Episode 15: Show Goat Care

New episode all about show goat care! Everything you need to know before you show! This episode is also available on our YouTube Channel NMSU Grant County Cooperative Extension Service. Informational, instructional, how-to about show goat care. Topics covered: feeding, training, daily care, disease/illness, biosecurity, record keeping and much more!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to the Extension Connection podcast. The Grant County Cooperative Extension Service is here to help connect you with research based information about Economic Development, Energy and Water Farming, Ranch, Yard and Garden, Natural Resources, Health, and Wellbeing, and our very popular Youth Development program. 4H. I'm your host, Jessica Swapp, the 4H and Agriculture Agent here in Grant County, New Mexico. We are part of New Mexico State University's College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Science, and we a r e h ere to serve you. So let's get started.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Welcome back everyone. Today, we're going to be talking about show goats with some helpful tips and tricks about feeding, taming training, all of those types of things. So I hope you find this helpful, and it helps you with your project. We're going to talk a little bit in this presentation about feeding training, some of the daily care things, some diseases and illnesses, um, as well as biosecurity and record keeping. Feeding. So you're always gonna want to have a plan. Part of that plan needs to be the brand selection, the consistency of that brand and using it consistency in time. In terms of when you're feeding also your feeding area, um, your hand feeding plan, and then how much should they be eating? That's another question that gets asked a lot. Feeding equipment and care as well as worming. And of course, we're always going to talk about water. Brand Selection. So the first thing that you're going to want to do is to think about your budget. You're going to want to buy feed that you can afford to feed all through the feeding season, all through the summer, in our case. You're going to need to have access to that feed. So around here, it's very difficult for us to get feed. So we have to kind of keep that in mind, when we're talking about what kind of feed we're going to be feeding animals. Once you select a brand, you really need to stick with it unless you have to or need to switch. And in that case, you're going to want to blend in that new feed with the old to slowly transition. Goats, their nutritional requirements, that in their base feed, they need to have protein, fat carbs minerals and vitamins. Goats need about 15 to 18% protein, a fat level of 2.5 to 4% and fiber at 15 to 19%. Also, they're going to need some grass hay to help scratch that rumen and keep it working and functioning correctly. Um, also water, they're always going to need water. Feeding time consistency, you're always gonna want to try to feed at the same time every day. It's just like us. We're used to eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner around the same times of day. These animals are no different. The best thing to do though, is to feed them during the coolest parts of the day. So, um, a lot of times you'll hear the recommendation of feeding your animals. Um, you know, if you feed him seven in the morning, you feed him seven at night. Which is a good rule of thumb. But if you happen to live where it's a very hot, like we do in the summer, sometimes you need to feed a little bit earlier in the morning and a little bit later in the evening, just so that you can hit those coolest parts of the day. That's going to help you in terms of getting these goats to eat. Um, there are no different than people I don't know about anybody else, but when it gets really hot, sometimes you just really don't feel like eating. Your Feeding Area. It needs to be clean, dirty pens will kill goats. Um, it starts off with a snotty nose. Pretty soon, they're breathing through their mouth. They're breathing in dirt and dust. Then you have some respiratory issues. Their pens can be wet down, um, and then have that dirt packed down and then you just have to sweep it. You just sweep all the manure and everything out every day. Your feeding pens need to be close to water. Your pens also, you either need to have individual pens for them to go into, to eat, or you need to have an area where you can tie them up to eat. Um, also be careful about tying up your goats to eat and walking away. It's not something you want to do. If you're going to tie them to the fence, then you need to stay there and watch them so that they don't get a leg hung in the fence. And then you have a big wreck on your hands. Um, individual feeding is more controlled. You can, um, observe the animal, obviously and watch them and make sure that they're okay. It's also a good part of the taiming process. And, um, it's also gonna allow you to watch them consume that feed. Are they eating it too fast, too