Saturday, September 25, 2010

Pat Coleby's Methods Part #1

Pat Coleby's Methods

I have had numerous emails from people about caring for my goats using Pat Coleby's Methods.  I belong to a lot of Yahoo Groups and on these groups natural goat care and Pat Coleby's methods come up a lot. I hear a lot of bad comments on her methods. I hear time and time again how she is not from the USA but Australia so her methods could not possibly work here in the US. I also hear others even veterinarians who say her methods will kill your goats. Then others who say they have tried her methods and experienced horrible results.

I am writing this to help anyone looking to care for their goats naturally as her methods suggest.  I also am writing this for there is very little information out there on caring for your goats Pat Coleby's way. I went hunting and searching for information and help. I looked in groups, forums, any place I could find that would have any information on raising my goats by her methods. I found very little information and no one out there who successfully could tell me how to care for my goats as she suggested.  I do think that her books need to be revised for those of us in the USA. She mentions feed and other things by different names than we call them here in the states. Some of the things she suggests are also not readily available here. I believe If someone would rewrite her book for those of us living in the USA it would be a huge success.  Her book even though extremely valuable needs to be read and reread over and over to learn all their is to goat care. It was not easy to follow and interpreting her methods and words to fit what we have here was a real learning curve.

The other problem I had was to find where to get all the minerals and feed she recommends. That in itself was a learning process and took a lot of research and learning. I am going to explain how I care for my herd and how I try to incorporate all of her methods. I believe the bottom line should be that each person has to find what works not only for their goats but also for them.  Raising goats is a lot of work and no matter which route you take. It is costly, both with time and financially.  I have found raising goats to be one of the most rewarding experiences and they are a pure joy to have.

In my methods I do not use any chemicals, antibiotics or synthetic medicine unless I absolutely have to. I do believe in modern medicine and it does have its place, but I do believe as Pat Coleby states, if your goats are fed properly and they are getting the right minerals then your goats should always be healthy. So far in the four years I have had goats I have found this to be true.
What I feed my Goats
In Pat Coleby's book she suggests feed that in my area I could not find or it was not available. For me I did not want to feed my goats anything that was all ready premixed, or anything that had variables that could harm my goats or their health. I looked up all the feed choices that were available in my area and investigated what they were and their nutritional content. I do not use distillers grain, corn or roasted soybeans because of their nutritional value and how it can vary. I choose not to use any of these in my grain mix.  My feed mixture is:
50 lbs. Oats
50 lbs. Barley
25 lbs. Alfalfa Pellets
8 lbs. 3 oz. Wheat Bran or Beet pulp (do not use Wheat Midds, they end up at the bottom of the pan as dust and the goats hate it)
3 lbs. 3 oz. Black Oiled Sunflower seeds (BOSS)
5.3 oz Diamond V Yeast
The protein content is between 13% to 13.5%

I buy all of this at our local grain elevators and mix it up myself then store it in trash cans with lids. The grain elevators will only mix it up for me if I buy in huge quantities and my herd is not big enough yet for that. I also buy Redman's Salt. I use to leave this out for them free choice but now I just add a little in to their grain mix. They waisted it when I left it out for them.

Here is my Lick Recipe:
5 lbs. Dolomite ( can use Min-Ad)
12.8 oz. Yellow Sulfur
12.8 oz. Copper Sulfate
12.8 oz. Sea Kelp (Thorvin Kelp same thing)

I purchase all of these things at our local grain elevators. I use different grain elevators because not all of then will work in small amounts or have exactly what I need. Luckily I live in a huge farming industry so for me all of these supplies are easy to get. For those who do not have grain elevators, I would suggest researching online, going to Walmart, garden centers, look in the garden dept for the sulfur. It is used for roses, farm stores or any where that sells feed for livestock or chemicals for lawns. It is much cheaper when you can buy these at these places. If you look hard enough and do research you will find a lot of places sell these. You can also try horse feed stores.  If you can not find all of the supplies you need locally you can order online from different chemical companies or other places. I know the Jolly German  ( http://www.jollygerman.com/products/goats/)  carries all of these minerals but their prices in my opinion are highway robbery. If I had to buy all my supplies from them I could not afford to care for my goats as I do. I use to order my Dolomite and Sea Kelp from Hoeggers Goat Supply (http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/home.php) While looking for Yellow Sulfur and Copper Sulfate, I did find several chemical stores online that sell it. http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=sulfur&affiliate_pro_tracking_id=17:31:,  http://scienceforyou.net/pyrotechnic-supplies/pyrotechnic-chemicals/sulfur-elemental-sulfur.html ,   http://www.nextag.com/copper-sulfate/stores-html , I also found some of the things online at pottery stores. They use Dolomite for clays.

In my next article I write I will tell you exactly how I feed and care for my goats as I try to implement Pat Coleby's Methods.

3 comments:

  1. Jenny, good article! As you know, I agree totally about Pat Coleby. I feel it is the Goat 'Bible'. However, as you said, her book 'Natural Goat Care' can be hard to understand. I have been really trying to let my goats choose their on minerals (via pat Coleby) from having them all out (separately) free choice. Unfortunately, they still do not take enough copper, so I have been adding it to their water. I have hard water that is pretty high in calcium, so I have different requirements for my goats than others and I am finding it hard to reach a balance. It's pretty frustrating!

    Thanks again for your information and I will be looking for your next post.

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  2. I enjoyed this article so much. Thanks!

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  3. Thank you Ann for your reply. I am sorry It took so long to respond.

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