Feeding a rejected 4 week old doeling

[heatherlynnky]

Ok here is what I have. My little Mrs Holly was rejected very forcefully by her mom. She lost vision in one eye due to an injury but seems to be healing well. Ok so here is he deal. She obviously was not weaned but when I got her had no interest at all in the bottle. She ate hay and weeds( no grass just certain weeds) and a very small handfull of pellets. So last time on mom was Wed. Thursday she had not more than 3 ounces and I was lucky to get that in her. Friday I go a bit more in her but not much. Only 8 ounces total. Very stubborn. Today she was excited about the bottle but sill she only ate as much as she wanted. We got 15 total ounces down her witht he help of molasses on the nipple. A bit worried but not overly. She is still very active, very loud, very playful. She nibbles on 2nd cutting hay and weeds almost all day.She doesn't eat lots of pellets but she eats I would say 1/4 of a cup. She drinks plenty of water. She is still going poo and pee alot and the they are firm dryish small and dark.

Mom was bred too young and apparently wanted the babies off her and the owners felt her health was in danger if they stayed on her any longer. Obviously if she hurt her baby she felt the same. Anywho the first day she rejected bottle even after tasting milk but as soon as she saw the hay and pellets she was jumping. She went straight to eating. She knew what to do. So how much should I try to get down her. Its hard to force her but I will try if necessary.

I cannot say I am positive on age. She is pretty big and weighs roughly 30 lbs. ( no ribs showing but her sides are a little concave, looks about like other goats I see so probably not fat or skinny) She is a Saanen/boer mix. Opinions? She is 18 to 20 inches tall. If I get help tomorrow holding her still and keeping her from eating the tape I will measure better.

 

[Roll farms]

Can you have someone weigh themselves on a bathroom scale and then weigh themselves holding her?

Weight tapes are 'ok' for guesstimating weight on dairy goats, but when you throw Boer into the mix it's even less accurate b/c they have different heart girth measurements (thicker bones / more meat).

I would probably try to push some straight, GOOD alfalfa hay on her, her growing bones NEED calcium and alf. is higher than grass hay.
My 1 mo - 2 mo. old kids are getting nearly a half gallon per day of milk, so the fat / calcium needs to come from somewhere.

I've found the best way to get a goat to eat pellets.....is competition. Put a buddy in w/ her who's eating the same diet and boy howdy, they'll scarf down the food trying to beat the other one to it.

(That is totally NOT a push to get you to get another goat, either....*halo*)

Has she been vaccinated? If not, she needs CD/T vaccine (you can pick up a single shot from a vet or buy a bottle from a farm supply). 2cc, regardless of age / size / weight. She'll need a booster shot in 3 wks. Then an annual booster.

And you need to read up on parasites and coccidia...forewarned is forearmed!

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2607-coccidia-goat

http://www.backyardherds.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2607-parasite-mgmt

 

[heatherlynnky]

We did give her the cdt vaccine as soon as we got her. I will read up on the parasites and such. I will have to check what our hay is. We just got it for the horses so its not old ( I loaded the truck the same day it was brought in from the field so its new)but I am not sure what it is for sure. I am still going to push the bottle as much as she will let me. She is pretty strong already and forcing her is difficult. The weight is based on my husband picking her up. She is wicked heavy. He said at least 30. We are pulling out the scale tomorrow. The measuring is how tall she is. I swear I think she is older but I know nothing so I could be wrong. Is there a way to tell. Like how big her horns would be or weight or height?

I will make sure as of tomorrow though that she gets alfalfa hay. I will work on the buddy thing. I am a bit scared to jump again but I know my Holly needs a friend.

I have a question also. Please no one make fun, I use this on my chickens and on the family with great results. Apple cider vinegar. Can this be used to help with the control of parasites? Also DE, can this be used to control external parasites like lice ect? Because of the poultry I keep these on hand. I use them on the chickens, ducks, geese, horses, dogs, and cats. Can this also be used to help with prevention? Not against the maintenance meds, we still worm the horses and such but just as an extra precaution. We add a bit to the water.

 

[Roll farms]

I give my goats ACV w/ the 'mother' in it. I started doing it for the toxin-removing properties and it's supposed to up their milk production and help them digest better.

