We never truly know what kind of disaster can befall our farm and our livestock. As we leave behind the danger of winter ice storms and approach the seasons of spring flooding, summer drought, and fall hurricanes, it becomes a daily reality that something will go wrong, and it’s just a matter of time. The term “disaster” doesn’t only apply to the natural variety either. Disasters are defined by their nature of being overwhelming. We must consider the gamut: contamination, disease outbreak, neighborhood fallout, personal family drama, financial catastrophe, and political upheaval are just some of the disasters that can potentially keep us up at night. 

A great strategy for being prepared for any overwhelming situation is to assess your risk. Risk is a mix of hazards, vulnerability, and exposure. For example, with livestock there’s a hazard of disease outbreak, and your farm’s vulnerability to that would be the vaccination rate/herd immunity to that disease, while the exposure is the prevalence of disease in your area. Ask yourself: “What is likely to happen?” as well as “What is not likely to happen?” 

A helpful group activity to put our potential risks into perspective is to make a chart that consists of a list of assets (i.e., feed, tractors, roads, manure piles, etc.) vertically down the page with potential disaster events horizontally across the top of the page. Then give each event a score of 1 to 5 (low impact to high impact). Start by thinking about yourself, then the neighbors, then the town, then the state, then even broader. 

Mitigating your risk starts with being prepared. Have the correct kind of fire extinguisher for each particular zone, and make sure that they’re charged or give them a shake to remix the contents. Take into consideration that when dealing with confined spaces and fires (like welding in a pit), not all local emergency response teams are trained for handling those situations, and let them know the activity is taking place before there’s trouble. Assemble a livestock first-aid kit. It should contain pain mitigation medications appropriate for livestock; something to stop bleeding (human bleed packs can work, but take care with puffy, absorbent material as it may not apply the necessary pressure); and a good identification system in case loose animals are an issue. It’s recommended to keep vaccinations for respiratory and reproductive diseases up-to-date in case of a forced comingling event with outside herds or flocks. 

Make a contingency plan that includes a color-coordinated map of the property and consider including slopes so that emergency services can help you evaluate risk factors after a disaster event, such as fire-retardant runoff into drinking water sources. Share it with everyone, including local police, the fire department, and emergency medical services, and your neighbors. When calling in an emergency, tell communications operators where things/animals are located so that they can best aid your farm and not make things worse. For example, let them know if you have a livestock guardian dog that may be protective and potentially bite, or that cattle are in pastures and fences/gates should not be left open. It is even possible to designate part of your property as a Life Flight Landing Zone. This is a 100-foot-by-100-foot area that can be pre-loaded into EMS systems to benefit the entire neighborhood.

Some fairgrounds agree annually to be temporary holding sites for livestock. It is in the best interest of livestock owners to know if their local fairgrounds is such a site, and how feed and water would be sourced, stored, and distributed in all seasons. The MOFGA fairgrounds is such a place but livestock owners would be at a loss during the winter, as there is nowhere to store feed and water becomes unavailable. 

If there is a need to evacuate with livestock, it can be helpful to work in teams with a lead car that determines if a route is safe and accessible to a truck and trailer. It is also advisable to keep an out-of-state contact because local communication services often fail, while long-distance services may not be affected. Cell phone tower systems rely on the ground grid to work. Satellite phones also have their limitations. Radios are the most effective.

In reality, it is the responsibility of the farm owner to consider and mitigate their disaster risk. The true role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is to hand out disaster relief funds, not actually participate in immediate disaster aid. It is the job of local communities to organize the actual aid and delegate who accomplishes that. You must regularly work with your community if you want a functional plan in place.

As MOFGA’s organic dairy and livestock specialist, Jacki Martinez Perkins brings the knowledge she has gained from her upbringing, education, and her experiences abroad, to bear on the unique challenges that face Maine’s dairy and livestock producers.

This article was originally published in the spring 2026 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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My livestock guardian dog (LGD) story started with a photo I saw on a Facebook group for people raising chickens in their backyards. The photo showed a big white dog sleeping in a barnyard with chickens around and even on top of it, and it got me thinking.

My first livestock addition to my small farm in Waldoboro, Maine, was a small flock of dual-purpose hens that I wanted to be able to free-range for tick, weed, and garden-pest control. Within a year I lost one hen to a bobcat and two more in a single afternoon to a fox. I realized if I wanted my chickens to roam safely I either needed a whole lot of fencing or something that would act like a fence — like a dog.

My partner Lee had long wanted a dog. I grew up with both cats and dogs but favored cats as they required less attention, ate less, shed less, and didn’t tend to chew things when they were left alone. But with an LGD, Lee could have his dog. It would shelter in the barn, not the living room, and keep the chickens safe. 

We started out by talking with the breeder about which of her Akbash-Mastiff mix LGDs would be happy guarding two humans, an elderly cat, and three chickens. The three choices she suggested were all 1.5-year-old females. Females of this breed mix tend to be smaller, which appealed to me since the males could be within 20-30 pounds of my own body weight.

Next, we considered fencing, thinking the most flexible option was a pair of Halo collars, which would let us set a virtual fence line via our smartphones that the collars would sense and signal via sound or vibration when a dog got close to the boundary line. Yes, a pair, because when we met the LGD candidates — Peanut, Angel, and Genie — Lee thought we should get two. Peanut and Angel would be company for each other, and we would each have our own dog. 

What follows are some lessons that we learned along the way.

Mistake #1: If you have no experience with this type of dog, start with one. Even if you have experience, start with one. The work required to get an LGD to acclimate, bond with its flock, understand what you need it to do, and to get you to understand what you need to do in return is significant. Give the dog its best shot. The only silver lining to having made this mistake was that if we had chosen only one dog, we would have chosen the wrong dog for our situation. See Good Decision #3.

Good Decision #1: We paid to board the dogs with the breeder for three months while we got things ready for life with dogs. We bought leashes, dog bowls, dog toys, and dog food. We cleared out a corner of the barn where they could sleep and put up a tether for their first one to two weeks on the farm so that they learned where home was. 