slow? Are they not eating enough? Um, all those questions can kind of be answered by individual feeding and hanging out there, watching them. When you're observing these animals. Some things to watch for, um, looking at their eyes, make sure nobody's got Pinkeye. I'm taking a look at their ears, their manure, and make sure there's nobody with diarrhea, scours, making sure that their, their nose isn't dry. A dry nose is an indication of a sick goat. Um, a wet noses is a healthy goat. Um, another thing is to watch their head, make sure they're not, you know, kinda droopy or, or acting weird. Um, their skin. You can take a look at their skin for any kind of lice or fungus type issues. And again, seeing if they're active, um, seeing if they're acting normally, looking for swollen joints or for anybody who might be limping. This is when you can find these types of things and you can treat them before it goes too far. So how much should they be eating? Um, if you're going to full feed, uh, your goats, the rule of thumb is about 3.5% of their body weight. If you're holding a goat, you're going to want to back that down to about 2% of their body weight. And typically the older they get, the less feed they usually need. That's kind of a rule of thumb. That's not always the case. Some other helpful tips is to separate those goats while they eat. Feeders need to be cleaned. And the old feed needs to be dumped on a daily basis so that they always have fresh feed in front of them. Nobody wants to eat old food. Wanting to have a feed scale. You're going to want to use feeders that hang on the fence once again, do not leave those animals unattended while, while feeding them on the fence. If they're tied to that fence. Caution when feeding alfalfa, just because of a couple of reasons. The protein level it's going to, it's going to add to the protein level of a feed that you're already feeding. And another thing, is it can also cause bloat. Don't let your goats eat weeds or rocks or dirt or anything like that. If they have a turnout area, making sure that there's no weeds or rocks in that area, as well as all the way around it, because they will eat it. Um, it can make them sick. It could also really mess with them actually eating the food that you want them to eat. If they're all filled up on weeds, um, they're not to want to eat that, that good show feed, to give you that show look. And another thing is if you haven't done so already, now's probably a good time to start, um, getting some weights on those animals. Really, they need to be weighed about once a week, just so that you can figure out how many pounds per day that they're gaining, um, to determine what they're going to be at during your County fair or the show that you're going to. You're going to want to know that, especially if those shows have a minimum or a maximum weight. And in every presentation I talk about this the most, The most important part of your feeding strategy is water. Clean, cool, fresh water, making sure that there's no mold or dirt, mud manure, algae, anything that might cause them to not want to drink that water. Making sure that it's not old. Um, and also making sure that the water is cool. Um, I don't know about you, but on a hot day, I do not want to drink, you know, hot water out of a, a black bucket. Um, that's been sitting outside in a hundred degree heat, uh, your goats don't either. And when you decrease that water intake, there's a few things that are gonna happen. You're gonna increase your, you're gonna increase the risk of getting Urinary Calculi, as well as your feed consumption is directly related to your water consumption. So a lot of times, if they're not consuming enough water, they're going to go off of feed. It's the same thing for us. We all like to have something to drink when we're eating. So if they're not getting enough water, they're definitely not going to hit the feed like they should. And another thing to remember is muscles made up of 75 to 80% water. And if an animal loses 20% of their body weight in water, they will die. And then another fun fact is that studies have shown that goats like to drink more water out of yellow water buckets followed by light blue. So something to just kind of keep in mind kind of a little fun fact. Okay, we're going to talk a little bit about worming. Um, you're going to want to worm every 21 to 30 days and you're going to want to rotate those wormers, just like we've talked about before, um, you know, rotate between Safeguard, Dectomax, Ivermectin. You're really gonna want to work with your veterinarian on this kind of stuff and get with them and, and get on some sort of a worming schedule. They'll be able to best advise you on which wormers work best in your area. As well as lice, that's another thing that's very specific to goats. That you're going to need to watch for. Usually all goats get lice at some point, and it needs to be taken care of. Again, working with your veteran, veterinarian. But you can, you can spray prolate on them as well as, u m, a