Adopted Goat Mom needs knowledge

[Anonymouse]

Hello everyone! This is my first post. Last February my husband and I purchased a house. In the middle of the purchase, the homeowner passed away. His heirs asked us if we would be willing to "adopt" his two goats and 20+ chickens. We already had chickens so naturally we agreed to this request. However, we do not have any experience with goats. I'm not even sure what breed these goats are? I'm guessing Nigerian Dwarf but that is really just a guess....

There is one male and one female. The heirs seemed to think that the female was due to kid at any moment prior to the closing. It never happened.... Over the past 10 months, she has always seemed very fat but has never had a baby. The male seems to harass her quite a bit. I've heard that some animals will cause miscarriages to force the female into heat again. Does this happen with goats? What is the ideal male-to-female ratios for goats? Might there be another reason why she isn't getting pregnant? I was worming them once a month. Could her being so fat be a reason why she isn't conceiving?

Thanks for your feedback....

 

[messybun]

Welcome! They are either pygmies or Nigerian dwarfs. So, some questions. Is he completely intact? Do you know how old she is, she looks very old to me. Do you have a jug; a place to separate her and baby for a few days if she has one. If you palpate do you feel anything hard or babyish? Had she “bagged up” meaning her udder fills. It might be a retained kid if she was definitely preggo when you got there. I, personally, would pretty much never recommend an abortion. She’s an adult, and if there is a baby you don’t want to abort it and if there isn’t you don’t want to put her through that(it could kill her) abortions in general are super dangerous and you would really need a vet there. That being said, if you’re afraid the billy is trying to harm the baby that’s different. I have had a billy ram one of my does side really hard(she was in a dog crate and couldn’t escape) and she ended up with a retained baby for almost two years until it reabsorbed. We haven’t bred since, billies are not worth it to me. But don’t let my one bad experience ruin your plans. Speaking of, he seems to have a really bad scur, that is where the horn remnant grows strangely. It seems like it is growing into his head, that will have to be dealt with I'm afraid. You tube or someone on here might help you more, I’ve only helped my neighbor deal with it once on a sheep.
The ratio? I’d say at least two does, that way they can help eachother with any babies, and they won’t be alone if one passes or needs to go. I’m not completely sure why he had a single billy with a doe, are they aggressive to each other? Does she seem bothered by him?
Little goats do like to be fat, especially in the winter, so I don’t worry too much when mine are. They will usually slim down by the end of it anyway. I’d a doe is too fat then it could cause problems, but yours doesn’t seem too bad. Keep in mind a goat had four stomach compartments, some of which fill with gas as they are digesting food, which means sometimes what looks like fat is just gas. You can tell weight by the “triangle” that is made by the back spine, hips, and ribs. If you’ve ever seen a thin goat you’ll know what I mean, a concave triangle is too thin. Again, my goats are fat and sassy and that’s how I like them, others may disagree but yours look alright to me. How much grain do they get and what is their diet whilst we’re on the subject?
I hope my scatterbrain makes at least some sense to you, if not someone who knows more should jump on soon enough.

 

[Anonymouse]

Welcome! They are either pygmies or Nigerian dwarfs. So, some questions. Is he completely intact? Do you know how old she is, she looks very old to me. Do you have a jug; a place to separate her and baby for a few days if she has one. If you palpate do you feel anything hard or babyish? Had she “bagged up” meaning her udder fills. It might be a retained kid if she was definitely preggo when you got there. I, personally, would pretty much never recommend an abortion. She’s an adult, and if there is a baby you don’t want to abort it and if there isn’t you don’t want to put her through that(it could kill her) abortions in general are super dangerous and you would really need a vet there. That being said, if you’re afraid the billy is trying to harm the baby that’s different. I have had a billy ram one of my does side really hard(she was in a dog crate and couldn’t escape) and she ended up with a retained baby for almost two years until it reabsorbed. We haven’t bred since, billies are not worth it to me. But don’t let my one bad experience ruin your plans. Speaking of, he seems to have a really bad scur, that is where the horn remnant grows strangely. It seems like it is growing into his head, that will have to be dealt with I'm afraid. You tube or someone on here might help you more, I’ve only helped my neighbor deal with it once on a sheep.
The ratio? I’d say at least two does, that way they can help eachother with any babies, and they won’t be alone if one passes or needs to go. I’m not completely sure why he had a single billy with a doe, are they aggressive to each other? Does she seem bothered by him?
Little goats do like to be fat, especially in the winter, so I don’t worry too much when mine are. They will usually slim down by the end of it anyway. I’d a doe is too fat then it could cause problems, but yours doesn’t seem too bad. Keep in mind a goat had four stomach compartments, some of which fill with gas as they are digesting food, which means sometimes what looks like fat is just gas. You can tell weight by the “triangle” that is made by the back spine, hips, and ribs. If you’ve ever seen a thin goat you’ll know what I mean, a concave triangle is too thin. Again, my goats are fat and sassy and that’s how I like them, others may disagree but yours look alright to me. How much grain do they get and what is their diet whilst we’re on the subject?
I hope my scatterbrain makes at least some sense to you, if not someone who knows more should jump on soon enough.

I have no idea how old she is... I have been watching to see if her udders are getting bigger but so far I haven't noticed anything which leads me to believe she is just fat or infertile. She is not really tame so I would have to tackle her to catch her.

The male is not cut. He still has his family jewels....ha ha. He is not even close to being tame, but has never once tried to ram or butt anyone. I had a vet come out to the farm last week because one of my horses kept getting a bloody nose. I had her look at the male goat (whom we've affectionately named 'Black Peter') because I was concerned that one of his scurs was curling into the back of his skull. She tried to snip off the scur with a pair of hoof clippers and the whole scur fell off....that's why it looks bloody in the photo although it really didn't bleed much at all.

Peter does chase the female (named 'Black Dahlia') around all the time. She tries to get away from him by hiding in a little igloo house from time to time but I've never seen him actually hurt her. I would like to get another female, maybe 2, just to give him someone else to pay attention to so poor Dahlia can have a moment of peace.

How do you age a goat when you know nothing about them? The length of their horns?

 

[messybun]

How do you age a goat when you know nothing about them? The length of their horns?
[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly right. You can also tell some with teeth, but in my experience goat teeth vary a lot.