Good Decision #2: We asked the breeder when she delivered the dogs to tell us what we needed to know. We took lots of notes on commands and what to do when. This was valuable information we might not have gotten otherwise.

Mistake #2: We thought LGDs were dogs. While LGDs are biologically dogs, in reality they behave like a whole different animal. Lee and I learned that the hard way, and it almost ended our 15-year relationship. For starters, LGDs are working dogs and even their play is practice for chasing off or taking down predators. They’re not motivated to do tricks, and they don’t come running to greet their humans with wagging tails or see any benefit in retrieving a stick thrown their way. In fact, they are much more likely to respond to something thrown at them as a threat and switch into full guard mode. And because they need to know what’s out there to guard against, they need to go out there and smell it for themselves even if that means digging out from behind a fence or jumping over it.

Most of our spring and summer months were spent keeping the dogs on our property and trying all manner of ways to keep them from barking 24/7 at everything that they viewed as strange or suspicious, which was pretty much everything about their new living situation — including us. 

Good Decision #3: We realized that our situation was not good for Peanut and worked with the breeder to find her a better home. It took a while to realize that while we were working almost exclusively to train Peanut to follow — or at least give serious consideration to — our commands, her sister Angel was quietly and consistently doing what we asked Peanut to do without treats. Thankfully we reached that point early enough that Peanut was accepted back with her fellow LGDs, to move to a new and better-suited forever home.

Mistake #3: Building on Mistake #2, livestock guardian dogs are bred and trained to be independent decision-makers. When you say “come,” they know what that means, but they will not rush to your side until they have determined it is safe to do so. Our experiences with dogs as pets led us to equate hesitation following a command with disobedience. That is not the case with LGDs. Rather hesitation is the intelligent and centuries-old instinctive evaluation of the command and the determination by the dog given the command that it is safe for the flock, the dog, and the command-giver to obey. If you want a dog to blindly obey you, these are not the dogs you seek.

Mistake #4: We underestimated what LGDs require to trust humans as their partners. It takes a lot of time, much more than we were prepared for. We were thinking weeks. It took months. Maybe it would have taken fewer months with one dog, along with visual fencing and real livestock, but we started with two LGDs, invisible fencing, and a small flock of hens that weren’t acclimated to dogs. 

There have been more mistakes and more good decisions since, and here is where I need to say whether I would do it again knowing what I know now. The answer is no. No without visual fencing. No without real livestock. No without the kind of lifestyle and farm routine that gets me outside more of the day than less. No with two dogs to start.

The answer is also yes. The day Peanut left I saw Angel chasing her tail. This had been my signal to let Peanut off tether so the two of them could romp in the back field. Ears up, tails up, they chased each other, practiced taking down predators, and chased chew sticks I threw for them. So, I went out and Angel followed me to the back field. I threw a chew stick. She chased it, brought it back. I threw it again. Instead of going for it, she ran to face me with ears up, tail up, and pounced with her front legs spread apart like a dare. I jumped up, and pounced down with legs apart, and we romped. We romp every morning and most nights.

Yes, because now that she trusts me, she humors me. Rolls her eyes when my aim is off and the chew stick hits her nose. Yes, because she guards me, and what she perceives is important to me. I don’t have to ask — she knows it’s her job. My job is giving her the space between my command and her response. Trusting that her senses are far superior to mine, I teach her what matters to me and what is not hers to worry about.

Finally, without hesitation, yes because I don’t own a dog. I am a partner with a dog. A dog who knows her job and lives to fulfill her ancestral purpose. Who enjoys a romp but would rather guard my hens and my garden because I care about them. And who will be ready, willing, and able to give safe harbor to our next farm addition — a small flock of fiber sheep!

Deb Michaelsen is a lifelong organic gardener and newbie farmer living in Waldoboro, Maine. Her farm name means “growing wild in a cultivated place,” and she hopes to share the lessons learned from creating Agrestal Farm with others who cherish wild things.

This article was originally published in the spring 2026 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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“She’s beautiful, she’s rich, she’s got huge … tracts o’ land!”

– King of Swamp Castle in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

We do not need huge tracts of land in order to keep livestock. Industry professionals like to use general guidelines of 1 acre per animal, but this is, well … general. If someone is truly dedicated to good pasture management (and not just looking for excuses to hoard animals) acreage doesn’t matter; management is key and winter time is a wonderful time to plan for springtime pastures. There’s even still the opportunity to utilize some restorative practices for those that already have critters. 

Ensure Diverse Diets

Consider ways to keep your livestock’s diets as diverse as possible. Digestion happens by feeding a population of specialized gut bacteria, and the absorption of those well-fed bacteria is what fuels the body. The gut microbiome requires roughly two weeks to repopulate specific varieties of microbes in order to reach peak feed efficiency. In order to keep our animals from essentially starving during seasonal or weather-related changes, we as managers should always plan to maintain as large a variety of gut microbes as possible. This may look like feeding a bit of hay all year, or keeping a small plot aside that is irrigatable in order to supplement their diet by bringing them fresh feed. The idea is to maintain a small population of gut bacteria that can then flourish once conditions change. Without this diversity in feedstuffs, changes to the diet need to be made over a minimum of two weeks in order to avoid shocking the systems of our animals. 

Maximize Forage Health

Always plan to guard the health of your forages. Over-grazing of desired species is the number one blunder of anyone with herbivores. To avoid this, plan your grazing and rotating plan with a high-use area that is reasonably well-drained and easy to clean droppings from. This is where animals will be sequestered until the forage is ready. They will need to be fed supplemental feed while in this space; do not rely on whatever weedy, potentially toxic plant species may be present. Animals will likely still nibble these but with access to enough quality feed to keep them properly satiated, they are unlikely to ingest dangerous amounts (with the exception of some highly toxic plants that each steward should be aware of before managing their specific animal species). 

