Need a crash course please

[amyquilt]

We have a pair of Boer goats given to us by some friends yesterday. We planned on getting some goats eventually, but this came up out of the blue.

Baby Girl, little girl of course, is 14 months old and blind. You would never know it, though. She's tiny, about the size of a larger Nigerian Dwarf or Pygmy. Buddy, the mail, is 18 months old and just a little larger.

Can someone please give me a crash course in caring for them?

They have a nice stall in our barn for nights. We are building a couple of lean-to's in the pasture for them and will be getting some climbing things for them.

Do goats get regular vaccinations like dogs and cats? Worming, etc?

What's the best feed for them? What snacks do they like?

Are they too old to be de-horned??

Anymore information would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a photo from this morning.

Thanks!

 

[freemotion]

And congrats on your new goats! I love my goats, they make great pets and can provide food for the family, too, if you desire.

Do a systematic search of this site and you will find the answers to all of those questions and more. Other quick sources of info are www.fiascofarm.com and the Tennessee Meat Goat site.

Too late to dehorn without spending a fortune with a vet and it can be risky.

Other questions require rather long answers that have been thoroughly discussed many times here....so a quick search should answer those thoroughly....if not, feel free to resurrect a thread or start a new one with additional question. For right now, good second cut hay, grass or grass/alfalfa mix, is a good place to start if you don't have enough pasture/browse for them. No grain is needed yet as they look to be in good condition and until you know the dangers of grain for your buck, don't feed it yet. No grain-based snacks like bread or cookies yet, either.

For treats for training, a handful of raisins in your pocket is great, or leaves from trees that you have researched and know are not poisonous to goats are wonderful treats....my goats will follow me anywhere for a sugar maple leaf!

Baby Girl will be pregnant soon if she isn't already....hopefully the pair is not closely related....are they?

 

[Goatmasta]

You can band the horns, but I would suggest waiting until late fall early winter to avoid the fly issue.

 

[amyquilt]

Ok I will do some digging around. I found a thread about dehorning after being grown. Definitely not for my new babies.

We have some grazing area for them. The previous owner brought us some sweet feed, just to get us by for a few days.


Thanks!

 

[Ariel301]

Also, if you don't want them breeding whenever they feel like it (leaving you with little clue when to expect the babies), either you will need to castrate the male or keep him away from the doe. If she's only the size of a Nigerian, I would be concerned about breeding her to a large Boer buck, the kids could end up too large for her to deliver safely.

Why is the doe blind? Also, do you know if they are pure Boer goat or mixes? Your description makes them seem rather small for how old they are if they are full Boer, like they might have had their growth stunted somehow.

They will need a CDT vaccination annually. Worming only if they need it. Pasture is good for them, but if it's not adequate to meed all their needs, you should provide them with hay (you can let them eat it free-choice if you want). They don't necessarily need any grain if they are doing well on just pasture/hay. The buck especially should not be given a lot of grain, as it can upset the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in his diet and lead to urinary stones. I really only give grain to does that are producing milk. You'll want a good mineral made specifically for goats, provide it to them free choice.

At this point, it's probably best to just leave them horned. Having the vet saw the horns off is extremely traumatic and dangerous for the goat, and I've found that banding the horns off is difficult to do correctly, and doesn't usually produce good results, you can get regrowth of deformed horns.

 

[20kidsonhill]

If she has been with the buck, she is probably already bred. You can lutalyse her (Vet Rx) to abort her.

It is very hard on a goat that age to dehorn them.

Stick with goat feed, goat minerals, Since you have a male, you would want feed with ammonia chloride in it for urinary calculi prevention.

If you arn't planning on breeding get him castrated.

That blind doe should have a gentle friend with her at all times. That buck is going to get huge compared to her. And at times probably annoying to her.

Main vaccination for goats is CD& T Like dogs, it is given 2 or 3 times 30 days apart and then one time a year.

Goats have high copper/selenium requirements that aren't met by feed/pasture/hay, because most of the country is too low in those minerals, loose goat minerals is the way to go. Since you have a male you would want a mineral that has twice as much Calcium in it as PHosphorus. 16% to 8% or a 2 to 1 ratio.

they need regular hoof trimmings, every 3 months of so. Hoof trimmers can be purchased at many farm stores.

Safegaurd liquad wormer is a good wormer to start with It is given at the rate of 3 x the label dosage for sheep for 3 days in a row. There are other wormers that are good to alternate with like Ivermectin wormer.

And there are other wormers that are even stronger than those.
Find were you can have fecal tests done and price around. this will help you start to understand you worm loads.

Do you know why the doeling is blind?