BOER GOAT NEWS - Michigan Boer Goat Association, Inc.
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BOER GOAT NEWS - Michigan Boer Goat Association, Inc.
January 2012 Volume 2, Issue 1 B OER G OAT N EWS Michigan Boer Goat Association www.michiganboergoat.org Wow! By Karen Ibarra th Over a third of our membership got together January 7 & 8 for the activities at the Shepherds Weekend. It was great to see you all and I personally thank each of you for putting forth the effort to attend at this unpredictable time of year. Mark & Carrie Nageotte Mike & Kim Birsen Justin & Carrie Pish Terri Fryman Matt & Melissa White Bob & Buzzy Esham Steve Hunt Tina Esham & boys Lisa & Kyle Stack Keith, Jan & Grant Tirrell Emily Luthringer Crista Crawford Beth Ryan Frank Welling If you were not able to attend, I urge you to give one of these folks a call and hear about the weekend. All the attendees have updated their contact information with their 2012 membership. Call and ask what they thought about the guest presenter, Dr Ken Andries. He was sponsored by MBGA; this is an example of your MBGA dollars at work. He has invited all of us to participate in one of his research projects which will help us in evaluating our breeding program; he has also rd invited us to Kentucky State University on the 3 Thursday of October for an educational program and tour of his 300 head goat herd, there at the university. His contact information and other details will be coming to the website soon. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Wow! 1 The Inside Scoop 1 Boer Goat Pictures by Terri Fryman 2 Normal Goat Health Information 2 Featured Member – Crista Crawford 3 MBGA Wether Series 5 IMO – Internet Marketing Editor’s Corner 5 7 In the conversations and contacts made during this event, another opportunity has presented itself to us: MEAP verification phase 1 class and outreach in your county. There is interest in a meeting for the Jackson county area, and that may happen as soon as next month, so again, keep an eye on the website for details. I do want you all to know that both pieces of Sydell equipment came home with me, much to my & my hubby’s relief. I only had a 50/50 chance to win the drawing by the time everyone in attendance on Saturday afternoon had put their tickets in the pot! Dr Andries did the drawing for us. I truly enjoyed the events on Saturday and am interested in what the other folks in attendance thought. We will want to decide early if we should participate again next year. Karen The Inside Scoop By Tina Esham Calling all MBGA Members… If you haven’t been on the website lately I challenge you to go there before March 10 2012. First you should go to the member directory page and check out your listing. Is everything correct? Should something be changed or do you have suggestions that maybe the board should hear to help improve how you information looks on this page or what you would like to see available on this page in the future? If you are listed on this page there is a very high chance that someone or many someones have contacted you because you are listed here. This is an awesome marketing tool for our members and it is extremely reasonably priced. We are adding features and improving the website on a regular basis. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated please contact one of the board members today and share your ideas with them. The MBGA is working hard for you. This year you have elected new board members Lisa and Tim Stack and Kelli Davis who are dedicating one and a half hours per month on Please see The Inside Scoop on page 6 Page 2 Boer Goat News Boer Goat Pictures Submitted By Terri Fryman Normal Goat Health Information • • • • • • • • Temperature = 102.5 - 104 - This varies depending on the temperature of the goat's surroundings. Pulse rate = 70 - 80 beats per minute Respiration =15 to 30 per minute Rumen (stomach) movements = 1 - 1.5 per minute Puberty = 7 weeks - 8 months (separate bucks from does at 2 month) Estrus/Heat Cycle = 17 to 23 days Gestation = 143 to 155 days Life span: o Does = 11-12 years average age, but... usually the death in does is kidding related. Does that are "retired" from breeding around age “Calling all MBGA Members… If you haven’t been on the website lately I challenge you to go there before March 10 2012.” • 10 live longer: 16-18 years (and I just recently found a doe who was 24; she was retired from kidding at age 10). o Wethers = 11-16 years average age o Bucks = 8-10 average age - bucks usually live shorter lives than does and wethers due to the stresses of going into rut each year. Full growth size: Most goats do not reach their full size until they are about three years of age. (They keep growing for about three years) http://fiascofarm.com/goats/index.htm Page 3 Boer Goat News Featured Member By Crista Crawford Big Dreams At 20 years old I know exactly what I want from the goat industry and slowly but surely Anitophia Acres is getting there. Growing up on a dairy farm I always knew what I didn’t want, to milk cows. I always had a love for animals but not a particular species until my mother purchased about 15 percentages Boer does. We began