f ly spray, a flea and tick spray. You're just go nna w ant to make sure you treat, you know, 14 days apart, just so that you get the entire li fe c y cle o f any lice that might be hatching. Okay. Talking about some Daily Care. We're going to talk about taming, exercise,as well as, leg and body hair, and some hoof trimming. We ta lk about this a lot. That taming is a part of training, and if you have not tam ed yo ur goat yet, it's probably about time to get out there and get it done. Um, a r e lationship must exist between the exhibitor and the goat. So not the goat and a parent, not the goat and an Extension Agent, not the goat and an Ag teacher. It needs to exist between the exhibitor and the goat. For a couple of weeks you can catch that goat, tie him up with a, with the halter, to the fence, um, with some space in between. And then you can sit in a chair or on a bucket or on the ground, whatever you want to do. For about 15 to 20 minutes a day, just brushing them, rubbing them, petting them, setting their legs, just getting them used to your presence and the feeling of, of being touched. Uh, goats, they need to be able to stand tied for about, without fighting their halter, for about 15 to 20 minutes before they're ready to lead. Another thing is never leave goats, unattended while tied up. It's just a recipe for disaster. If you're going to tie him up to the fence, another thing you can do is to also put a piece of plywood, like a, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but putting a piece of plywood there. So that way they can't actually stick their legs through the fence and possibly break a leg or something or injure themselves. Um, cause they are going to fight that halter initially. So you're going to want to try to keep them as safe as you possibly can. And again, no matter what, even if you have the plywood don't ever leave them. Then you're g oing t o want to walk them in their pen, using a halter, or chain, whatever th e, whatever you're going to use is whatever, y ou need to, to get them used to. Then you can transition to walking them outside of their pen. Of course you do not want to yank on a lead rope that doesn't ever wo rk. Y ou're going to want to use the pressure release method. Another method that works really good is a two person method. Where one is on the lead and the other is kind of ushering from behind. So if you have, um, multiple kiddos, um, this would work really well. Um, you can also use a lead animal if you have one. So if you have sheep that are broke to lead or possibly some other goats that are broke to lead, you can always use them. Um, kind of that monkey see monkey do mentality. Uh, something to keep in mind is that goats need to be broke to lead before you can start an exercise program. Um, that's just good, good advice so that you don't have any kind of accidents happen. Okay, we're going to talk about training. Um, there's a few things to talk about in the training process. The first one being stand training. So this is where you're gonna want to place them on their stand. Um, and while they're up there and you're gonna wanna rub them, handle them, set their legs, run a blower and pet their neck. This is going to again, get them used to being on the stand. Um, having to stand on that stand and have a blower, running, the sound, the feeling. As well as, setting those legs gets them used to standing in the proper position, for whenever you start to, put them out in the showring. Another one is hand walking. This is very important. So once you get them to walk, you're going to want to walk them, stop them, set their legs, and then just keep doing it over and over and over again. Eventually those goats will learn that every time they stop, they need to set their legs in a, in a specific position. Um, and that position will be setting them up just so that you can, um, brace them or drive them. Um, eventually once they get used to walking, stopping, you know, getting their legs set, you're going to want it want to add in the bracing, the driving aspect. All right. So when we talk about bracing or driving, um, that's when you're going to want to have all four feet on the ground. Um, we never want to pick those goats up where their front two feet are off the ground. You need to have all four feet on the ground. Um, one of the ways to train them to, to actually brace is you can place a goat on a stand and then have the exhibitors slowly push the, goat off the back edge, um, of, of the stand. Um, they will, once you push into them, a lot of times, they will push back cause they, they don't know what's behind them. And if they happen to step off, um, with one foot, they learned that whenever you push against them, they don't want to fall off the back end. And so they will start to push back, back into the exhibitor. Um, you're going to have to train them at least every other day on bracing and driving. So every other day doing, you know, your, your walk, stop, set those legs, get them to a brace. If they ever get to where they're