Please Help!! Weanlings not eating feed

[()relics]

not knowing the feed or the feeding situation the only thing I could suggest is grind up hay, with your hands, into small fines. Put the fines in the feeder over the feed ration. They need to understand that the feeder is the Food Place. Hopefully they will eat the crushed up hay and continue with the ration. Obviously you don't want them to drop so much condiion that they cannot recover....Kind of surprising they haven't started to scour...a week with no feed would really stress them....maybe they are eating....generally after 2 days they eat anything and are more than happy to try the ration, that you should be pouring into the feeder daily, as they watch you.

 

[thelodens]

I think they've been eating the leaves that are falling out of the trees around their pen (I have them in a small pen with a quarter of it being a three sided inclosed shed) The trees drop leaves around the pen and a few do make it in there. I also have shavings in their shed and maybe they are eating those??... who knows. We've been going in there several times a day, adding a handful of feed or replacing the feed (whichever is needed) in the feeder while they watch us, we also hold handfuls of it up to their mouths and as soon as they smell it they turn their noses. I've even tried prying their mouths open and stuffing a few pieces in their mouths hoping that they may taste it and think, hmm that's good.... but they act like we're trying to poison them! This is the craziest thing I've ever seen! I've talked with every goat raiser and goat educated person around my area and no one has ever heard of this happening and no one has any suggestions for me at this point. I'm thinking this is a lost cause and I should just feed them hay until they look a little better (I can feel their backbones and hip bones now, I wasn't able to when I bought them), and just sell them.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Is the feed fresh?

 

[Roll farms]

If you can get some calf manna, you *might* try feeding them a small amount of that (don't overdo, they'll scour).

I've yet to see a critter who wouldn't snarf calf manna.

If they like it, try top dressing the feed you want them to eat w/ it.

TSC carries it in a small bag you could *try* it with....

Otherwise...

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

This is gonna sound strange..but have you tried putting in thier mouths?? That way they are forced to chew it or spit it out. You may just have to show them its food Momma????

Just a thought?? I give my guys raisins every once in a great while for a training or a hike in the woods. So my new buck had no idea at all what raisins were. Although he was eating everything else. He kept turning away and turning his nose to it. And Im thinking, maybe he just dos'nt like raisin. I tell ya...I never meet a goat in my life that did'nt like raisins...but never say never, right!!

So what I did was slip a raisin in the side of his cheek and he was like WOW Is that what that is? Now when I have em I swear he smells them in the bag in my pocket. His nose goes instantly in my pocket when I have em..but he just did'nt know it to be food.

It sounds silly...but maybe they just have no clue what you expect them to do with it. Are they the only goats you have. Do they see older goats eat from a trough????

Another thought is to show them...put the food in the trough and get down there and pretend your eating it! LOL!! But really..since they left thier Mom without being taught to eat feed...maybe the just need to be taught??? I dont know??? I would try anything at this point. They must eat!!

 

[thelodens]

I did try the stuffing in their mouths thing, for about fifteen minutes yesterday (and a few days before that too), but they just will not eat it, I actually had to put the pieces back in their mouths until it disolved to the point that they couldn't roll it back out with their tongues.

I was at my wits end last night and tried giving them some Equine Senior, just to see if they would try it. This morning they had not touched it, but this evening it looked like they may have eaten a little of it. I know I can't feed that to them, not on a regular basis anyway, so I went ahead and threw them some hay. The poor babies chomped louder with fuller mouths than the horses out in the pasture! They were so hungry. I don't know what to do, maybe just keep giving them hay and try to find something they will eat. They have lost weight and they don't need to loose any more.

I did try to put some kid milk replacer (powder) on their feed before (which that stuff is like a magnet to most anything), and they didn't want any part of it.

I've tried on several occasions to get down on all fours and act like a goat (my kids really get a kick out of that), and of course I really make it sound like I'm just scarfing it up and its sooooooo good, lol! It did peak their intrest a few times, but they came over, smelt it, and turned their noses.