Allow for Forage Regeneration

Now, if we want the available forage to be healthy and able to regrow, we must give it time to do so. Browsing animals, like goats and sometimes horses, can be allowed to eat young shoots of woody species but should be moved off quickly to allow the plants time to regenerate. This then adjusts the 21 to 45 day “general rule” set forth for creating pasture rotations. The same can be said of sward density (the amount of plants per square foot) and actual grass species in more traditional grazing systems. If the ground is suffering a case of balding, where we can see bare dirt between our forages, do graze the animals on it, but don’t leave them there for long. I say this because there’s an incredible diversity of viable seeds in our soils ready to respond to conditions topside and being grazed, then pooped on, is part of the stimulus they’re seeking. 

Add Organic Matter

If you lack organic matter in your soils, one of my favorite wintertime strategies is what is called bale grazing, where we feed more hay than the animals will consume out on the pasture area, in a grid-like pattern. We should approach this the same way we would graze, by moving animals to a new section before paddocks turn into an aerobic quagmire; then we would need huge tracts of land! I suggest using late-harvested hay for this strategy, since it usually has a higher seed content than other seasonal cuttings. 

Boost Fertility

Lastly, you’re going to have manure, so spread it! I’ve been having great luck putting my compost out on my 2 acres, both spring and fall. I don’t have enough to do all the acreage, so I make sure to pay attention during the growing season and target the areas that need it most. Even though I have a bucket tractor, sometimes ground conditions mean that I can only get out with a wheelbarrow — but that means I don’t have to pay for the gym. This is another reason why I love pocket-sized pastures: they feel manageable in my busy life. 

As MOFGA’s organic dairy and livestock specialist, Jacki Martinez Perkins brings the knowledge she has gained from her upbringing, education, and her experiences abroad, to bear on the unique challenges that face Maine’s dairy and livestock producers.

This article was originally published in the winter 2025-2026 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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When you think of dairy, what comes to mind? Do you enjoy cream in your coffee, cook with butter, garnish with shredded cheese, or go for sweet treats like whipped cream or ice cream? There’s a large variety of dairy products originating from all over the world, spanning as many cultures and dietary needs. But what exactly is milk, how can it make so many delicious things, and does it serve a dietary function while maintaining food safety? 

Basically, any milk is made up of water, fats, proteins, and sugars. These are the components that give it such a powerful nutritional punch. These are also the components that often call into question the digestibility and safety of consuming dairy products. 

If we start with the sugars, or lactose, this is the driver of most human intestinal disruption. As infants, humans have enzyme-producing pumps in the lining of their digestive tract. As we age, those pumps essentially get clogged and turn off. Genetically, some of us retain these enzymes, and are able to continue to digest fresh dairy throughout our lifetimes with no ill effects. Recent scientific study has shown that Caucasians retain the ability to digest lactose more effectively, generally, than people of color. When we look at this concept from a cultural standpoint, we see it mirrored in the dairy products that have been developed regionally around the world. 

Lactose is readily consumed by bacteria, and can be cultured and controlled to create wonderful shelf-stable products that are lactose-free such as hard cheeses like parmesan. There are also products like kefir, known in some circles as the champagne of dairy, which is a fermented dairy product that can aid in our digestion and supply vitamins like K2.

With a better understanding around the sugars in milk, we can talk about milk proteins, which make up to 5% of the component parts of milk. There are two main kinds of proteins within milk, which are dictated by the genetic profile of the animal: beta-casein and kappa-casein. Kappa-caseins attract rennet and form curds, dictating the quality of cheese that can be produced from the milk. For cheesemakers, breeds of livestock can be very important to the flavor profiles of certain cheeses. There are two types of beta-caseins of interest to humans: A1 and A2 variants. The A2 variant is the primary beta-casein found in human, sheep, goat, and buffalo milks, and is believed to be more easily digestible. The A1 beta-casein variant is commonly found in domesticated cattle and, when broken down by digestion, releases a peptide called beta-casomorphin-7 (BCM-7), which has been linked to ailments like gastrointestinal issues, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. 

When sourcing cow’s milk, some people have sought out farms that have conducted special blood tests to determine if their herds exhibit the A2 genetic variant. These genetic variants are more likely to be found in breeds that are not typically black and white, like Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, etc. Milk marketed as A2 may be more easily digestible by some individuals, but it still contains lactose, so those sensitive to the sugars of milk need further intervention through supplemental lactase enzymes or targeted dairy consumption of foods like hard cheeses. 

The third protein that humans utilize is whey protein, which is quickly digested and utilized, and has become desirable by athletes to build muscle after workouts. 

Milk fats are lovely and can be separated by either letting them settle to the top and skimming them off or by sending the milk through a centrifuge and spinning the fat into its own vessel. This cream can then be used for things like butter, ghee, ice cream, whipped cream, sour cream, and myriad other things. Most milk contains a fat profile of 2% to 10%, so this is a prized ingredient and dairy producers get paid accordingly. Careful breed selection and nutrition helps to maximize the production of fats in milk. Commercially available milk is specially regulated to contain a certain amount of fat, and so has been separated and reconstituted to meet these requirements. From a digestive standpoint, butter contains small amounts of lactose and consumption of it depends on the sensitivity of the individual. 

Given all the nutrition that milk contains, it’s no wonder that it holds a place in cultures worldwide, and like any food, if consumed with thought and respect, can help us to live healthy lives. 

This article was originally published in the fall 2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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Parasite monitoring is an important part of raising livestock (and, in case you’re dissuaded from raising livestock due to parasites, I’ve got news for you: everyone has internal parasites). Arguably, healthy bodies can manage a low-grade level of internal parasites in their systems as a natural balance and never notice. It’s when too much stress is placed on the system that disease flourishes and problems arise. When this happens, sometimes a chemical intervention is needed to reset the system. For livestock producers that find routine chemical intervention a necessary part of their management, a restructuring of their overall system is in order. This can mean something as simple as devising a way to keep forages clean as they are fed, or it might require an entirely redesigned grazing plan.