not bracing, you can always go back to the stand and push them slowly off. Um, that'll get them back into, in line, in terms of bracing. Now we're g oing t o talk about exercise. So when to start? This is kind of a tough one to answer. Just because it's very dependent on the type of goat, as well as your goals in terms of where those goats need to end up, u m, i n their weight class. So condition and maturity are gonna play a big part in that, u m, e xercise. I guess as a general rule should start about 45 days before your show. If you're here, in the Grant County area, that's right about now. Um, so you better be thinking about, um, getting those goats, um, exercise if they need it. Um, you can use a Walker. Walkers are great for endurance, which are important for them. Another thing is that, uh, to add in here is that, um, if you're going to do a hand walking type thing, um, that's also good for the exhibitor, because exhibitors and the animals need to have endurance. Walkers are good for a warmup as well as a cool-down. It also trains them to walk with their head up in the right position. Another tool that can be used is a treadmill. They actually make specific treadmills just for these animals. But goats need to be trained to walk on a treadmill. So you're going to want to start that training process early. I don't recommend just trying to, to all of a sudden start one day and think that it's going to work. Um, you have to start very slowly and getting them used to that. You're going to want to make sure that your treadmill has a, a front feet platform to maintain that balance look. And again, you're going to want to start slow. So once you start week number one, maybe just do a half minute of walking backwards. A week number two, you can move up to a minute of walking backwards. Just dependent on how they're doing. The goal is to do about three minutes backwards, as fast as they can every other day and three to five minutes going forward, depending on their condition. Some things to understand is that going backwards on a treadmill builds, rump, hip shape, inner thigh, and lower leg shape. U m, going forward just burns condition and it builds endurance. Some more on exercise. A lot of people like to use, u m, the track method, u m, with a dog or even you can, u m, you can just chase them yourself. Um, this is a high intensity sprint. That's going to add muscle tone as well as give them an adrenaline rush. You can also do reward based exercise. So you can take them away from their pen and then let them run back. You're just going to want to make sure that the path is clear, um, making sure that they're not gonna be running into, you know, anybody in between any, any other, you know, car or something like that that might be dragging through the pasture as well. You want to think about having a catch pen and usually about a quarter of a mile, um, is usually sufficient for these animals, maybe even a little bit less. Daily exercise. Standing again, build endurance. So that standing, in there in the, on a stand or tied to a fence is going to help build that endurance as well as the hand walking and bracing. Again, that's going to really help both the exhibitor and the animal with their endurance. I have here lambs, but it should say goats. Goats and exhibitors need endurance. So always remember that. The next one is really fun to talk about. This is a cool trend that has started over the past few years, which is leg hair. When to start? When do y ou want to start training and taking care of that leg hair? Um, u sually if you notice them starting to pick at it, that's usually a good time. Um, o r when you start your exercise program also a good time or roughly that 45 days before the show. This is a lot like sheep, so you're go ing t o w a nt t o r inse and wrap those legs every other day. Same as your exercise program. Rinse the legs, and you're going to want to work in a conditioner. You're go ing t o w ant to blow it out and, u m, a nd then leave it just a little bit damp. You're going to brush that hair and train it to stand up. You can use a rotary brush if you want to. It's also good to do this along with your exercise and taming process. And then you're going to want to keep those legs unwrapped for about 30 to 45 minutes. Um, again, you can use that time to put them on the treadmill, the Walker do some hand walking, bracing, that kind of stuff. Then once you're done, you put them back on the stand and blow them completely dry and rewrap those legs. Um, you're going to want to put on a muzzle because they're going to want to pick those, those leg wraps off. Something to make sure, make sure that your leg wraps are not too tight. Um, it can cause some injury to the animal. As well as it can actually do the reverse and start to rub the hair off. Another one is trimming feet, their, their hooves need to be trimmed about once a month just to keep the angle of their bone structure, correct. And keep them walking and moving correctly. Body hair. This is another fun one. When we're