I need help with an age and much more...

[punkgirrl]

This is Winnie. I have no clue how old she is to be able to know how to feed her. I have never had goats before and got this cute girl.

She has teeth on the bottom of her mouth. Do you have any guess on how old she may be? I was told her mom was killed and she needed care. That is all the info I have on her.
Thanks for any help

 

[Roll farms]

She's a Boer x Swiss breed cross (if you're interested in breed) and looks to be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks old.

The ear tag looks like she came from a sale barn, possibly? (I know it's a scrapie tag, but I've only seen them in little kids at the sale barn...)
Keep an eye on her for diarrhea, if she gets the poops, give her Neomycin Sulfate or Scour Halt (both available at TSC and other farm stores), for 3 days.

I would offer her whole milk (Vitamin D) in a bottle...she should eat 8-12 oz 3 x a day, gradually increasing as her appetite increases, until around 3 mos. of age...

Get a medicated GOAT feed and start offering her about a handful per day. You need to throw away any leftover and give her fresh daily...increase the amount (once she starts eating it) gradually, up to about 1/3 cup 2 x a day. Once she's weaned you can give her more, if she starts getting fat, cut back a little.

Offer her grass or grass / alfalfa hay now.

Keep an eye out for anemia (pale eyelids) / worm issues, and it probably wouldn't hurt to treat her for cocci in a few weeks.

She should be give a CD&T vaccine (a vet can sell you one, or you can buy an entire bottle at TSC). She will need a booster shot 3 weeks later.

Good luck.

 

[punkgirrl]

Wow I did not know she was that young!
She is not wanting to take a bottle at all. If I have tried a few ways to get her to like it do I just hold her on it when she hates it. I have only been able to get her to take 4oz this last feeding.
She is for real in my backyard so I have a good amount of grass. Can she eat this? She has been and I hope I am not killing her. She has T&A for hay. Her poop is looking good it is staying in small balls. She also has fresh water is that ok?
I am sorry for not doing my reading before getting the goat but she was to cute and I was pretty sure she would have been eaten. I felt she was to cute for that.

I am not sure what a sale barn is.... I got her at a farm auction. So I have little info. I was told the mom and sister where killed and I melted.

Thank you so so much for your help!

 

[glenolam]

She is definitely a cute girl! Now that you have one, you should really look into getting her a friend about the same age - either another doe or a wether (neutered male). NOT a buck as he could impregnante her at a very early age.

Do you have a place to house her outside?

There's tons of info on this site to review and don't be afraid to ask questions!

Have fun and good luck!

ETA - You posted as I was writing. It's OK if she's eating grass, but make sure she has hay 24/7. Is she drinking the water? It may be that she's weaned already. A Vitamin B 12 or B Complex shot would help stimulate her appetite if she's not eating well. You should really get her some goat feed as Roll Farms mentioned as well.

 

[punkgirrl]

She is definitely a cute girl! Now that you have one, you should really look into getting her a friend about the same age - either another doe or a wether (neutered male). NOT a buck as he could impregnante her at a very early age.

Do you have a place to house her outside?

There's tons of info on this site to review and don't be afraid to ask questions!

Have fun and good luck!

ETA - You posted as I was writing. It's OK if she's eating grass, but make sure she has hay 24/7. Is she drinking the water? It may be that she's weaned already. A Vitamin B 12 or B Complex shot would help stimulate her appetite if she's not eating well. You should really get her some goat feed as Roll Farms mentioned as well.

I have goat feed for her. She loves it! I am not sure how much she has eaten as she is a bag of bones and I was letting her eat as much as she wanted.
I have a make shift house till I can make something for her. I call it her day condo.

She slept last night on the back porch. She was not planned. I just saw her and fell in love.

Oh as for a friend I borrowed a goat from my Aunt and turns out that it is nuts! Not friendly at all to me or the goat. The loaner goat is a giant compared to the baby and it was just weaned.

 

[cmjust0]

Wow I did not know she was that young!
She is not wanting to take a bottle at all. If I have tried a few ways to get her to like it do I just hold her on it when she hates it.

She hates it, but she probably needs it... And the reason she hates it, btw, has a little something to do with the reason she was sold -- because her mama's no longer with us. That indicates she was being dam-raised until her mama died. Goats that have been dam raised are notoriously hard to switch to bottles.

My advice to you would be to try this nipple and an old-school, thick glass soda bottle. A longneck beer bottle might work, too, though they're a little thinner these days than the old 'bottle-opener-required' Pepsi and Coke bottles were.

As for that particular nipple, I dunno why it is, but kids seem to take those more readily than others.. And the purpose of using a thick glass bottle is because it will hold the temperature of the milk longer than a plastic soda bottle or baby bottle.. If you pre-heat the bottle by letting it sit full of hot tap water while you heat your milk, that'll go a long way toward keeping the milk warm...which gives you more time to duke it out with her.

Another trick you might try to employ is to sit in a chair and put her head under the back of your knee, and THEN shove the bottle in her mouth as best you can.. That will effectively hide the fact that it's a bottle, and plus she'll have the familiar feel of something warm above her head while she nurses...just like mama's belly was.

Oh...someone should probably also tell you to heat the milk, if you hadn't tried that already. I usually get mine up to about 105*, at which point I'll dump the hot tap water out of the glass bottle and fill'er up with milk. The nipple will pop right down on the glass bottle.

Just keep fighting with her. Realistically, you may never get her to take a bottle....but then again you may. If you can, it will certainly have been worth the effort.

 

[punkgirrl]

Thank you all for the advice. I made the bottle a little warmer and she took 3oz in one sitting with just a small fight. I will try to get a few more in her before bed time.
Her belly feels the fullest since I have sen her. Still pooping normal. I am trying to come up with a plan for her soon to be new house and toys.
I think her teeth look funny but I will save that for in the morning.
Thank you all so much for all the help.

This was the day condo I tried to post before

 

[Roll farms]

Farm auction, sale barn, swap = all not what I'd call the ideal place to buy your first goat, BUT...now that you've got her, if you get / keep her on the right track w/ good care, there's no reason she can't be a great goat.

 

[mossyStone]

Goats hate to be alone, you might want to get her a buddy, they do so much better with a friend.

She sure is a cutie, good luck with her!

Mossy Stone Farm

 

[glenolam]

The goat you borrowed as a buddy probably dislikes you and your new baby for a good reason - he/she isn't home with his/her own herd. With time, that will go away, but if you want a lifetime companion for your new baby you should look for one closer to her age. Good for you for at least getting her a temorary buddy!

A good sized dog house or even a shed will do fine for her as a house (assuming you only end up with 2 total [let's see that happen! ]). My husband built himself a nice shed in the backyard, which turned into the chicken house, which turned into the chicken/goat house! You could even buy one of those metal sheds from Wal-Mart or Home Depot for $200 - you'll just have to reinforce the walls a little because goats will climb in/on/around/up/down anything they can!

Keep your eyes peeled for free kids outdoor toys like the little tykes climbers. I have two in my goat's pen and they love it! They like to slide down the slide and crawl through the holes. I also put several stumps together of different heights so they can play king of the mountain.

Farm auction, sale barn, swap = all not what I'd call the ideal place to buy your first goat, BUT...now that you've got her, if you get / keep her on the right track w/ good care, there's no reason she can't be a great goat.

She said it all right there. With good maintenance and care, she'll be a great goat! Just remember to treat her with a coccidia treatment, give her a CD&T shot and watch her grow!

Oh - also, giving her as much grain as she can eat might be a good way to have her put on some pounds for now, but you'll want to start restricting that and letting her fill up on good quality hay so she doesn't get sick from too much grain.