Going Home
Taking your Nubian home is an exciting time, but can also be frustrating for some. Why frustrating, you may ask? Your new goat isn’t going to understand your excitement for them and not only are you unfamiliar, but your place will be as well.
It can be a confusing time where they had all their buddies to play with, dams were there to nurse them, and guardian dogs to keep them safe. All the cool places to play, or hiding places that were familiar, are no longer available. Some may cry for something familiar and it’s not uncommon for bucklings asserting themselves as soon as they meet someone new. Boys will be boys as they try to mate their new friends. Yes, bucklings start acting like bucks within the first month.
Farm Visit
What can you expect when picking up your Belicia Nubian?
We have an automatic gate for security to keep our animals from running out in the highway, so we require a mutually scheduled time for pickup.
Collars
We ask that everyone bring their own collar. We keep kid collars for identification purposes and commonly reuse adult collars for or up and coming yearlings.
Why have a collar for a baby?
Good question. Our answer is it is easier to grab a collar than it is a leg. The sooner they are collar broke, the easier it will be to handle them in the future.
We handle them some, but our main focus is getting them on the ground in a healthy, safe manner, disbudded, vaccinated, coccidia preventative and tattooed, so they may be a little shy due to poking, burning and prodding them. Poor tykes!
Common Collar Sizes
Weanling kids: medium dog collar
Yearlings: 12-16” collar
Adult Does: 16-18” collar
Adult bucks: 20-24+” collars, depending on if they are in rut or not
Transporting Your Goat
In preparation of bringing your goat home, we recommend a goat tote, or an enclosed kennel. Wire kennels are ok too, as long as they are sturdy with strong clasps. If using a kennel in the back of your vehicle, we recommend one where your goat can stand up, but it’s more comfortable for them to lay sternal.
In laying sternal on hay or shavings, they are less likely to panic, turn around and look for their pasture mates, bleet (cry) and stress. Laying down, they look out and take in their environment and start to settle into their new accommodations. Also laying down, they are less likely to pee and poo everywhere, and less for you to clean up.
Biosecurity
Before you arrive, we will ask that you NOT wear any clothes or shoes that were exposed to any other goats and to use hand sanitizer. We know you will be taking your new goat home to that very environment, but we do everything we can, biosecurity wise, to protect the herd that remains on our farm. By not exposing them to any saliva, milk, or blood born pathogens is our main priority.
Photos
Please stow your phones while visiting the farm, as we don’t allow photos taken of our stock and using those photos as your own. You are welcome to save photos of sire and dam from our website which are copyright protected, stamped with our logo, for future use of marketing your new goat or their offspring.
General Health
We do NOT or will NOT sell a goat that is sick with a runny nose, or with diarrhea. Our goats are tested for CAE and are vaccinated with Case Bac against CL. Please note your goats health when picking them up. We ask you to make sure they have clear and alert eyes. There is no runny nose. They do not have diarrhea. And, they have a shiny, soft coat.
Anytime anyone purchases a goat, they should look at the general health of the herd and make sure they aren’t sick, or have scars from burst abscesses. The health of our herd is our main priority, as should yours be of any goat you purchase.
Once your goat is in your possession, they are yours and your prerogative on future health and maintenance. We do not, or will not take back a goat that has been exposed to another farm. Everything that goat has been exposed to, would also expose our farm and resident goats.
Claiming Day – Farm Noise!
If you’re picking up a kid on a claiming day (day all the kids are weaned and claimed by their new owners,) please note it will be uncommonly loud on our farm. Our Nubians aren’t typically noisy, but we pull the kids the day before, so you can see their dams with full udders. Since the kids will not have nursed since the day before, they (dam and kids) will be dramatic over the weaning process which gets noisy, quick!
Introduction
We will greet you at the house or the barn and ask if you would like to park at the barn, as it will be easier to load your goat. Once parked, we will introduce you to your goat. After you’ve spent time with your goat and we’ve answered any questions you may have, we will ask if you’d like to view the sire or dam.
Sire and Dam
You will be able to see the sire and dam (if applicable) of the goat your purchasing, in order to view their conformation or udder structure, but you will not be allowed to touch our pet them. Like we mentioned prior, we take their health and biosecurity very seriously.
Scrapie Tags
State Law
For goats over eighteen months of age, it is Texas law that they be Scrapie tagged. That tag can be placed in either their ear or a collar. Since “most” Nubian owners don’t want Scrapie tags in their goats ear, we can adhere the Scrapie tag to a collar that you supply and take a photo of it for state/federal proof. If you do not supply a collar, we will be forced to Scrapie tag the ear. What you do with the Scrapie tag once you get home is up to you.
Tattoo’s and Vaccine’s
We tattoo your Nubian for registration requirements. If they carry the Belicia herd name, you can locate the “CYAN’ tattoo in the right ear and the preferred tattoo letter and your goats birth number in their left ear. The tattoo info will also be located on the ADGA registration certificate.
You can view our vaccine schedule here: Vaccine Protocol
Paperwork
After introducing you to your new goat, viewing sire and dam (if applicable), we will go over the paperwork (registration, negative test results, vaccines, etc.), exchange payment and we’ll help get your goat safely loaded. Cash will be required at pickup as we don’t use cash apps for final payment. Deposits on reserved kids are non-refundable, unless a kid passes away in our care, becomes sick, or if there is a problem on our end that can not be resolved before they were scheduled to go home.
ADGA Registration
If your goat is already registered, we will have the papers signed for an open transfer and ready. If your kid is not yet registered, we will have an application for registration already filled out with the kids vital information and signed for you. You can name them whatever you want to, but just remember that our Belicia herd name will precede the name you’ve chosen, per ADGA guidelines. Applications and registrations for our Purebred Nubians are through the American Dairy Goat Association – ADGA, located at:
American Dairy Goat Association
PO Box 865
Spindale, NC 28160
https://adga.org/
Multiple registries besides ADGA are available for purebred Nubians. You can register them through the American Goat Society or the International Nubian Breeders Association. We are not affiliated with them, so if you chose to dual register your goat, it will be upon you to complete that process.
Online ADGA Registration
If you want your kid to be ADGA registered online, we can do that for you. When we give you the registration application, please fill in the name choices for the kid, your name, address, and ADGA membership info. If you’re not a member, you will need to become one before we can complete the online registration. Once we’ve completed the online registration for you, we will have the papers mailed direct to you. ADGA will not send us the papers to have them forwarded to you, they send them direct since we will complete the application and transfer at the same time.
If online registration is something you prefer, please have your name choices made at pickup. You get thirty spaces for your name choice, but Belicia, our herd name will take up seven of your thirty spaces. You will get two name choices that will be submitted to ADGA. Payment in full is required before we will register your goat online for you. You do not have to be present while we complete the process with the American Dairy Goat Association – ADGA. Most times, we will process it the day after the kids are picked up. If you’ve supplied us with your phone number or email address, we can message you when ADGA emails the confirmation, which is normally received in a week or so.
Loading Up
Once all the paperwork is completed and we’ve answered any additional questions you may have, we will help load your goat, last, so it’s less time that they will be stressing while we visit with you.
Settling In at Home
Once you get them home, we recommend a quiet stall that’s not very big, usually a 5×5, or similar, with accessible water and hay. It helps to have a buddy that’s visible, or one that will become a buddy.
It is not uncommon for them to not like your feeding program, hay, or water at first. They are used to the grain their dams ate, and until they settle and get hungry, they may be picky. Some may even need friendly competition from another goat to get them eating.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you for purchasing a Belicia Nubian! We appreciate you!