talking about their body hair, a lot of times it has to do with freshness. So, uh, a goat that feels really fresh, usually has really, well taken care of, hair and skin. So one of the things to do is to blow the hair, and get all of the dirt out. You can go from front to back and then you're going to want to blow up. Brush in a fly spray, which keeps the flies off and also kills lice. You want to do that, usually daily. Apply a conditioning spray and brush it in, and then you can blow it in and then just cover with a blanket. If you're going to use blankets though, make sure that those animals have access to some sort of place to get out of the sun. We don't want them to get overheated. So either they have shade or they have some moving air in a barn. Just so that they don't get overheated. Um, something to keep in mind is that you only want to wash goats if you're going to a show. Washing them actually takes out the natural oils that exist in their skin that are honestly better than any other type of conditioner oil that you can put on them. So you only want to wash them when you're actually going to be showing them soon. All right. A little bit about clipping. This is another one that you're going to want to limit as well. Limit the amount of times that you clip a goat before show, just because, depending on where you're wanting that goat to be, usually when you clip them, they have a growth spurt usually right afterwards. Another thing is that a lot of times that hair is protecting them from the sun. So when you take that hair off, you're exposing them to the sun where they can get sunburned. And then we start to have some skin and hair issues. Um, when you're clipping, you always want to start with a clean goat. That does not mean you have to wash them. If they're fairly clean and they, you can blow them out with the blower and get most of the dirt out. That's usually the best way to go. If you have to wash them, that's okay too. Clip the body using cover coat or extra cover blades. Um, and then clip the hair from the hock up. You want to leave that leg hair. Um, if you're watching the, the YouTube video, I have an illustration of exactly where to, where to actually clip and what to leave behind. You always want to blend the legs and knees with a, usually like a number 10 blocking blade and just blending all of that in, making it look really, really smooth. You're going to want to trim those ears, the head, the nose, with a body blade, or using guards. Clipping their heads is not the funest activity, but it can be done. And then you need to clip their tail so that it makes them look more square and attractive. And there's a lot of helpful videos and stuff out there that can help you do that. Or you can reach out to your Ag Teacher or your Extension Agent, and they'll, they'll help, you or a breeder or a friend or something like that. And they'll help you be able to clip these goats. So we're going to cover a little bit about some disease and illness stuff, just cause I feel like this is important. Normal body temperature for goats is about 102 to 104. Some things to watch out for is Overeating Disease. This happens when feed is abruptly changed and they intake an ex- or they intake an excessive amount. Um, it's a clostridial organism in the intestines, and it grows really fast, producing a lethal toxin causing death within a few hours. The bad part about this is there's little to no symptoms, which is why it has such a high mortality rate. Uh, vaccinating for this disease is crucial in terms of management. Another one to watch for and very, very common is Coccidiosis, usually coming from bird droppings. So this is a pretty serious condition with a high mortality rate if it's not treated. Symptoms include watery, bloody diarrhea, weight loss, lethargy, dehydration, and just generally, they don't feel good. Um, it's highly contagious. So animals that are infected, they need to be separated until treatment is complete and, and they are no longer contagious. So that way they don't get the rest of the goats sick, or if you have sheep as well, they can get it. They can pass it to them. Uh, always consult with your veterinarian on proper treatment, depending on what strain of Coccidiosis. Um, usually you can take a fecal sample into your vet and they can tell you and kind of help you out and, and get a treatment plan put together. So always work with your veterinarian. We talked a little bit about this one earlier, which is Urinary Calculi. Um,also referred to as water belly. Urinary Calculi is caused by an improper balance of calcium and phosphorus. Usually these, these show rations have already balanced this out for you. Um, so you usually don't have to worry about it. Um, but it's a metabolic disease that basically causes a stone formation in the urinary tract. Um, and it, it basically blocks them from being able to urinate. If it's not treated promptly, it can be lethal. Um, Urinary Calculi is a prime, is primarily an issue in feeding grain based diets, um, that are higher in phosphorus