Choking on feed

[BlueMoonFarms]

My male is being very stupid with his food...
I have been separating him and leashing him up to the fence because he sucks down his food as fast as possible so he can hurry and try to steal the other goats breakfast and dinner.
He has choked on his food three times now even though he can not get to the other food, he still trys...
Is this normal greedy goat behavior, or is he just a dumb boy...
And is there anything I can do to halt the fast sucking of food, and teach him to actually chew?

 

[aggieterpkatie]

What kind of feed is he getting? You may want to put several large rocks in his feed so he has to work around them, or try wetting it so he won't choke as badly. Sounds like he definitely needs to be separated for a while.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

What kind of feed is he getting? You may want to put several large rocks in his feed so he has to work around them, or try wetting it so he won't choke as badly. Sounds like he definitely needs to be separated for a while.

Because they have eaten all of the foliage in there pen, and I still have yet to get help to finish the second pasture, I put them on hay and sweet feed. He is separated during feeding since it has gotten so bad, yet he will still try and push threw the fence to get to there food, hence why he is now leashed. Yet still, yesterday he was choking AND STILL TRYING TO EAT...
I tried increasing his food, I tried putting carrots in it, I tried mixing grain...
He is a dumb goat...

 

[pdpo222]

Maybe you may have to put just a little out at a time. It's a pain but it will slow him down. lol If it were me I would put like a couple tablespoons at a time....make him wait til you add more. Give him time to chew and not just inhale. Will take time, but choking goats scare me...lol I will do anything to avoid that. I like the rock idea too, that way he has to pick around the rocks and that will slow him down too. Do like I do...just try stuff and see what works. I had a buck that took forever to eat. I swear he picked up each kernal of corn and ate them one at a time. It would take him forever to eat. Thankfully none of my goats inhale food. Some eat faster than others but not to the point of choking.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Maybe you may have to put just a little out at a time. It's a pain but it will slow him down. lol If it were me I would put like a couple tablespoons at a time....make him wait til you add more. Give him time to chew and not just inhale. Will take time, but choking goats scare me...lol I will do anything to avoid that. I like the rock idea too, that way he has to pick around the rocks and that will slow him down too. Do like I do...just try stuff and see what works. I had a buck that took forever to eat. I swear he picked up each kernal of corn and ate them one at a time. It would take him forever to eat. Thankfully none of my goats inhale food. Some eat faster than others but not to the point of choking.

I am going to try the rock idea tonight, and then if that does not help ill add the food slowly over the rocks so he has to wait and then eat around the rocks. Hopefully he does not try to eat the blasted rock...
Thank you for the advice! Hopefully I can get him to eat normally.

 

[Renegade]

Get a very large feed pan. That way when you put his feed in it will be a very thin layer and he can't get a big mouthful. I would also take him off of sweet feed. If it's not a goat sweet feed then take them all off it. I would go find a good quality goats pellet and put them all on it.

Donna

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Get a very large feed pan. That way when you put his feed in it will be a very thin layer and he can't get a big mouthful. I would also take him off of sweet feed. If it's not a goat sweet feed then take them all off it. I would go find a good quality goats pellet and put them all on it.

Donna

It is a goat sweet feed, its blue seal and I was told that was a good feed?
If its not what should I be feeding them?

 

[ksalvagno]

Use a big/wide feed pan and then put decent size rocks in there so he has to eat around the rocks. Make sure the rocks are large enough that he doesn't eat the rocks.

 

[BlueMoonFarms]

Use a big/wide feed pan and then put decent size rocks in there so he has to eat around the rocks. Make sure the rocks are large enough that he doesn't eat the rocks.

I have the ability to do both those things
Hopefully this will work.

 

[Renegade]

Get a very large feed pan. That way when you put his feed in it will be a very thin layer and he can't get a big mouthful. I would also take him off of sweet feed. If it's not a goat sweet feed then take them all off it. I would go find a good quality goats pellet and put them all on it.

Donna

It is a goat sweet feed, its blue seal and I was told that was a good feed?
If its not what should I be feeding them?

I didn't say it was a bad food. You just said you were feeding sweet feed. You didn't mention that it was a goat sweet feed. I still would not feed it to the buck. Molassas can be a problem for bucks. Some can develop urinary calculi when fed sweet feed every day.

Donna