Goat Talk with the Goat Doc

Goat Talk with the Goat Doc

Dr Cara Sammons-Shepard, DVM is a practicing veterinarian in Maine and New Hampshire, and when on the road, the majority of her patients are goats. She and her husband have owned and operated a commercial farmstead creamery since 2009. In this podcast, Dr Shepard discusses different topics related to goat medicine and husbandry. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

December 19, 2025 37 mins

ELISA, PCR, cultures, histopath! So many ways to try to determine if an animal is infected with MAP and not one is enough by itself!


goatdoccara@gmaill.com

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Part 1 of what looks like at least currently a three part series about Johne's disease AKA MAP (Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis) in general and in goats. Covering basics about the organism, what it does and what that looks like (or doesn't look like) in goats.


goatdoccara@gmail.com

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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A peripherally goat-related episode. This mini episode is just to update on what's going on with the podcast, how to get in touch, what I'm shooting for with the podcast going forward and what I've been up to for the past couple of years.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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November 21, 2025 34 mins

Devin and I talk about our life in fencing. What has worked well for us, what hasn't, where some fencing applications are more successful than others.


goatdoccara@gmail.com



Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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November 7, 2025 32 mins

Devin and I chat about the scourge of every farm - flies. What we have done over the years and what has worked for us.


goatdoccara@gmail.com

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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October 24, 2025 34 mins

Tales from the Farm recounts the Flying Goat Farm February 2025 Canadian Pasteurizer Expedition.


(There are a number of short skips in the audio in this episode due to equipment error and bad SD card formatting or something- apologies for missing a couple of details, but the epic journey is pretty well documented and we think you'll get the gist.)


goatdoccara@gmail.com

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.

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October 10, 2025 44 mins

Devin and I are in transit and and have a chat about all the ways we have managed breeding logistics over the past fifteen odd years, pros and cons of different methods, what has worked for us and what we're up to this breeding season (2025).


goatdoccara@gmail.com

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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September 26, 2025 40 mins

Maybe a cold open will be for Tales from the Farm.


Hey, we're trying to be back! Devin and I chat about what we've been up to for some of the recent months out of the past 3 years...


goatdoccara@gmail.com



Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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July 15, 2022 38 mins

A long overdue update on what's been going on at Flying Goat Farm this spring/early summer.


Questions, comments, just wanna say hi and send me cute goat pics online? www.goatdoc.com, goatdoccara@gmail.com, Insta: @goat_doc. Want another place to talk about goats online? Come say hi on the Discord server: http://discord.gg/am66zGny2b

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


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June 3, 2022 42 mins

Why should we care about whether our goats are registered? It's more than just being able to say that your animal is "purebred" or not. In this episode, I talk about my experience and opinion about why you should register your goats. I'm obviously biased, but it may not be why you think someone would be biased towards registering animals.


Questions, comments, just wanna say hi and send me cute goat pics online? www.goat...

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May 27, 2022 25 mins

Dystocia is our veterinary doctor word for difficult birth. (I guess maybe we call it something different for humans? I don't know, all species but one over here). In this episode I talk about different causes for dystocia, my experiences with what is more common in goats, and some dystocia do's and don'ts.


Questions, comments, just wanna say hi and send me cute goat pics online? www.goatdoc.com, goatdoccara@gmail.com, I...

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April 30, 2022 38 mins

Seems like we talk about poop a lot sometimes doesn't it. While I'm sure I've touched on fecal analysis as part of a parasite management program in the past, I thought I would take some time and talk about the different types of fecal analyses we have available to help assess and monitor parasite levels in our goats and other animals. This episode covers the difference between qualitative and quantitative fecal analysis, Baermann ...

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April 23, 2022 25 mins

While coccidia is the big player in problem protozoa for ruminants, there are a couple other guys I see around that I sometimes care about as well, so Entamoeba and Giardia get a couple minutes of attention in this episode and I also spend some time discussing considerations for treating enteric protozoa in general- why, why, how, and what to consider when you are doing it.


Questions, comments, just wanna say hi and send me cut...

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April 16, 2022 51 mins

It's been a while, but I'm back for at least a few episodes to talk about enteric protozoans - single celled critters that live in the guts, and may or may not be a problem. First things first- Coccidia. I managed to get a little long winded here talking about these guys and options for treating them when you may have a problem.


Questions, comments, just wanna say hi and send me cute goat pics online? www.goatdoc.com, g...

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October 1, 2021 30 mins

Talking a little pause from calcium to talk about the fall breeding season. The leaves are turning in Maine and in a strange turn of events, I finished my 2021 breeding plan several weeks before it's actually needed!!! #signsoftheapocalypse. This episode is just my thoughts about how I approached a breeding plan for about 45 does for the 2022 milking season- things I think about, what options I use for bucks and why, how we are ...

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August 20, 2021 31 mins

This is the first of a couple of episodes talking about calcium. For this first episode, I go into the physiology (I think I kept it mostly under control) of where calcium hangs out in the body and the systems that regulate how much calcium is available for important life functions. The goal of this episode is to have an idea of how this all works when things are normal, so that when things are not normal, we have something to co...

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A departure from your more goat oriented podcast. In this episode I am going to tell you all about what is going on in the veterinary field as of this moment in July 2021. If you have not already been made aware, the veterinary profession all over the world is experiencing unprecedented and overwhelming demand for services and we are all just trying to keep our heads above water while we try to help as many patients as we possibl...

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July 16, 2021 35 mins

Devin and I recap what all has been going on over the winter and spring at the farm on a rainy truck ride up to my parents' house on the 4th of July. (Sorry about the windshield wiper noise!)


Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/goatdoc.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Got some stuff to clear up for people! You may already know some of these things, but I've had a few things bouncing around in my head lately that I hear people say, or do or read people talking about on the interweb that *aren't* quite right, so here's what I've got to say about those things! Talking about parasites and goat kids, milk fever and pregnancy toxemia, and probably some other stuff stuck in there too.


Questions/c...

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July 2, 2021 40 mins

I got a couple of requests to talk about general buck keeping, so here we go! Also go check out Episode 39 for a more reproductive focused buck episode.

This episode starts with a step back to talk about the "why" of keeping a buck, then my general nutrition recommendations, and then some of the less charming aspects of keeping bucks.


Questions/comments/etc? Shoot me an email at goatdoccara@gmail.com, check out the website at ...

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