All Posts

I got asked earlier if its okay for male goats to have grain. This is a myth I'd like to dispel over and over and over until its never brought up again. Bucks and wethers can absolutely have grain, and many times, SHOULD be grained during certain lifestages (ex: as young kids to benefit rumen development and growth, after or during rut when they inevitably prioritize breeding over eating, to help bounce back after any illness or wormload that took a physical toll on them, whe

Happy 1st birthday Monday and Latte! ABA Monday Funday and ABA Lucky Latte were born on a hot spring day, 5/4/25, to Swallow Hill PD Mirella M and Hundeholz Thats a Nice Boulder B. This was a highly anticipated kidding for me, as I had already named and retained all doelings from Mirella before she even went into labor, and it isnt simply because Mirella is an excellent doe in all aspects (but that was a major reason of course!). Many of you may know that there have been 3 in

Toxic plants! We are expanding the doe pen fence pretty significantly today, and unfortunately, this beautiful tree had to be cut down. I know, I know. Hear me out first. Whenever you fence off or open up new areas for your goats, it is very important to be extra vigilant about potential toxic plants within their new bounds, and to remove these plants before the goats have access to them. My preferred go-to method of being good at this is to walk around the new area with a pl

Wanna know my hot take? Buying a goat for thousands of dollars is probably not going to improve your herd, and is not where people need to actually start. Now, if you spent $40k on a single goat and thats exactly what you were wanting - fantastic! I am happy for you and I genuinely hope you are both excited and satisfied with your purchase. I am not referencing experienced breeders that know exactly what their herd is lacking, excelling at, or where they want to be and using

I am NOT a good person when the goats get out. In fact, I am probably the most toxic person you have ever met when the goats are out. I am screeching, I am cussing, I am verbally abusing them the entire time. Probably a lot of livestock folks can relate to that. You meet me because my goats were in your yard? Disregard that entire interaction please. I dont know where Toxic Angry Dani comes from, but I know what triggers it, and the only fix is to GET THE DAMN GOATS BACK IN T

Happy 5th birthday to my Cygni! Cyggi Pig is one of my two boer goats here, and she is one of the two goats I have rescued. I was called out to someone's property when their doe was in labor, and I checked on both the doe and the doe's one baby. Both were fine and good. Right before I was going to leave, I noticed: about 100 feet away was a tiny little blob. It was a baby still in its sack. I rushed over, ripped the sack open, and unfortunately the baby was not breathing. Aft

Pictured: ABA Drink Your Ovaltine, who is the smallest of my 2026 babies yet still significantly larger at 12 weeks old than a lot of these backyard goats being advertised on local goat groups. For her in particular, I dont worry whatsoever about her growth. She is not yet filling in gut-wise, but continually growing longer and longer into both hot dog form and in the legs. I can see growth, even if its not in the tummy, but every single week at weight time she has considerab

Tfw you learn that responsible breeding also means responsible buying! This is something I brought up recently but vaguely in a previous post. Its time to elaborate just a little bit on that. To start, we are ALL aware of chicken math. Three chickens turns into thirty. Its very real, most of us have experienced it first hand. My six starter chickens turned into literally 200 in my two years. Yep. 200. Is that too many chickens? My final answer on that is a definite "yeah, my

Comet (polled) and Star (horned) are the LAST two 2026 wethers still looking for new barns. It baffles me that I still have these two cuties! They would just love a pet home where they can get allll the attention. Both of them are brothers, born to my mini lamancha YanYan, castrated July 7th via clampy clamp, weaned from their bottles, fully up to date on CDT, and from a clean tested herd against CAE and Johnes. Comet is a fairly independent and curious boy, who enjoys explor

Feeding Milk Starting off, the different choices for milk, bottles, schedules, and amounts to feed can be a bit overwhelming. If you are purchasing a bottle baby, I would recommend getting a rundown from the breeder on what schedule and protocol they follow. Consistency and never skipping a feeding is very important for young kids. That said, switching them to what works for your schedule and protocols is equally as important to ensure you can maintain consistency through wea

Retired old girl Mara wants to remind everyone that goats do not need baking soda made available to them. Goats create their own bicarbonate, and adding in baking soda can slow their own production. Additionally, it being "useful in case of bloat, they'll eat it if they need it" is actually just... wrong, getting more and more wrong with every single sentence? (I had no intention of making this into a long post but here we go 😆) BAKING SODA DOES NOT TREAT BLOAT. Bloat, actua

No, Valkyrie here is not sick. But she sure looks it! The red rimmed eyes, the patches of fur missing, the discharge. Valkyrie had an allergic reaction to one of the vaccines. This is very rare, and actually the first time I've seen a reaction in this form. She does not (and never did get!) the pinkeye that ran through the doe pen, and when I walked outside to see her like THIS, I was obviously quite concerned. After a thorough evaluation though, we determined that she is sim

My PSA for the day is to please do actual deep dive research and reference real scientific studies before using herbs and tinctures to "treat" anything. Giving pumpkins because your goats have fecal confirmed worms? NO. It doesnt work. Feeding your goats tobacco because they have fecal confirmed worms? NO. It does not work. Making a huge herbal blend and making them eat it everyday? ..... WHY? What are you trying to accomplish or fix? We know what goats need to be healthy. Ad

Pictured is Maple just a few minutes ago, clear eyed and able to see again, playing with her herdmates with a downed adolescent tree. Ive been so busy lately that I havent updated at all on Maple and Bruma! Or what the pinkeye status of the herd is. The short answer is that we are all clear! Maple & Bruma have fully recovered and have rejoined the does (with their stitches out), and the very last case of pinkeye was resolved fully over a week ago. Yay! For context (and the lo

A baby Firefly from 2023 . As several of our followers from facebook may have already seen this - please note that many long posts/stories will be shared cross platform between facebook, instagram, and my website here. I will say that this website will likely be the best source for information and slice-of-life stories. So I've got a bit of an announcement I suppose... and maybe its time for another introduction to what ABA is. This will be very very long, so I hope maybe a

Neptune, Antiva, and Jupiter. Sometimes getting the right gift for the practical, hardworking goat farmer in your life can be a real pain. They don't enjoy typical lavish gifts. As someone with a lifestyle solely revolving around goats, here is my list of fairly universal ideas for just about anyone with goats (or other livestock!). NOTE: I am not affiliated or sponsored by ANY of the links/references on this page. The specific products I recommend are simply just my personal