raising market wethers for our surrounding fairs and I began to grow a passion for these animals. Coming to college I was planning to be a vet with a small goat farm on the side. After being at MSU for a semester and seeing the lack of respect for the goat industry I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to create a positive recognizable name for the Michigan Meat goat industry. Starting Out Goats have always been a part of Anitophia Acres but just recently have they been proving their importance. My entire life goats have always been around but always as a secondary interest. As my herd size grew so did my passion, each pushing the other to become greater and greater. As I succeeded at my local fair many outside forces pushed our farm to grow. People wanted goats from me and to make that happen we had to grow. Currently we are up to 50 goats. We kidded 22 does to produce 38 kids this year but I’m not stopping here. Expansion Farming has always been something I want to do but I don’t want to make it a hobby I want to make it my job. Over the next 10 years I would like to greatly expand Anitophia Acres into a large commercial operation. I would like to kid between 500-1000 does yearly, eventually grow to become the largest commercial herd in the Midwest. Not only do I want to make a name for the Michigan Boer Goat Industry but also for myself. Page 4 Boer Goat News Protection While expanding the need for protection for my goats will become even more crucial than it already is. After seeing what livestock protection dogs can do I will never raise small animals without them. Anitophia Acres has 3 protection dogs that have accomplished some amazing feats. Not only have they chased countless number of coyotes to the other side of the fence but they have also killed a large number of small rodents and predators, including a bobcat! But it’s not only the predators these dogs keep away, it is also deer. Many people may not find deer to be a threat but when they are eating the pasture or hay they are eating away profits. Deer also carry the meningeal worm which can cause serious problems for goats. Higgans, our first Great Pyrenees keeping an eye on his herd. Knowledge Not only would I like to expand the size of my farm but I would also like to increase my own personal skills. I would like to learn how to artificially inseminate goats and do breeding for other farms as a side job. I would also like to know more about genetics and how to produce more colorful kids. Goats all have individual personalities and I believe they should have individual looks. When I look out into my field I do not want to see any goats that look alike, I want an explosion of color. Anitophia Acres may be a small hobby farm now but someday down the road it will be the largest meat goat farm in the Midwest. Thank you to the MBGA for awarding me scholarships the past 3 years to continue and my education and for also believing in my dreams. Boer Goat News Page 5 MBGA Wether Series for the youth that look forward to it each summer. If you are interested in sponsoring our event this year please contact one By Tina Esham This year’s series is a work in progress. The show committee has of the show committee members and we will get you all the information that you need including our non for profit Tax ID heard from almost all of the shows from last year with their number so that your donation is 100% tax deductible. Also by dates. We have gotten show bills already from some and are st April 1 2012 all the forms and show information will be working on getting the rules updated, the entry form updated, posted on the MBGA website; it is a great resource for all our sponsor forms mailed out and a letter to the MBGA members! membership. The invention on the teleconference is greatly improving the efficiency and ability to be able to put on a state wide event. Again this year we are striving to sanction eight shows for the series. Last year we had two shows on the same day and the committee has decided to only sanction one show per day. So at the membership meeting in March we will be doing a rd drawing to see which show we sanction on June 3 2012. This means we have room for one more show. There have been some inquiries in the past so hopefully we will have a new show to add to our list of shows this year. Once again we would like to thank all of our past sponsors because without you we cannot continue to put this event on IMO – Internet Marketing By Frank Welling In My Opinion, having an internet presence is a necessary marketing tool in today’s high-tech environment. More and more, potential customers are turning to the internet to search for breeding goats and market project goats. Advertising on such sites as BestFarmBuys, Hoobly, and Craigslist can generate inquiries, and often sales, but unless your ad has a link to a website, these “for sale” sites can also generate more work for you. Typically, you are limited as to how much information you can list, including photos. My experience with the three sales listings sites is that customers will contact you wanting more information, and especially more pictures. That often means snapping more