and lower in calcium. Again, these show feeds are usually balanced out to where this type of thing does not happen. So I always recommend going with a proven show feed, um, just to make sure that you don't have this. Uh, symptoms can include restlessness, failed attempts to urinate, um, kicking at their, their belly, their abdomen, um, much like a horse that would be colicing. A treatment usually consists of removing any stones surgically or by administering fluids, um, that help break up those stones so that they can pass on their own. Again, you're going to want to get with your veterinarian and work closely with them to get this taken care of. Okay. So some something that, uh, that, uh, is also very bad in the sheep world is Ringworm and Show Fungus. Ringworm affects many livestock species and it's highly conduct contagious to other animals and humans. So it's, it's actually a fungus, um, that is contracted by contact with other infected animals or equipment. Um, so it's important to recognize the development of the fungus before it spreads, um, and then possibly, you know, gives it to the kiddos. Maybe some, the other goats, the other lambs, if you have those, u m, you definitely do not want Ringworm. So some prevention methods are washing your animals with an antifungal shampoo after traveling to a livestock show. Disinfecting all your equipment on a regular basis. U m, especially between contact with different animals and also isolating animals that are infected to prevent the risk of that fungus spreading to everybody else. Another one to watch out for is E-coli. Uh, usually you'll see they have watery scours, yellow scours, um, dehydration, weakness. Um, you're going to want to separate and consider actively treating everyone that you know, all the animals that you have. Um, you're gonna want to get with your veterinarian, so that you can get some treatment going. It's usually, um, by prescription. So you'll have to work with your veterinarian on getting the right treatment plan for E-coli. Some other ones to talk about is Sore Mouth. Um, that's kind of common. Um, it's a viral disease that causes the formation of scabs, um, around the face. But if you leave it untreated, it can get really bad and spread to their entire body. Uh, this virus also affects humans. Um, so it should be treated with caution using gloves, um, and then making sure that you wash your hands, um, after every time you touch an animal, you should wash your hands afterwards. It's just good practice for your health and for the health of the animal and the other animals around them. Even, even though this is common, this disease is very, very treatable. Um, treatments include, uh, you rub off the scabs on the infected area. You can use, um, iodine to drown out, to dry out the lesions. Another thing, um, that's pretty common is goats cough. Um, they call it Barn Cough. So they have a tendency to cough due to dust, um, picking at the ground, running, et cetera. And some of those things are just, they're normal, but it can be sign of allergies. So you might want to watch out for that,clearing their throat, et cetera, caution should, should just be taken just to make sure that they don't actually have a symptom of a respiratory infection. Disease and Illness. So Tetanus or lock jaw. Tetanus, commonly affects lambs and goats, particularly after castration and or they're getting their tail docked. If they are sheep. Um, unlike other diseases, Tetanus is an extremely serious condition that animals rarely recover from. Um, and Tetanus is caused by a bacterial infection from an open wound where bacteria produces a neurotoxin that affects their nervous system. Treatment is available. Um, however it has a very low success rate. So vaccination is one of the only ways to keep Tetanus under control, so your gonna want a always make sure that any lambs that you get, or excuse me, any goats that you get, um, have been vaccinated. Some other ones to watch for is, is Polio, which is just a Thiamine deficiency. It's the most, the most common symptom of this disease is blindness, but there are other signs such as seizures, paddling, u h, drawing their head back stiffly, so it's pressed against their spine, and lethargy. Sudden death is commonly associated with this disease as well. Affected animals really need to be treated immediately with an injectable or an oral, Thiamine treatment. So get with your veterinarian right away. Pinkeye it's contagious, between all the other animals. I t's also contagious between humans and animals. So it's caused, a lot of times, by constant exposure to sunlight or dust, and or, dusty environments. So again, just making sure they have somewhere that they can get out of the sun. M aking sure that they are not in a dirty dusty environment. So the symptoms of Pinkeye a re excessive watering of the eye and clouding in their eye. This disease is easily treatable with over the counter medications that you can find at your local feed store. All r ight, last one, respiratory disease or Pneumonia. And