I do have other goats and wondered if maybe that might work, other goats "teaching" them it's ok to eat. I will try that in the morning, I have a pygmy that I "inherited" from a family member and I'll put her in the pen with them tomorrow and let her show them the way. This little thing would eat anything in front of her I believe, she looks like she's 20 months pregnant with 15 kids... all fat! The girl likes to eat! If she can't show them.... then there's really no hope I'm afraid.

We are suppose to go for validation tomorrow...

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I've tried on several occasions to get down on all fours and act like a goat (my kids really get a kick out of that), and of course I really make it sound like I'm just scarfing it up and its sooooooo good, lol! It did peak their intrest a few times, but they came over, smelt it, and turned their noses.

I do have other goats and wondered if maybe that might work, other goats "teaching" them it's ok to eat. I will try that in the morning, I have a pygmy that I "inherited" from a family member and I'll put her in the pen with them tomorrow and let her show them the way. This little thing would eat anything in front of her I believe, she looks like she's 20 months pregnant with 15 kids... all fat! The girl likes to eat! If she can't show them.... then there's really no hope I'm afraid.

I am not laughing at you, but with you. No one could say there is a lack of effort on your part!

The bottle babies I had this past winter tough took some extra time to learn about browsing (vs. our dam raised kids). They never had an issue with the concentrates, but when I turned them out to browse in Spring/Summer they didn't really "get it" until they had spent some time with the adults who knew exactly how to take advantage of fresh browse. Our dam raised kids on the other hand were experts at the ripe old age of about 5 weeks. It took them a while, but they did figure it out and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference at this point. Maybe your pygmies will show them the way!

Sorry your experience has been so discouraging though. :/ Good luck!

 

[thelodens]

I'm thinking I want a restart button for today.....

Well, went for validation this morning and got the goaties ears tagged. Brought them back home, put them in their pen and tied them, so they'll get used to that idea . Remember that part... comes into play later. I went around to our other goat pen and my son helped catch the pygmy female I was talking about. Well, when we started walking her down to the other pen I noticed that she looks like she's making a bag on her, so I go to inspect this and I tried to "milk" her a little just to check.... MILK SHOT EVERYWHERE!!! Either this is immaculate goatie conception, or somebody LIED on this goat. I feel maybe one or two babies in there (like I said she's fat enough that she looks 20 months pg with 15 babies in there!) amongst all that fat, but she IS pg. My husbands' cousin (which is who she came from) said he had only had her a month, but the man he bought her from said she had not been exposed to a buck... ever! He (first owner) did however say that she had "broken out" of her pen a few times to visit their neighbors goats, so it is possible that she would have gotten bred while "visiting". Anyway, we'll have some half pygmy half ???? baby/babies sometime soon. Happy Happy Joy Joy

Another fun fact of the day (have I told anyone that my day is not going well?). When we bought these wethers for the kids to show in 4H, I did not question the man, I figured, he banded them... he knew they were all wethers/boys, right??? WRONG. While being tied to the fence earlier, I noticed one of our "boys" squating to pee and thought, that's not right.... so I go over, lift up the tail, and there's a little girl part.... hmmm, I thought.... hemorphodite? so I lift a leg, there's two little teats..... no boy parts of any kind.... Now, I know what everyone reading this is thinking.... how can you own these goats for a month and not know that one is a girl? Quite honestly, I figured there was no reason to look, and I've never paid that much attention anyway, they were sold to me as wethers!

 

[Roll farms]

Don't feel too bad....I was asked to disbud / band a buck kid for some folks a few months ago.
When "he" got here I explained it wouldn't be a good idea for me to band this "boy".
When they asked why I told them it's awful hard to band imaginary nuggets....It's a DOE.

You coulda knocked them over w/ a feather...they'd had "him" for 2 weeks and thought it was a boy all along. They didn't check so well, apparently...

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

On the upside (sounds like you might need sight of the silver lining after a day like today... ) you got a doe for the price of a market wether and a two-or-three-fer deal on your pygmy doe!