Organic management takes a holistic approach and using chemical intervention is low on the list of preferred practices. Livestock producers transitioning from a conventional approach can find managing internal parasites one of the more challenging aspects of maintaining organic certification. Some species and stages of life are more susceptible to internal parasite overloads than others. For example, sheep and goats are notorious for needing routine deworming, and recently weaned calves are at higher risk of showing symptoms of parasitic infestations of various kinds. As managers, we can quite often trace these issues back to a breakdown of how these creatures evolved. In short, if there’s a problem, it’s generally our fault.

Studying the natural lifecycle of an organism is the best way to learn to manage that organism. The typical lifecycle of internal parasites involves being introduced to the body of a host mammal; completing a life stage inside that mammal; and either making more eggs that are excreted in feces to become the next generation to be ingested, or existing and mating as an adult outside the host, subsequently laying eggs where they can in turn be introduced to a new host.

Well-established, healthy grazing systems are ones that have been designed to mitigate parasitic infestation, and to disrupt their breeding lifecycles. For example, some kinds of bot flies need to lay eggs in mosquitos in order for them to be transferred to a host. Eliminating breeding grounds for mosquitoes reduces the risk of many factors, including issues with these kinds of bot flies. A large library of internal parasites like barber pole worms, hookworms, roundworms, tape worms, and pin worms are found in the soil. Therefore, reducing soil contact is key to avoiding infestations. Overgrazing an area is directly related to higher infestation rates of these internal parasites. Additionally, many larval stages of parasites are able to travel along the wet stems of grasses. The plant crown area can stay moist enough to allow parasitic larva to live, and managers should never allow livestock to graze below this point. Similarly, farms experiencing particularly wet conditions also harbor larva that may potentially travel further up the grass stem than expected. Adjusting grazing times and dates to mitigate these factors leads to a reduction in fecal egg counts. Strategies such as waiting to graze after the morning dew has dried or avoiding grazing wet areas until later in the season can help control infestation events.

Transitioning livestock away from routine chemical intervention (which is not allowed in organic production) usually means replacing treatments with fecal monitoring and recording fecal egg counts for comparison. To do this, one must invest in a microscope capable of 10x magnification and microscope slides, and some training on how to set it up. There are herbal supplements on the market, such as oregano oil, that can reduce fecal egg counts, but they need to be fed constantly and cannot be used on an as-needed basis. Some targeted planting of forages high in tannins, such as vetch, can help to manage fecal egg counts as well. These can be integrated into a grazing system by timed, targeted grazing events. For example, planting a plot of vetch and allowing sheep to graze at the end of the season when fall rains rehydrate dormant populations of larva can reduce the parasite load. Goats can be allowed to forage woody species such as young oaks, chestnuts, or cherry trees at various times of the year to help purge their systems.

There are many internal and external parasites that farm managers need to be aware of, and educated about, but keeping conditions as clean and healthy as possible will help to reduce the impact parasites can have on our livestock.

This article was originally published in the summer 2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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When new to goats, the process of deciding on a breed can be daunting. Various breeds can make good pets, grazers, meat animals, fiber or milk producers. Knowing what is right for your homestead is often based on what use the animals will serve.

Let’s look at some of the most common breeds in Maine and why they are so popular.

Keeping Goats as Pets

Even as pets, goats should be kept in pairs at minimum. Goats are social animals and require members of their own species, no matter how much love and time you give them. Wethers — castrated males — of miniature or pigmy breeds are often the best options for companion animals. They are most likely to be friendly, and there is no need to deal with heats or a smelly buck. Wethers are also the best ground clearers, since they are undistracted by hormones.

Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf goats are the breeds most commonly kept as companion animals. Both are small breeds, which makes them easy to handle for health checks and moving. Their personalities tend to be friendly, though they can be energetic and escape artists.

Goats for Milk

Dairy production is one of the most popular reasons for keeping goats on a small homestead. While they cannot produce the milk quantity of a cow, goats require so much less area and feed than cattle that they are often more efficient. Many families also cannot use the seven to eight gallons of milk a day that a heifer will produce, making goats a more suitable choice.

The butterfat percentage in many popular goat breeds is lower than that of dairy cows, which may be a deterrent for some. However, store-bought “whole” milk no longer contains more than about 3.25% to 3.5% butterfat. A few lower-producing goat breeds — like the Nigerian Dwarf — can actually produce up to 6% butterfat, making their milk a creamy choice for cooking and drinking. They will only produce about half the volume that many of the popular dairy breeds do, but they also will require less space and feed due to their smaller sizes.

When deciding on dairy goats, there are further considerations. What will the milk be used for? Do you want a small quantity to feed your family? Do you need enough to create products to sell? What kind of sales do you plan on, and what is legal in your area? While you may find some breeds cuter than others, make sure they will meet your milking needs before purchasing.

For those looking to sell milk, be sure to first check with your state and federal regulations. Goat milk can fetch a high price, but the process of setting up a milking room and tank can be prohibitive for small homesteads. In Maine, towns with a Food Sovereignty Ordinance may allow for the sale of raw milk from your home, so check with your local regulations as well.

Sale of goat milk means having a steady supply, and this requires a herd of high-producing does. Saanens and Alpines are known as the premier milking goats. Both breeds average about 2,700 pounds of milk a year per animal. However, it is important to make sure your animals and care are of high quality, since there are many factors that will play into their production levels. The Sable is also near this range of production, yet doesn’t seem to have quite the popularity.

Lower-producing but still-popular dairy breeds include the LaMancha and the Toggenburg. Both have production values hovering between 2,300 and 2,400 pounds per animal per year. The milk of LaMancha also, on average, has a higher fat and protein content than milk from Alpine and Saanan goats. Along with its unique ears, this can make LaMancha a popular choice.

Nubians have a far lower production value, with only about 2,000 pounds a year, but their milk comes close to 5% butterfat. This, along with their sweet personality and adorable floppy ears, makes them popular with goat breeders who want a milk that is close to raw cow milk.

