C&D Farming..oh what a life!

[rachels.haven]

I'm not sure about anyone else's but my goat's pupils seem to dilate to round whenever they look at someone or something they like. They always look round for me too. New goats, or goats that refuse to de-stress and settle in, not so much. Clearly I need to test this on one of those creepy blue wall eyed goats where the pupils are ultra visible from far away, but...ugh no.

I like goats.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

I'm not sure about anyone else's but my goat's pupils seem to dilate to round whenever they look at someone or something they like. They always look round for me too. New goats, or goats that refuse to de-stress and settle in, not so much. Clearly I need to test this on one of those creepy blue wall eyed goats where the pupils are ultra visible from far away, but...ugh no.

I like goats.

Ohhhhh.wow!! That’s wild!! It was last fall when we first got my two goats from the bad farmer that I noticed the pupils. And not until last night that I noticed the change!! That makes me so happy to know that they are happy!! Well, I mean, I pretty much know they are, with the way they act...but, that’s awesome to have one more sign!! I absolutely love goats!! If we had to get rid of the farm tomorrow...I’d keep the goats...never parting* with my goats!! Luckily Chris knows this, knows I’m 100% healthier with the farm and he wants the farm too!!

 

[rachels.haven]

I could be wrong, of course, but personally I haven't seen a rectangular pupil in a long time. All the goats are like "grain me " and that food induced oxytocin starts flowing.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

I could be wrong, of course, but personally I haven't seen a rectangular pupil in a long time. All the goats are like "grain me " and that food induced oxytocin starts flowing.

Speaking of grain...having a hard time getting weight back on Busty. @Jesusfreak101 suggestEd I not milk her dry since she’s making soooo much. So, I’m cutting back. But, she is stilll very thin. My other. Moms look good. When I give her the rich feed...our poop is really clumpy like I told you like before. Should I just give her the rich feed and ignore the poop?

 

[rachels.haven]

Maybe step her up from her normal food to rich food slowly, maybe a quarter cup at a time if you find her tummy temperamental? What specifically is your ration made up of?

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

I mix goat pellets, BOSS, soybeans pulp, beet pulp, sweet feed and oats. I play around with the ratios depending on her poop. When it’s clumpier I cut back on the soy and beets. She also loves her alfalfa pellets. Can’t get the hay around here. At least not close, or affordable. They get mixed grasses hay.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Yeah I agree with Rachel i guess i didn't notice about here fecal being clumpy ... Mmm a few of mine did that when they were first taken off a dry lot to the pasture. They took time to adjust. Animals are funny like that.

 

[rachels.haven]

That's a complicated mix to dissect. Unless it was more cost effective I'm not sure I could keep that up myself. It might be a little redundant in the sweet feed and oats department, but I don't know tons.

Personally I prefer to keep it simple and for a standard goat I feed
4 cups blue seal goat pellets but any dairy goat pellets 16-20% protein would probably be fine, I like 20%.
2 cups alfalfa pellets, (more as necessary to slow the goat down on the stand)
2 handfuls boss, and
1 handful of rice bran pellets
and if and only if the goat is thin a big handful of beet pulp shreds.
(and I use these cheap dog food scoops that hold about 2 cups lest you think I go out there with measuring cups)
The nigerians and dry goats I want to put weight on get about half that, amount adjusted as needed. There's a long time breeder of GOOD lamanchas about half an hour from here that feeds JUST purina dairy goat textured grain and grass hay, so to each his own.

The thing about goats is they gain weight slow but lose it fast so changes need to be gradual and seeing the benefit will take a week or two or three or...

In regards to the softy poo, rich food can cause it, hands down. Soy meal is very rich. Oats and sweet feed are also rich. And I KNOW beet pulp can cause soft clumpy poo. Could it be possible at least the soybean meal and beet pulp and maybe too many concentrated carbs may be setting off her stomach and making her not want to eat as much and giving her softy poo? I'm also not sure the lower protein sweet feed and oats are necessary and may be working against her condition if she is a heavy producer...but carbs vs. protein vs. fat for weight gain is a heated topic I don't want to get into, so...I claim to not know enough there. I probably don't. Personally I like a higher protein goat pellet, plenty of fat, and carbs in the form of nice hay and for thin ones just a little beet pulp but too much of any of those excluding hay can cause the runs.

In short, if you want to get rid of the soft poo, you could try to figure out where to simplify your ration without causing weight loss, and maybe make her tummy work on something with a little more fiber like alfalfa pellets in place of something concentrated so she can not have a tummy ache and eat even more fiber in the form of nice grass hay. More close to natural goat diet fiber=healthier rumen=better poops. More high fat, high, high protein, high sugar/carb add ins=more cheating the rumen, and more risk of bloat, soft poop, and acidosis (not saying she WILL get any of those just more risk). You could try my mix, but I really don't know your goat, so please just do what you are comfortable with and think is best no matter what.

 

[rachels.haven]

It could be looked at like putting a person on an elimination diet...except still a nutritionally complete one. But because she's a goat and not a person, it's one you carefully transition her onto.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

This is VERY helpful info!! Once again...why didn’t I find this forum first??? Ok, so, do you get Blueseal at TS? My goats are soooo picky, I’ve tried many brands of goat feed...the only one they sort of like us the Dumor...but, still, Busty manages to eat the small stuff out of the mix and leave those bigger pellets behind! She’s a nut! It’ll definitely be cheaper to switch to one type of feed instead of mixing 6. Is the Blueseal safe for wethers too? If not, what do you feed your bucks? Speaking of poop...now Stormy is suddenly having lighter brown poop....could it b3 the feed too? Ugh!! I stockedup on the Dumor because of the situation, so I’ll have to feed them that first...but I can feed the pigs, chickens, some oats...and my one pig needs the sweet feed. Plus, that’s good for a treat. . So, Chris is thinking of planting a field of oats...bad idea, then? Ugh...I hate tellin* him this stuff.

should I put out some extra baking soda if they are having tummy troubles? Also, for Willy....I was told..on the other forum..to stay away from mineral blocks...bad for their tongue and teeth. But I read how wethers need a salt block so they drink more....so, do I ge5 him the block?

plus, I need to get @frustratedearthmother involved too. My new milk machine cam3vthis morning. I was sooo excited. Chris was frustratEd jus5 putting it together. Ugh. It takes a ton of oil and even says to tr6 to not use it inside because the fumes can be toxic??? What? My milk stand is in the barn, where my electricity is....I don’t want to open the doors be a then Stormy will book it, and I’m trying to milk her too, for now. It’s not worth the milk, but it is helpin* my bond with her once she’s on the stand, so, that is worth it to me. When we ran it, they through in a free muffler, man, they were right, it filled the air with the fumes by the time we were done! Plus...we had issues...of course. . The one side didn’t seem to work. I switched it and then it seemed to be ok. But on Stormy, it didn’t work at all. Plus, it didn’t milk them out. It milked for about ten minutes and then, kept going, but we weren’t getting anything. They both still had a lot of milk left. I put it on and off many t8mes, restarted, etc....couldn’t get different results. Finally I bagged it and finished by hand. The tubin* is really long too. 6’...I guess that normal, but, it’s clumsy. So, are these normal issues, or am I lookin* a5 another return? I said to Chris about getting the more expensive one...wrong timing. He doesn’t feel well, sick of being cooped up, and then the machine was disappointing..so he said no right away. But, that’s not off the table...need some advice if these are simple k8nks? We played with the pressure...it didn’t want to go above 10. We didn’t fiddle with pulsator. It seems fine.