# Kid eating dirt



## Pipit (Jun 1, 2009)

My 3 week old buckling that we got yesterday has been eating dirt, well, sand really.  He's on Sav-A Kid replacer, peanut hay, water and a mineral block.  He gets animal crackers for a treat and he eats live oak leaves.  Is this normal?  Does it mean he's not getting some nutrient in his diet?  his sister doesn't seem to eat dirt.  She forages in the dirt for small leaves.  They are both eating well otherwise.


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## helmstead (Jun 1, 2009)

Yes, it's mineral deficiency.  Throw away the block and replace it with loose minerals.


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## Crest Acres Girl (Jun 2, 2009)

or you can crush the block into loose minerals lol


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## cmjust0 (Jul 10, 2009)

Be careful with green oak leaves..  Albeit seemingly rare, there's such a thing as "oak leaf poisoning."  

Put it this way...while I wouldn't necessarily ban mine from eating oak leaves altogher, I would definitely make sure oak leaves didn't make up a large portion of their diet.


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## username taken (Jul 10, 2009)

three reasons why a young kid will eat dirt:

1. Trying to get rumen microbes 
2. Starving - not enough milk - happens frequently with poor milking mothers - the survival instinct kicks in and the kid starts to eat anything and everything
3. Mineral deficiency

So firstly I would give him some probios to see if that helps the problem. Next I would address how much milk he is getting, as well as how much solid feed (hay and good grain) he is getting. Third I would address his mineral status - if he is on really good quality replacer he shouldnt need extra minerals - but if he does, a nice way to dose bottle kids is a little cod liver oil in the milk, plus some honey to make it taste a whole lot better


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## Chaty (Jul 11, 2009)

You can put hte childrens liquid vitamins in their bottles once a day. I have done this. How many dottles a day and how much are they drinking? What type of goat is it? Sounds like hes not getting enough of something.
Larger type goats need more milk and feedings. Nigerians I give up to 10 oz a feeding and larger type get up to 22 oz each feeding. At 3 weeks old they should still be getting at least 4 bottles a day or that is what I do. Larger get 4 till they are 4 weeks old and then I go to 3 bottles a day.
Get the childrens Poly Vi SOl vitamins at Wal-mart and add a small squirt each day. Dont get the type with Iron in it, just the regular. I feed goats milk or whole milk to mine, I dont use the replacer as its caused me problems. Some it works for and some it dont. Good luck


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