More regional popularity requires a mention of the Oberhasli. While they average under 2,000 pounds a year, and have a butterfat content similar to a LaMancha, some breeders in Maine have worked hard to improve their herds’ milk production and quality to much higher levels. This accounts for Oberhasli growing in popularity and value in the state — making them worthy of consideration for your herd.

Goats for Value-Added Products

One of the added benefits to keeping dairy goats on the homestead is the ability to create value-added products with their milk for sale. Value-added products are goods that are not directly from the source, having been processed in some way to sell for a higher price. The most common goat products are goat milk soaps and cheese. Both of these can require a different kind of milk.

Soap removes the concern of licensing dairy for consumption. While higher butterfat in milk can give you a more moisturizing soap, it will also change your recipe requirements, so many soap makers prefer a lower-butterfat milk from a higher-production breed. This makes Alpine and Saanan goats perfect for the aspiring soap maker.

Goat milk cheese is the most popular caprine product in the United States. For homesteaders interested in developing their own cheese lines, keeping goat breeds that can produce a high butterfat content — like the Nubian or the Nigerian Dwarf — means lower milk production but a creamier cheese. In addition, higher butterfat content means more cheese per ounce of milk.

Goats for Meat

While less common in the United States, goat meat is a frequent meal around the world. Meat goats can be raised for dual-purpose use and require less acreage and feed per pound than cattle. They can often be raised in areas where cattle would fail to thrive and produce a red meat that is low in fat, high in protein, and high in iron.

The most common meat goats in the United States are Boer, Kiko, Myotonic, and Spanish.

Boer is the breed that people typically think of when discussing meat goats. They are known for their size, calm demeanor, and ability to thrive in hot, dry climates. They can reach from 250-350 pounds and can be overwhelming for someone without the physical capabilities to handle an animal of that size. In addition, Boer often do not thrive in areas with high humidity. Some breeders choose to cross them with more hearty breeds for their size.

Kiko goats are similarly sized to the Boer but are more acclimated to humid conditions. Kiko have a more standard “goat” look to them, with curling horns on the bucks that grow out to the sides, a more delicate nose, and a shaggier coat.

Myotonic goats are also known as “Tennessee fainting goats” due to a genetic condition affecting the muscles, which causes the goat to stiffen when startled. They do not actually “faint” but may fall over if frightened. They are smaller than Boer or Kiko goats, weighing in at a maximum of about 200 pounds. Some lines reach only about 50 pounds and are more suitable for companion animals, so be careful if buying for meat. Preliminary studies have suggested that the Myotonic’s unique muscle structure may give them a higher meat-to-bone ratio, but this is unconfirmed.

The Spanish goat is one of the oldest breeds in the United States. They are adapted to a wide variety of climates and are often bred exclusively to improve the health of other breeds. They have extremely high rates of fertility and, despite their smaller size, have been kept as an independent breed in order to maintain their heartiness and adaptability. This has resulted in an animal of about 125 pounds that works well for family use. They are able to forage and reproduce with little assistance.

Fiber Goats

Goat fiber — in most cases — is called cashmere and is the downy undercoat that goats produce during the winter and shed in the spring. “Cashmere goats” are referenced in many sources but are actually a type, not a breed. In order to be considered a cashmere goat, the fleece quality of the goat must be measured at a high enough standard to meet qualifying standards. The highest-producing cashmere breeds can be found in Asia and Australia and few exist in New England.

Mohair is another goat fiber, produced only by the Angora goat. It is extremely warm and considered a luxury fiber. It is gained by shearing, which means that — unlike cashmere — it does not have to be separated out from the rest of the animals’ fiber. Angora goats are the only breed to not produce cashmere.

Pygora and Nigora goats are cross-breeds, mixing Angora genetics with Pygmy or Nigerian Dwarf genetics respectively. Both breeds produce a mohair-like fiber, as well as a cashmere-like fiber, making them an efficient choice for fiber lovers who want to raise their own goats.

Sherri Talbot is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in agriculture and the importance of local food. She lives with her husband on their small homestead where she raises, educates, and writes about endangered livestock breeds.

This article originally appeared in the winter 2024-2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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There’s no way around it: At some point in Maine’s cyclical seasons, the grass stops growing and goes dormant. The need to feed hay to our herbivorous livestock during this time is crucial, and knowing what your needs are and what you’re buying is essential to good management.

The most accurate way of determining how much hay to buy is with a little mathematics and knowing how much dry matter your critter needs to eat. Dry matter (DM) is the weight of dry forages, similar to what would be left over after dehydration. For example, dry hay is around 90% dry matter with the remaining 10% being things like dust. For comparison, pastures tend to be anywhere from 15-30% dry matter — very wet.

In the spirit of not running out of feed, do calculations that will cover six months’ worth of feeding a forage-only diet. Don’t complicate the matter with grain intake. Just for fun, let’s use goats as an example, since they tend to be the most discriminating hay critics of all domesticated livestock. A large goat will eat 10 pounds of dry matter a day. If you’re buying 50-pound square bales, each bale will feed one goat for four and half days. The equation for calculating this is as follows: weight of hay x dry matter percentage = weight of dry matter in hay (50-lb. bale x 0.90 = 45 lb. DM). You would then divide this by the required dry matter of feed per day (45 lb. DM/10 lb. = 4.5 days).

At this point, informed readers will have gotten a hearty laugh. A caprine pastime is forsaking hay that other livestock would readily consider candy. Which brings me to my next topic: hay quality. Making hay is part science, part art, and a healthy helping of luck. It is a balance between letting it grow long enough to have substance while still preserving peak nutrition. Weather and soil type tend to dictate this process. Talented, dedicated hay producers are able to cut hayfields up to four times during Maine’s short summers.

Generally, homesteaders insist on second-cut hay because animals eat it with little waste, and traditional weather patterns allow for those five-day windows of drying time after it is cut. Anyone with dairy animals will argue for the first cutting of hay, if it was harvested in mid-May, but that generally means it was ensiled (fermented). If we consider how our cool-season grasses grow, it gives us a better understanding of why livestock love second-cut hay but make better milk and gain more weight on first-cut.

