NEW conditioning and nutrition discussion.

[20kidsonhill]

Can you drizzle a little corn oil over a doe's grain like you would for horses to add a few calories? I have a doe who is a "light eater" doesn't like to finish her meal at the milk stand and is leary of new things added, wondering if I could stir in a bit of corn oil to add calories.''edited to addd: she'sstill a bit thin after a rough kidding, not eating much for the week after, she is looking better I just want to see a few more pounds on her and no browse/pasture here yet. That picked her up instantly last year.

there is nothing better than browse/pasture to help out those thinner goats after a long winter. Yes, you can put some corn oil on her feed.

I use leftover deep fryer oil from frying turkeys and use as a top dress, goats seem to love it.

 

[Ariel301]

I wouldn't be using the high protein feed as a sole grain ration, it would be blended with the normal grain to add more of everything. I've given this doe up to a cup of corn oil a day, and she's on 2 pounds per milking of grain, plus all the alfalfa pellets and hay she wants. She's been a skeleton for the two years I have had her. Always anemic, never wormy, never gains weight. I bought her at 6 years old, she's 8 now. She may have been a cocidiosis baby, I don't know her history.

 

[helmstead]

That's too bad. I've got an aged Nubian doe who is a notoriously hard keeper...especially when she's in milk (but she milks over a gallon a day still at 8 years old). But when she's dry...she keeps a really decent topline.

Cocci baby wouldn't surprise me - they almost never get to where they can absorb enough nutrition to be in good shape. My cocci baby Nubian, Tiny, who I bought as a bred yearling - FINALLY is holding weight well after a year of work.

 

[PattySh]

Thanks for the info re corn oil. I will add it to her food. She is a dainty little thing, oberhasli/alpine but when pushed last year milked a gal and a pint at peak for several months. This year milking but not pushing her, milking just once a day til she gains some and she's milking over 1/2 gal.