photos, and attaching them to emails as replies to many kinds of questions those potential customers like to ask. And doing it over and over again. Sound familiar? Can you blame them? You may be a 3 or 4 hour drive away, and no one wants to spend 6 to 8 hours round trip to end up finding out that what you have for sale is not what they want. If a potential customer cannot glean a lot of information from a For Sale ad and are some distance away, they may look elsewhere. You and I have probably done the same thing. A website can be set up in a very short time, and is one of the best marketing tools you can have (in addition to quality brood stock). And the cost ranges from free to $10/month. Go to your internet search engine, such as Internet Explorer, Google, or others, and type in free web hosting or website design. Homestead.com, Ipage, Intuit, and others offer free website design and set-up with a low monthly fee thereafter. Freewebs.com, as its name implies, does not require monthly fees. Or you may have a techy friend who can help you set up a website. I chose to go with Yahoo Small Business web hosting, because I liked the choice of backgrounds and the ease of up-loading photos. I can also Please see IMO Internet Marketing on page 6 Page 6 Boer Goat News The Inside Scoop - from page 1 a scheduled conference call. They and the previously elected board members Karen Ibarra, Mike Birsen, Terri Fryman, Tammy Spicer and myself have dedicated and marked our calendars to be on the phone the third Thursday of each month to grow and improve this association on a monthly basis. We have tons of great information to bring to you on March 10 2012 at 1:30pm at MSU during the goat days. Please mark your calendar and plan to be there as this is your opportunity as a member to get involved in the great things we are doing! Some things that are happening are the newsletter (I am doing my best to stay on track with that… but I need your help- pictures articles information – please send to me). The Cass County Goat Expo, Terri is working extremely hard to bring an educational and fun two days to our youth and to our membership. It will kick off with the showmanship and market goat show followed by MBGA’s Spring Goat Sale, followed by a dinner and Membership meeting all on Saturday. Sunday will be a day full of education for the membership and youth with demo’s booths and vendors. We need volunteers to help with putting on this big event so if you plan to be there please contact Terri and let her know you are willing to help! Please see the website for forms and additional information. 2012 Membership Calendars if you are a new or renewed member for 2012 you should have your calendar to help keep you organized with all your goat related events! 2012 MBGA Wether Series the show committee this year has stepped up to the plate to offer a series that is going to keep our youths striving for improvement. Michele Klingaman, Wendy Walters, Lindsay Harmon, Terri Fryman and I are working hard on getting the series organize and energized with shows and awards our youth will look forward to all summer long. 2012 Goat Roast and Annual Meeting will be hosted by Bob and Beverly Esham (ESS Boer Goats) and us (Esham Family Farm) we are working on getting the agenda published a speaker/demo and all the details to have a great celebration of our association and what brings us all together – goats! And last but not least Goat Days at MSU. MEAEP will be there upon MBGA request to educate our membership on how to get recognized for what you are already doing. Please feel free to visit their website to learn more and be there with us from 9:00 am to 11:30 to start your Phase 1 training. Their website is on our links page or www.MEAEP.org. MarketingIMO Internet Marketing - from page 5 update as often as I like, and there is no other advertising on my website (other than my own!) The free websites contain advertising which may or may not be good. I can change the format of each web page, add & delete pages, and am not limited by how big the website can be. Most web site hosts will publish your website to the major search engine providers, such as MSN, Google, and Yahoo, so that when potential customers type in Boer Goats for Sale, your website link pops up. I don’t mean to plug Yahoo, because there are other providers that are as good or better. A picture is truly worth a thousand words. I rarely get requests for photos anymore, because visitors can visit my website and see what is for sale, as well as to view photos of the sire and dam. Many Boer breeders will also have pedigrees on their website to look at. The more photos you have, the better. The disadvantages of a website? That includes teaching yourself a little photography with a digital camera and purchasing the software to run it. There is also the need to update your website pages at reasonable intervals. And the risk of attracting unwanted emails. Many breeders like Facebook to advertise, but again, you are limited in what you can list on your Facebook page. These “social media” sites also require very frequent updating and responding to inquiries. A good website and email link is much