CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis), CL (Caseous\u00a0Lymphadenitis), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":34,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-96","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/landofhavilahfarm.com\/loh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n