Nutrition and condition discussion

[Roll farms]

I need to get a picture of Foxy and join in this discussion.

She's the ONLY doe (out of 25 or so) that I always want to hide when people come here, she just looks painfully skinny. You can't feel her ribs or backbone, but I swear she's not 6" across....The only time she looks "good" is when she's preggo.

She's a heavy milker, from good lines.

She gets BOSS and Calf Manna on the stand and I purposely leave her up there longer than the others so she gets to eat more....but she stays as thin as a rail, regardless.

I call her my 'supermodel' doe / "Twiggy".

 

[helmstead]

What age did you get her at, Roll? Sounds like she may have been a cocci baby? My doe Tiny is like that, but I got good weight on her last year (was no small feat) and she held it really well this freshening. But, her frame still says cocci baby to me...I can never fix that. Her doe kid I retained last year already weighs more than she does.

 

[Roll farms]

I got her as a very ill weanling, and she started cocci prev. then.

She came from a 'show herd'. She got here w/ a snotty nose / cough...
I had her delivered by a friend who lived near the breeder and didn't *know* that her hunched posture / shivering / wet nose meant she was ill.

When I contacted the breeder, he got very snotty w/ me (no pun intended) and told me I could bring her back, it was no big deal, just a bug his goats brought home from a show, yadda yadda.

The breeder had also told me before I saw her in person that "Her line does better if you breed them as 2 yr olds, to give them time to mature."

Most cocci kids I've seen never get very tall. They just seem sort of dwarfed.
Now, she's not "small"...she's actually one of my taller does. But she has NO depth. None. Just no 'frame' if you know what I mean. Lots of bone, but no meat on it. She's 4 now, and just freshened the 2nd time...she's the Nub I always breed boer who gives me the awesome flashy spotted kids...and she's Reggie (paint who keeps 'sort of' prolapsing on me)'s dam. Reggie has a lot more depth than Foxy, but still is on the small-framed side, IMHO.

Here is her 'baby' pic

As a dry yearling. She got tall fast, just doesn't gain...

As a very early preggo 2 yr old

And this is the only shot I have of her from this year (besides her udder...) but it shows that when preggo, she *does* get a belly. That was carrying twins.

I will try and get some better pics today.

Whoops, forgot to show Reggie, for comparison

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

She looks pretty fleshy in her late preggo pic and you mentioned you can't feel ribs or spine... Is it possible her conformation is to blame? A dairy goat who's narrow, has poor spring of rib, lacks body capacity, lacks depth, etc. would probably appear to be pretty rangy even if they weren't under conditioned. From her dry yearling pic it almost looks like if she had better depth/width her condition would appear totally normal. It'd be easier to tell if she were clipped I think, but she doesn't look super angular like she would if she were underweight. This is your area of expertise Kate, what do you think?

I should add... fleshy for a dairy gal, next to your boers she probably looks like a twig!

 

[TheMixedBag]

Nobody carries Copasure except for 0SU, and I couldn't afford their prices even if I wanted to. I tried last year when Jenny wouldn't get bred, and couldn't find any. The loose mineral has 1350 ppm, though.

 

[Roll farms]

You can order Copasure through Jeffers. I think it was 40 bucks for a jar.

Here are pics of Foxy today...
Spring of rib? Hahahaha...she has NONE.

Rear / udder before milking

From the side she looks "okay"...not scary, anyway.

But from behind....

 

[PJisaMom]

Nobody carries Copasure except for 0SU, and I couldn't afford their prices even if I wanted to. I tried last year when Jenny wouldn't get bred, and couldn't find any. The loose mineral has 1350 ppm, though.

I can send you a few capsules of copasure if you pm me your address.

 

[St0rmyM00n]

This is my goat Malina she is almost a year old, I was told she is a Nubian/Alpine probably a miniture Nubian.

Her feed is

Alfalfa
Costal hay

Both of the above she only nibbles on she prefers to forage eating wild brush on the land.

She is offered ( Goat ) mix grain with alfalfa pellets
Free choice in its own bowl loose goat minerals
Some crack corn

She mostly just eats brush per her choice.
She is kind of standing odd in this picture she isn't use to us holding her in one place we usually just let her be a goat and do her goat thing.
This picture was taken 2 months ago when we first notice she started growing a bulge she is pregers

Here she is in her yard.

This is our male goat Kuzco

 

[RabbleRoost Farm]

I'm fine with Cinnamon, if anything she looks sort of fat to me. But Tansy... Ehh, she hasn't done very spectacularly for a "Boer" anything, regardless if she was mixed with other breeds. Their eye colors are fine, they haven't been light since I bought either of them, so I haven't dewormed. Would you recommend doing so anyway? I have no way to do fecals, so I have to go by what the eye color tells me.

Also, Copasure? I'm afraid of how much that would cost me after the recent talk on this very thread! Yikes! I need to throw some minerals out there! Do you suppose Tansy is copper deficient? She's always been kind of scrawny...

Also... Bo/se. Will Tractor Supply have that? I haven't seen it there yet, and they've been given their CD/T shot now on the twelfth, so should I give them a booster in the next three to four weeks per the bottle, or is that only for new kids? I'm new to goat birthing, this is my first year with them, and they're first fresheners as well, so we'll see how it goes. I just don't want to give them so much that the kids get stupid fat and I have to work to get them out.

I felt Cinnamon's kid(s) kicking while she was laying down beside me a few days after I noticed she and Tansy were developing their udders, but so far Tansy hasn't let me check out her sides except when she's standing and eating. I can feel a solid sort of lump, but no movement. I mean, the thing floats around inside her, but it hasn't kicked at me yet. She won't lay down next to me so I can get a good feel because she was wild when I got her and is now tame enough to be a goat instead of a flight risk. She wouldn't let me feel her udder, so I had to leash her and pin her against the wall to check her.

So... Should they be on alfalfa too? Reduced grain rations?
Sorry to sort of hijack the thread here, but I'm a worrywart and have been wondering how this will all work out. Been checking ligaments fanatically since I noticed udder development, and everything is still solid so I think there's still time left.

On a separate note... I wish I had a real barn!! The birds will be locked out at all times once one of the goats shows signs of labor.



Anyway... Sorry about rambling. /end post

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

Yeah Roll, in those pics she does look lean. BUT, that's about as slab sided as I've ever seen a doe and even if she were OVER conditioned she'd still be narrow.

Edited to add: She is looooong though isn't she? And I love her legs.