Early first-cuts of grass are preferred by dairy producers because the high mineral content and energy levels increase milk-fat percentages. However, in Maine, it is very hard to make dry hay in May. Therefore, these early high-quality cuttings are made into round bales and wrapped in plastic to ferment. Care must be taken, however, because improperly ensiled hay can grow clostridium botulinum when pH is greater than 4.5, or feed has come in contact with a decomposing carcass. Horses are most at risk, though ruminants can also suffer from botulism.

If the first cutting has been delayed and made into dry hay, the quality has decreased, but there is potential for using the seed content to rejuvenate pasture paddocks with targeted outdoor feeding. Second-cut hay (and beyond) lacks mineral content and energy but is ultimately highly palatable because of the higher sugar content. Can we really blame the goats for preferring cake over broccoli?

Judicious determination on when and who to feed the different cuttings to is up to the management goals of each individual producer. Is the goal milk or is it meat? How is hay waste being managed? Can our model utilize a variety of species? Where can costs be cut or justified?

This brings me to my last point: the geometry of forage. Hay was originally harvested by hand and piled up in stacks. Exposure to the elements results in a loss of 30-50% of harvest when left outside. Then came mechanization and the square bale. This worked great! Farmers could get more hay packed tightly into haymows, and it acted as an insulating layer for the barn beneath. But, stacking thousands of square bales is costly in terms of labor and time, so round balers were engineered, then round bale wrappers allowed operations without storage options to make ensiled feed. This increased efficiency can be seen in the end price paid out by customers. A 600-pound round bale of organic dry hay sells for around $60 whereas the equivalent in square bales would cost over $100, making the savings significant when feeding over six months of time. However, we return to management. How that hay is being stored and fed plays largely into whether cost savings can be realized. We as managers need to do what we must to keep hay clean and dry until it exits the animal.

Livestock can be a fulfilling endeavor in any situation and educating oneself on their management is perpetually stimulating. The best way to avoid aging is to never stop learning or moving, even in the depths of a raw winter. And, I can say from experience, there’s nothing finer than coming in out of the cold.

This article was originally published in the winter 2024-2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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I grew up not only in a different time but also in such a different world than most everyone else I know. My dad was a dairy farmer, and my mom was the only female large animal veterinarian in Maine at the time. By the time I arrived on the scene, the youngest of three with two older brothers, my mom had started her own large-animal veterinary practice as a sole practitioner, and right from the start I was surrounded by warm milk rooms, fuzzy kittens, and the smell of manure. As my brothers and I grew, we became integral employees to the dairy farm, trusted with tasks adult employees struggled to master, and as teens seeking off-farm jobs, we were sought after by employers who knew we had dedication and work ethic.

Was it hard? Yes. Was it often dangerous? Yes. Would I trade it for anything? Not on the lives of my own children. In fact, as a mother myself, now riding a desk chair in my work for MOFGA rather than a farm tractor, I have been taking the best parts of my childhood and folding them into my children’s lives, as well as introducing those lessons to other young people, teens, and curious adults. Introducing youth to livestock can feel daunting and dangerous, but there are reasonable strategies I have seen people use to reap the benefits of living side by side with our fellow creatures.

First and foremost, livestock management should always be approached with intention. Thinking about keeping any infrastructure accessible can take imagination but stepping outside of our own realities is important more broadly than just on our farms and homesteads. For example, if you suddenly have weight-lifting restrictions and can no longer lift buckets, are you able to source longer hoses, or maybe move hay in sleds or wagons? Do the tools you have on hand fit the ergonomics of varying bodies and their abilities? We have a few different wheelbarrow and shovel sizes on our homestead because we take a family approach to chores and even my aging mother finds fulfillment in participating.

One of the next lessons I learned has been caterwauled by many a youngin’s enjoyment of the hit song from the movie “Frozen”: “Let it go, let it gooo … !” We can’t let the way we want a thing to be keep us from letting little ones try. Often, when I work with younger children, I agree to take turns with them so that they can get some practice, but the task will still get done. And while spilled milk and cracked eggs make us adults cringe, you’ll find there will be more tomorrow.

This leads me to safety: both for people and livestock. This is, ultimately, the most time-consuming aspect of keeping livestock and children together, and requires clear and enforced boundaries for all parties, while still allowing for some space for minor scrapes and bruises. I have found the latter piece of this vital in having young people fully grasp the importance of the rules we have in place for handling livestock. The flip side is being sure to use protective gear like gloves, sturdy footwear, and helmets to prevent major accidents. Proper fencing of both livestock and littles creates a physically tangible barrier that helps to keep everyone safe if the responsible party needs their attention elsewhere. Teaching self-awareness and kindness takes time, repetition, and diligence.

While inexperienced individuals need to learn how to handle livestock, it is the responsibility of those well-seasoned in livestock care to know when an animal is unsafe to be around. We grew up with breeding bulls, which after a time tend to become aggressive, and so would inevitably end up in our freezer. Roosters can become a terror and leave people with nasty wounds. Broody hens will peck, rabbits that aren’t handled humanely tend to scratch, and goats and sheep can headbutt the unsuspecting. Using judgment and clear communication are key in building resilience and reducing harm, which are life skills that we can model for young people to carry forward with them as adults. Additionally, the empathy gained in caring for living beings that cannot communicate the same way humans do will help build stronger and more diverse communities as long as we’re taking the time to show children how to ask questions and listen to the world around them.

If you have interest in raising livestock as a part of your own homestead but would like more hands-on learning opportunities, MOFGA works to offer workshops focused on livestock and poultry handling throughout the year. If you don’t see the specific programming you’re interested in, feel free to reach out and let us know. It helps us to build quality programming.

This article was originally published in the fall 2024 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Browse the archives for free content on organic agriculture and sustainable living practices. Subscribe to the publication by becoming a member!