Haven't noticed if it does anything one way or the other.....but I bought several gallons in Amish Country so...I'm using it. I've never read that it helps w/ parasites, though.

KY is famous for having bad parasite problems. I will keep saying this until I die....DO NOT maintenance worm goats. Don't. Please.

It may be what horse vets tell folks to do, and may work great for horses. Goat worms just build immunity to the dewormer you're using so that when they DO need dewormed, it won't work at all.

I check my goats' eyelids 1x a mo. in winter and 2x a mo. in summer (looking for pale lids caused by anemia - barberpole worm) and keep an eye on their weight / coat conditions (tapeworm and stomach worm will make a goat 'look poor') and if I suspect a worm issue, I have a fecal ran and deworm accordingly.

Not all dewormers will work for all worms. You need a white dewormer for tapeworms. You give ivermectin orally for stomach worms, but it works best when injected for lung worms. It's not as simple as "I gave my goat some wormer" - you need to know what you're after and what to use.

If you have good luck w/ DE for creepy crawlies, then by all means, use it. Just don't count on it to be your only line of defense.

 

[heatherlynnky]

ok well we were off on weight. She is only 25 lbs. I guess it feels heavier because she does not want to be picked up lol. she is 19 inches tall ( hoof to back) and her girth is 20 inches.

Again this morning she ate 5 oz of milk. And once she is done she whines and bites down if I try to convince her to drink more. She ate a a little bit of pellets but honestly doesn't mess with them as much as she does the hay and the stupid weeds. There are a couple that have like seed pod heads and she eats off that like there is no tomorrow. If I had to guess on what she will drink today I would say it will be no more than 16 ounces. She is actually eager for the bottle but once she is done she turns stubborn. She literally runs between my legs and lifts her head up for the bottle. Its insane that she won't drink more than that though. Very Frustrating. I sorta hope she is a bit older than the lady said because I worry about this lack of milk thing so young.

Our hay is an alfalfa mix. We will be getting a few bales of straight on Monday for my girlie.

Roll I can't tell you if its true or not but ACV is considered not a treatment for worms but a preventative. A lot of the chicken people use it, so when I got chickens and everyone pushed it I started using it. I liked it for a couple reasons. It keeps stuff from growing in my water troughs. Some are huge and those things are hard to dump and scrub so if I can keep them cleaner its good for the animals and me. I assume its good for worms because we never have any problems and I don't do maintenance worming. ( the horses belong to family so they do worming ) I just make sure all my water stays clean and fresh and their environment stays clean.

 

[ksalvagno]

Have you tried putting milk in a bowl for her? Maybe at this point she will do better with a bowl. Also, if it hasn't been long (like less than a week) since she has been rejected, she will need time to adjust to being bottle fed.

 

[heatherlynnky]

Have you tried putting milk in a bowl for her? Maybe at this point she will do better with a bowl. Also, if it hasn't been long (like less than a week) since she has been rejected, she will need time to adjust to being bottle fed.

It has been less than a week and each day she does drink a bit more. We try to bowl but have had no success. What I do now is a have a shot glass with molasses in it and the soda bottle with black nipple. I smear the nipple with molasses ( which was an act of desperation to get her to suck which worked) and she sucks until she stops tasting molasses and then i smear it again. I repeat until I get more down her. I am considering opening the hole a little bit more. Maybe its taking too long to get what she wants ? I opened it a little but maybe its not enough? I ran across on article suggesting that so next feeding thats what i am trying. She eats and drinks alot, just not alot of bottle.

 

[heatherlynnky]

Right when I thought I had it down she messes with me.

Yesterday I managed to get 20 ounces down her. She was willing and cheerful about it. Today she is willing and cheerful to shove me over escaping the bottle so she can go eat more alfalfa hay. I bought her pure alfalfa yesterday and she got some this morning and she point blank is rejecting the bottle. She is eating and eating well just not the bottle this morning. Her fur is silky, I would say just based on pictures and everything I have read that she is a good weight. Her tail is up and she is playful, curious, loud and active. She munches on hay most of the day. If she is awake she is munching.

Guys is there a way she is older than 4 weeks? Why is she fighting this bottle so much. Yummy goats milk. I say yum yum, and she says ma ma and runs off.