this is basically inflammation of the lung. It occurs when infectious and non-infectious agents, cause lungs to become inflamed, uh, usually, um, by Pasteurella, P. multocida or Mannheimia, man-, I think it's how you say this, Mannheimia haemolytica, a, Both cause an outbreak of acute pneumonia, um, of all ages. Usually it's associated with a secondary infection due to the management practices or severe stress. So causes, um, transportation, stress, viral infection, lung parasite, a prior bacterial infection, overcrowding, poor housing conditions, sudden environmental changes, plus many, many more. A lot of things can, can be, um, a primary cause of pneumonia and it can cause death without a whole lot of signs that they're sick. Um, so you really have to watch them. So some symptoms, um, they'll have a fever with, you know, 104 to 106 temperature, uh, increased respiration rate, moist painful cough, difficulty breathing, crackling sounds when they do breathe, nasal and ocular discharge, loss of appetite, depression, those types of things. So if you feel like your animal might have this, um, you're gonna want to get with your veterinarian for treatment. Cause they're going to know the best way to treat this particular respiratory disease and be able to look at your animal and, and get them back on track. So now that we've talked about all the bad stuff. Really in terms of trying to keep your animals healthy, biosecurity is the best way to go. Just practicing good biosecurity from the get go will help eliminate a lot of the disease and illness issues. So limiting exposure from the outside. Your friends, relatives, um, those types of things, with them may come diseases. Um, if someone from the outside is coming to your facility, that's been around other goats or sheep, or other animals for that matter, you might want to make them wear, you know, some type of protective booties or have their shoes dipped in a foot bath. Also once again, outside visitors need to wash their hands before touching the goats. And it may not even be a bad idea to wash your hands in between goats. And then of course, we always recommend that you wash your hands after handling animals, any time, just to keep everybody healthy. If you're going to use scales that are being used by, y ou k now, several exhibitors, u m, you're g onna want to make sure you sanitize between weighing, u m, and then sanitize your pens regularly. If you've, especially if you've had sickness or any kind of fungus, Ringworm problems. After sickness, make sure that you sanitize your facility before the sick goat comes back, just making sure that everything is c lean. So we don't have a reoccurring, u m, event. We always talk about this towards the end of these presentations, which are record keeping this a s part of the learning process for, u m, your kiddos. There is a 4H livestock record app, um, where you're able to keep weights. You can keep track of average daily gain calculations, feed, weights, changes in feeds. When you've done wormers, supplements, expenses, any kind of income that they get in, you can keep track of that all i n an app. U m, you can also, u m, get with your Extension Agent. U m, we also have forms that you can use to keep track of these types of things for your record books. U m, so if you do this kind of all year long, u m, throughout the process, it's a lot easier to have done when you get towards the end. Up next. I'm going to be talking about steers, steer showmanship, a s well as showmanship for all the species. So those will be some, some informational, u h, v ideos and things that are becoming up. Um, this information is provided courtesy of the Grant County Cooperative Extension Service. My name is Jessica Swapp Massengill and I'm the Grant County 4H/Ag Agent. M y office number, if you have any questions, you can always reach me at(575) 388-1559. Uh, w e're not in the office all the time, just due to the COVID-19 restrictions. But if you call and leave a message, we'll, we'll get you called back, as soon as we can. Sometimes a better way to get ahold of me is Jes se J and that's jessiej@nmsu.edu. Feel free to email me, call me with any of your questions or recommendations for future, future videos or pod cast ep isodes, that type of thing. And I hope that this has been helpful to you. I hope it helps you in your projects along the way. I really appreciate everyone out there who watches these videos and listens to my podcast. I hope this is helpful to you in so me way,

Speaker 1: 37:34

Catch you next time. Thanks everyone for listening. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Google play, or whatever app you're using to listen to this podcast. Want more information? You can visit us at our website: grantextention.nmsu.edu Follow us on Facebook at: NMSU Grant County CES. Snapchat at: G r ant County NM 4H. Shoot us an email at: grant@nmsu.e du o r give us a call(575) 388-1559. New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. NMSU, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.