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Most livestock want to eat woody plants. Cattle, sheep and goats in Europe were historically wintered on abundant, tannin-rich forages; farmers dried tree leaves for sheep and goats, and ensiled leaves (stored anaerobically to ferment), or sometimes cooked or steeped dried leaves, for cattle and hogs. From 6,000 years ago until horse-drawn hay equipment became available, cutting branches was easier than cutting grass, and villages had many hands to tie sheaves or strip leaves.

Today, trees along pastures show a distinct browse-line, where cattle have eaten every leaf in reach — but farmers lack time to deal with leafy brush. Encouraged by ruminants, and by other farmers, I completed one farmer-led Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project, then dove into two more, to improve production methods, measure yields, and explore nutrition and utility of leaf-silage.*

Faster Leaf-Silage with Less Wood

Chipping makes brush more manageable. In 2018-2019, I fed chipped silage to cattle, sheep, goats and hogs at my 3 Streams Farm in Belfast, Maine, plus four other farms in Waldo County, for Northeast SARE Farmer Grant project FNE18-897. I used leafy branches up to 1 inch in diameter (yielding approximately 60% leaf and 40% wood). All livestock accepted the feed but preferred hand-stripped silage without the wood.

In 2020, Lucas Tree Experts (Maine’s largest roadside line-clearing company) did the harvest labor; large branch diameters raised wood content to 60%. (Foliar applications of herbicide along roadside powerlines have stopped; organic certification would require affidavits from multiple landowners.) Barrels went to three farms plus mine. Sheep at Y Knot Farm were the only ones to diligently sort through for leaves, needles and bark, and even sucked on wooden pieces, making them rounder.

I returned to hand-stripping, imagining various machines. I looked up logging equipment, envisioning a down-scaled chain-flail delimber. Karl Hallen, of Hallen Farm and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) Willow Biomass Project, created a prototype as the first step in our current pair of Northeast SARE projects (FNE22-013 and FNE24-083). The chain-flail leaf-separator quickly removes and collects intact tree/shrub leaves from large branches, and from trunks up to 3 ½ inches in diameter.

Last summer various helpers and I harvested enough leaves, of 13 common tree species and 10 shrub species present at MOFGA’s campus, Y Knot Farm and Faithful Venture Farm, to fill 77 thirty-gallon barrels. We heavily pruned most trees to resprout above browse height (making them pollards) and coppiced shrubs (felling them to resprout near ground level). Ten to fifteen lineal feet of field edge filled a barrel (contents averaged 52 pounds), and took three-quarters of an hour to two hours to cut, limb and stack, plus 10 to 15 minutes to run the leaf-separator per barrel. Gray birch took the most time per leaf volume; ash took the least. We slowed the feed speed and sped up flails for well-attached oak leaves.

After harvest, these stretches should rest for six to eight years before being harvested again, as our current machine prototype works best with large pieces of woody material. Three years would be the European minimum; in Norway, five years is considered sustainable.

Ruminants Want a Lot of Tree and Shrub Leaf-Silage

In winter trials, animals at four farms ate leaf-silage way faster than expected. Fourteen Holstein heifers at Faithful Venture Farm ate each barrelful of elm, oak, ash and locust in 20 minutes. At Tilden Pond Farm, the cow’s milk yield rose by about three cups per day when fed 7 pounds of poplar or honeysuckle leaf-silage per day in addition to her usual hay and grain. My 3 Streams Farm goats are grass- and browse-fed (no grain nor other outsourced concentrates); in non-leaf-silage control periods I fed precious second-cut hay in place of leaf-silage. Our winter milk production rose with the leaf-silage at the start of our trial, then stayed steady with a slight additional rise in control periods, probably due to higher protein content of that treat hay. My animals had unlimited first-cut hay throughout; it was harvested in late August and contained a lot of dead grass. (Due to wet weather, a lot of herds ate such hay this winter, with farmers grateful to have any.)

Scaling Up Harvests

Lucas Tree Experts and I have renewed collaboration; this summer, I’ll bring choice trailer-loads of their intact leafy branches to our leaf-separator, and I hope to line up a large chipper so that de-leafed trunks and branches will exit directly into it.

Can on-farm leaf harvest be scaled up, for easier organic certification? At the 2nd European Symposium on Pollarding, held in Sare, France in 2018, my French colleagues presented about mechanical tree canopy harvests from ancient pollards for community-based biomass energy. Small-scale European feller-buncher and chainsaw-type harvesters can likewise be used to produce livestock forage from rows of pollards. Such equipment beats the labor efficiency of my 9-foot pole chainsaw.

Large-scale field cropping of woody coppice beds is even faster, and offers ecological services beyond those of a hayfield. SUNY ESF willow plots are straddled every three years by the largest New Holland harvester, with a woody crop cutting head and Karl Hallen (the creator of the chain-flail leaf-separator prototype) driving. Dry matter yields are slightly above three years of hay yields. Karl and I plan to measure edibility of summer-harvested willow biomass chips; that answer will inform future work to divert the edible portion towards farms.

Nutritional Testing of Leaf-Silage

In 2020, a Vermont Grass Farmers Mini-Grant covered basic nutritional testing on leaf storage samples from SARE FNE18-897. Now SARE FNE24-083 is yielding in-depth nutritional data on over 100 leaf samples, including fresh and ensiled comparisons, plus data supporting cyanide toxin reduction in ensiled cherry. Gallic acid levels are thought to limit animal intake of maple species and sumac; we have found a lab to measure this. Animals much prefer Norway maple leaves to red or rock maple. Plant defenses match evolutionary experience; Norway maple probably let go of leaf defense since pollarded tops were kept out of browse reach, but it has highly defended bark to survive ever-present European livestock. Our striped maple is similarly tasty but lacks bark defense.

Nutritional tests do not measure tannins, which ruminants need in order to optimally digest and utilize proteins. Tannins in most common tree and shrub leaves have yet to be identified (in 6,000 years?). Instead, funding has supported bioengineering of leguminous crops (alfalfa, white clover) to produce tannins. Organic growers have been limited to (non-bioengineered) birdsfoot trefoil. Wayne Zeller, of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin, has screened 23 woody species from SARE FNE22-013, finding especially high levels of condensed tannins in black locust, poplars and birches.

