# This is Goldie the nubian



## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

This is my nubian goat. She is around a year old or so.
I am hoping she is preg. by now.
What do you guys think of her body condition. Too thin, too fat, just right?


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## Goatherd (Feb 2, 2013)

Too thin.  I believe that is her spine I'm seeing?


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

I really hate determining BCS by pictures because it is so hard but from here she looks thin.


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## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

Thats what I was thinking. I like a flesher look and I have yet to get weight on her.  She has been this string bean thing the whole time I have had her. Drives me nuts.
Her eyelids appear to be nice and dark pink. 
It could be my hay. Its not the greatest but they like it. 
I have started to give them vitamins their water and am going to add apple cider vinegar to water as well. 
I was thinking about giving a vit b shot today.
I give her as much hay as she will eat.  I have switched to dry cob for feed. She seems very sensitive to molasses. Starts to pop her head in that star gazing way.  
The other goats seem to be in better flesh.


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## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

what is a safe way to try to put weight on her?
Other than being thin she acts healthy. Good appetite, and is active and curious. Does not act ill.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Add more feed to her diet and Alfalfa hay. Best ways to get weight on a goat and also do a fecal. I don't care what her eye lids say. That is not 100% right and only tells one worm.


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## Goatherd (Feb 2, 2013)

As has been mentioned, start with a clean slate...have a fecal done to see if you are battling parasites, which will undoubtedly cause a goat to remain thin and not gain weight.

Shredded beet pulp is an excellent food for bulking up a goat.  It comes plain as well as mixed with molasses.  If your goat is not partial to loose minerals, sea kelp meal has a multitude of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc and will lend itself to helping with the weight gain as it makes the nutrients of food more easily absorbed and utilized.

I am a proponent of graining goats and use cracked corn, wheat and oats blended together.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Goatherd said:
			
		

> As has been mentioned, start with a clean slate...have a fecal done to see if you are battling parasites, which will undoubtedly cause a goat to remain thin and not gain weight.
> 
> Shredded beet pulp is an excellent food for bulking up a goat.  It comes plain as well as mixed with molasses.  If your goat is not partial to loose minerals, sea kelp meal has a multitude of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc and will lend itself to helping with the weight gain as it makes the nutrients of food more easily absorbed and utilized.
> 
> I am a proponent of graining goats and use cracked corn, wheat and oats blended together.


Yes and with your weather right now with it being so wet there worms are a concern. 

I forgot to ask about minerals. If you don't already get loose mineral with salt 10-14%, no higher, and a Ca ratio of at least 2:1 and if in a copper or selenium deficient get a mineral with higher amount. Don't do blocks, never give free choice salt; only a loose mineral. See kept is actually VERY VERY good for them and would be good if you can get it.


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## DonnaBelle (Feb 2, 2013)

Yes, I think she needs a good goat feed and you can add a cup of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds to her feed.

If she is pregnant, she needs 4 measuring cups of feed twice a day, with about a half measuring cup of BOSS twice a day.

Fresh water, good loose minerals, I use Manna Pro.

She looks a bit thin to me too.

You don't want them too fat when they kid, but they do need proper nutrition while they are pregnant.

My goats get a lot of exercise, they have several acres they roam around on so they need food.

DonnaBelle


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## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

Thank you for the input.
So much info out there that it gets confusing. 
I will increase her feed. 
She is the subordinate goat of the three. 
This may account for some of it. I will start giving her grain while in her stall. 
I was giving them goat mineral. Purina brand. I ran out so have been using sheep mineral.
With some more management changes I hope she starts to look better.


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## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

why are the mineral blocks not good?


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## Fluffygal (Feb 2, 2013)

Hard mineral blocks hurt their teeth. 
I agree on the fecal. There could be some parisite that you are not noticing causing her to not gain. Especially if she is eating good but not plumping up.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

They do not get the amount of mineral they need from them and they mess up their teeth.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

Good advice from the others.  Just my two cents here, but I would only supplement her to improve her weight for the first three months of her pregnancy though.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> Good advice from the others.  Just my two cents here, but I would only supplement her to improve her weight for the first three months of her pregnancy though.


Are you saying to lay off the last two months?


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

Yup.  I would aim to get some weight on her during the early part of her pregnancy, while the fetus(es) are in the beginning stages of development.  Towards the end, extra calories will be packed onto those kids and can make for a tough delivery (been there and it sucked---I did not know and the kid died and mom had a rough time).


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Yeah but if you want large kids it's those last 30 days that you want to increase the feed. But if she is already thin and small she may have a hard time with that.

I myself would grain her all the way thru but that's me. Also she is a larger breed and kidding should be easier than the little Nigerians.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 2, 2013)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> Yeah but if you want large kids it's those last 30 days that you want to increase the feed. But if she is already thin and small she may have a hard time with that.
> 
> I myself would grain her all the way thru but that's me. Also she is a larger breed and kidding should be easier than the little Nigerians.


That is true (ours was a pygmy---they are more prone to kidding issues than NDs).  She might be fine since she is a larger goat, but I would just be cautious because even big goats sometimes have too big babies.  Not that I would stop grain altogether, just maybe the BOSS and extra servings of other stuff.  I do give a feed ration all the way through pregnancy, and alfalfa pellets towards the end in small amounts.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 2, 2013)

Yeah if there are concerns about kidding issues maybe change it up or scale it down but I would not stop all together.

Yep, that was probably it. Pygmys always seem to have issues. With kidding that is.


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## alsea1 (Feb 2, 2013)

Hmmm. This will be her first preg. so it may be good to try and manipulate for smaller kids. And she is nubian and dad is boer. So def. want on smaller side. So far all the deliveries here have been normal and smooth. Knock on wood.

I uped her ration to 8 oz am and 8 oz pm. It looks like alot in her dish. I'm just not wanting to overload her stomach.  We will give this a few weeks and see how it goes. 

What about adding a dash of olive oil or corn oil to feed? Can they utilize that? I know it works great for horses.

Other than being ugly skinny she acts fine. Not sickly or anything. 

She has always been the more sensitive of my goats it seems.


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## Mf628 (Feb 3, 2013)

Personally, I don't feed grain the first 2 1/2 months (on a doe in well condition) and I increase grain the last trimester. I would continue the grain you are giving all throughout the pregnancy. If you want to put quick weight on her, drizzle a little corn oil over the feed.

 I would do a fecal on her even though she is not anemic. Coccidia can slow down the growth on an animal even if they are on a medicated feed. I add Corid to the water 4 times a year. 

Nubians have a wide pelvis so kidding should not be a problem. Boers are also very similar to Nubian kids, probably even smaller. 


Hope this helps a bit - good luck with her.


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## alsea1 (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks for the info Mf628.
I think I will add some oil to the feed.
I will have some poop lab work done as well.
I have corid on hand. I did not think to give it because no one appears sick.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 3, 2013)

Don't give it unless you need to. Don't give any kind of medicine, wormer, etc without knowing first if the need it.


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## alsea1 (Feb 3, 2013)

After some looking around, decided not to do the corid. Something about it interfering with thiamin. So if nec. will use sulmet.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 4, 2013)

alsea1 said:
			
		

> After some looking around, decided not to do the corid. Something about it interfering with thiamin. So if nec. will use sulmet.


Good choice.  I know lots of people do use Corid without issue but it is a thiamine antagonist---it looks like thiamine to coccidia who will ingest it but it does not function like thiamine so they essentially starve.  The problem is that it DOES look like thiamine and the goat's body then does not produce _actual _ thiamine which can result in "goat polio" in some cases.


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