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Dairy Goats Benefit From High Quality Nutrition

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By Dan Leiterman

Goats are competent browsers, which leads to the misconception that goats can eat and thrive on almost anything. In reality, because goats have a shorter digestive system relative to their body size, food is not retained as long. This increases the need for both higher levels of nutrition and higher quality nutrients. This faster digestive pass through time, reduces nutrient absorption, but also allows goats the ability to increase their dry matter intake to offset the short access time to nutrition. The range of dry matter intake for goats is 3 to 5 % of their body weight which is typically higher than other ruminants.1

A goat’s diet may consist of a wide variety of feedstuffs. Goats can browse on shrubs, graze on pasture and can accommodate supplemental grain feeding when necessary to meet nutritional requirements during times of higher production or winter months.

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Gearing Up For Lambing And Kidding Seasons

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By Jessica Dercks, B.S.

Preparing for healthy kids and lambs starts long before kidding and lambing seasons begin. It is vital for gestating animals to have a well balanced ration that provides the appropriate minerals and vitamins not only for their own health, but for their developing young as well. Because sheep and goats have different nutrient requirements, Crystal Creek® offers both a Goat and a Sheep Mineral. Both formulas are packed with readily bioavailable vitamins and minerals specifically balanced for each species. The purchase of either mineral comes with custom ration balancing services that ensure quality, cost effective diets.

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Maintaining Your Pasture To Maximize Feed Quality

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By Erik Brettingen, B.S.

Pasture is a high quality, cost-effective feed that many producers rely heavily on during the summer months. Because pasture is such a crucial feed, it is important to manage it during vulnerable times to make the most efficient use of it when it is growing. Implementation of fall and spring pasture management practices can make a noticeable difference in pasture quality and in your pocketbook during the grazing season.

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Successfully Managing Internal Parasites In Sheep

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By Contributing Editor
Julie Wadzinski, B.S.

Internal parasite resistance is becoming a serious concern across sheep flocks worldwide.  Recent research has focused on different methods to minimize the genetic adaptation of internal parasites to survive deworming treatments (anthelmintic resistance). It is important to take a multi-faceted approach to create an Integrated Parasite Management (IPM) plan. One component to consider when creating an IPM is parasite refugia.  Parasite refugia is a population of parasites that have survived despite being exposed to unfavorable conditions. An effective parasite managment plan includes pasture management, proper anthelmintic selection, selectively treating animals, careful breeding/culling considerations, quarantining new animals and investigating treatment failure.

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Evaluating Dry Matter Intake From Pastures

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By Erik Brettingen, B.S.

Many producers we work with at Crystal Creek® utilize pasture as a valuable feedstuff in their ration during the grazing season. Pasture is a cost effective feed that provides great nutrition, supports rumen microbes, promotes animal health, and improves the profitability of many operations when utilized properly. While pasture as a feed can be very beneficial, it has one downfall.  It is difficult to measure the dry matter intake (DMI) of your animals when they are on pasture. Dry matter intake is a crucial piece of information for nutritionists when balancing a ration.  A balanced ration is essential for optimal production, reproduction, animal health and ultimately profitability.

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Ask the Vet / Ask the Nutritionist

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Every winter we have a number of animals who come in with chapped or cracked teats.  We would like to prevent this but we don’t know how?  Is there anything we can use to keep the cold weather from wrecking our cow’s teats?”

~ Chapped in Michigan ~

 

By Lorrie Meister, CVT

Winter poses many challenges for cattle and producers in general. Here at Crystal Creek® we have a number of products to help you prevent some of the most common problems seen with winter udder care.

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