Yulica Santos Ortega, of MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, is looking at human health aspects of my goats’ milk produced with and without leaf-silage. Lipid profiles are consistently healthful, yet differ. The Betaine lipid DGTS is present in milk from both leaf-silage and control periods; among many benefits, this rare lipid helps creatures — us, and goat kids born in February — deal with cold temperatures.

I consume a lot of milk, so I am glad to know it’s healthy; and such nutritional information enhances the milk’s value to others. But ecosystem health matters even more to me.

Leaf Harvests Rejuvenate Trees and Trees Restabilize the Climate

My computer gets hauled on every goat walk to fulfill research commitments, plus I bring along and study scholarly articles about tree leaves and climate dynamics. My (mostly goat-driven) motivation is magnified by concern. I’m watching lifeforms closely as I sculpt my way through the tree canopy of the 3 Streams Farm woodland, and death seems to be escalating. Weather is becoming less regulated. Reduced emissions alone will not save us: The earth needs to be alive, to stay alive.

Water vapor from tree and plant evapotranspiration carries unfelt heat energy through time and space, to condense when and where heat and moisture are needed. We have stripped (and are continuing to strip) too much of earth’s climate-regulating ability. Trees create and moderate wind and rain, both locally on the farm and in more far-reaching ways. I’m recommending incorporating trees in “climate-smart” farm landscape changes.

Crop fields and pastures in Europe historically were sprinkled with pollards throughout. Lollipop shadows of such trees moved throughout the day with the sun. Both livestock and grass productivity peak at temperatures in the 60s; the shadows help.

Leafy canopy harvests rejuvenate and storm-proof pollarded trees, and deepen foliage, increasing habitat opportunities. Such harvests enhance drought- and flood-resilience of soil through carbonaceous remains of root die-back and regrowth, parallel to top-harvest cycles. This same root-cycling releases nitrogen to soil and nearby plants at each branch harvest; trees also routinely draw up moisture as needed and share with that ground layer. Fallen leaves protect soil in winter, feeding worms and fungi come spring. Leaves fed to livestock raise mineral content of manure.

We can create livable farm micro-climates. Picture maximizing farm-wide canopy density and foliage height diversity (the latter is used as a proxy for biodiversity measurement due to close correlation). Picture minimizing bare soil, gravel, pavement, roofs, solar panels and other inert or dead surfaces. Such surfaces lack fine-tuned environmental responsiveness and self-regulatory capabilities of live plants — and simply heat up when the sun hits.

As I open barrels of leaf-silage, people come close and breathe deeply to enjoy calming tree aromas. Trees on your farm release the same; the ruminants know.

Shana Hanson first climbed into fruit trees to prune professionally in 1983. She ascended to harvest tree leaves in earnest plus network internationally with pollard researchers in 2011, and presented at the 2nd European Symposium on Pollarding in Sare, France, in 2018. Upon her return, she began her first research project focused on “air meadow” canopy harvest in a mature woodland, trying an array of storage methods, and measuring palatability. Interested in learning more? Visit 3streamsfarmbelfastme.blogspot.com for information on tree leaf fodder and climate, plus links to all project reports.

*These projects are funded by SARE, which is funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This article was originally published in the summer 2024 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Browse the archives for free content on organic agriculture and sustainable living practices. Subscribe to the publication by becoming a member!

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At MOFGA’s 2023 Farmer to Farmer Conference we hosted a session about new fencing technology and how it is being implemented in rotational grazing systems in the Northeast.

Dan Smith, who has worked with the dairy industry for decades, secured funding through the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center to trial invisible fencing collars on cattle dairies in the Northeast using Nofence technology out of Europe. The study will focus on soil and water health over two grazing seasons to determine the efficacy of this system.

The Nofence system was developed to work on cows, sheep and goats using cellular phone service to send GPS signals from the collars to the operator’s cell phone. Users of the system download an app onto their phone where they can set and adjust perimeters and paddocks, cordon off areas (like ponds) to keep livestock out, and move livestock to new grazing areas.

The system requires a brief training period where livestock spend time in physical fencing to learn that the musical notes coming from the collars will lead to a short shock if they do not retreat. While individual animals might escape the “fenced” area, they are not shocked upon their return to the herd, unlike a physical fence that they would need to completely disregard in order to return to their friends. One of the more interesting aspects of this system is that “lost” individuals can be found using the GPS signals broadcast from the collars. If a whole herd gets spooked and runs through the perimeter, they can be located via the cell phone app and a perimeter can be set up around them to contain them until they can be collected by their humans. The Vermont farmer working with Smith on this project had this happen: The herd was following a cyclist and was far too intrigued to respect the musical alerts. The farmer was immediately notified via alerts from his phone and easily collected his cattle.

If you’re just not ready to ditch the physical comfort of a fence, there are systems being developed to reduce the time moving fences takes. Rob Albers currently farms in northern Aroostook County, Maine, with a goal of raising 800 market-ready Katahdin lambs. He has invested in the RAPPA system from Britain and has been very happy with the ease of use and time savings it offers.

The RAPPA fencing system is a lightweight rack that holds up to four spring-loaded reels of poly fence. This rack can be mounted on an ATV or truck hitch and, as the vehicle moves along, the poly wire is kept from tangling as it is either rolled in or out. If the system is mounted on an ATV, the operator can carry lightweight fence posts on the forward rack of the ATV and never needs to dismount as they install paddock separations.

During the summer of 2023 Albers ran a total of 850 sheep in four groups. These groups were intensively, rotationally grazed on 200 acres during the summer growing season, which runs from June to October in Maine’s northern reaches. He was able to utilize available forages in an efficient manner despite having off-farm employment to subsidize his startup costs.

Additional information for both of these fencing options can be found online.

This article was originally published in the spring 2024 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.

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