better, in my opinion, unless you like to spend hours and hours every week “chatting.” You have worked hard to build a quality meat goat herd. Get a website going and showcase it to the world. And improve your bottom line. My website gets a lot of “hits” because of my listing as a member of the MBGA - often 20-30 per day. If you are an MBGA member, get your website going and generate a good customer base for repeat sales. If you don’t have a website, you are losing sales to the breeders who do! Page 7 Boer Goat News ****MBGA Members – There are WAY too many articles by me Tina Esham this quarter – PLEASE send me articles so you don’t have to listen to my ramblings in the next Boer Goat News! **** IMO – Internet Marketing - is an article created for feedback and we need YOURS please send you responses to Frank Welling Welling at: [email protected] Thank you to all the members who participated in this month’s Newsletter! I couldn’t have done it with out you! Please send me emails or drop a note in the snail mail to me anytime! Membership Dues: Membership with the MBGA run Jan 1st to December 31st Re-Enrolling members need to have their membership renewed by January 31st in order to continue their member listing on the MBGA website – the Website will be updated the 1st of February Membership benefits *** Member listing on website *** Quarterly Newsletter *** Advertising on website *** Youth scholarships *** Youth wether series *** Opportunities and events to mingle with fellow goat lovers [email protected] Or [email protected] The Editor’s Corner By Tina Esham I hope this quarter’s newsletter finds you gazing at your kid crop anticipating what they will look like when the weigh 70 to 90 pounds. I have so many thoughts to share I don’t know where to start. Most of you know that we have been kidding since October and we are complete now as of th February 12 until October of this year. We had a total of 35 kids hit the ground during this time. We were very fortunate to be able to attend the 2012 Shepherd’s Weekend in Lansing MI. Of course it was not without kids being born while we were there. Denny my husband was home due to his work schedule and was there just in time to catch a pair of twins being born at our place and then a pair of twins being born at our mom and dad’s farm. I apologize to those of you who were in the session when I was checking my phone for texts and pictures of my newborns… It’s hard to be mom away from her herd in such a time, but it was worlds of benefit. We all hear many things over and over but for most of us it’s that one time when the light bulb goes on. Record keeping was one of Dr. Andries topics and it hit home with me. I have had an awesome software program that I have been playing with since I purchased it in 2010. It is by Lions Edge Technologies, it may not be what everyone is looking for but for my herd and me it works. It is very affordable and once you get to using it, your potential in your herd comes right in front of your face. “My website gets a lot of “hits” because of my listing as a member of the MBGA - often 20-30 per day. If you are an MBGA member, get your website going and generate a good customer base for repeat sales.” If you are anything like me you start to worry about one thing and it starts to consume you and Please see The Editor’s Corner on page 8 Editor’s Corner from page 5 MBGA Newsletter 58 N Concord Rd Albion, MI 49224 Phone: 517-795-5386 Fax: 888-432-9191 E-Mail: [email protected] Getting News & Events to you! We’re on the Web! Visit us at: www.michiganboergoat.org get you down but there are so many aspects of our herds that with this software you can reference what is in your mind. For example this year it seemed like we had tons of single born kids and that it was affecting our goal of production numbers. But when I took a moment to sit down at my computer and study my information it hit me in the face. We are no worse off than last year; we produced 4 single born kids last year as we did again this year. And then I was able to see that my doe kids are actually producing twins on their first freshening this year so I am actually making progress. So record keeping is essential and if you are just starting to build your herd don’t do it blind make a small investment that is going to get you closer to profitability faster. If you have done this for years…. On paper; you know who you are, you can tie all the good information together and make yourself smile when you think you have a problem. I highly recommend their Goat Ranch Management software and if you are interested visit their website and learn more and let them know I recommended it! This association is growing stronger every day and I just want to thank those who are making it happen and invite you to get involved. You have experiences that will benefit this association. Please visit the website to see all that is going on and mark your calendar to be at Goat Days for th our membership meeting March 10 @ 1:30 pm. Can’t wait to see you there! MBGA Newsletter 58 N Concord Rd Albion, MI 49224 Customer Name Street Address Address City, ST ST ZIP Code
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