We have a five year old doe who has been very fat for a long time. She has been the matriarch or queen in our herd for a long time. The past two times she kidded she has only had singles. She used to have twins every year. Even after she kids she looks like she could have at least a single or twins still left in her. She last kidded in September, a single, and looks fat enough to have at least twins in her right now but she has not been in contact with a buck. One side of her feels very hard. Could this be an extended rumen? Or a parasite overload? We just wormed her with Quest a week or so ago. We just changed from a Rumensin feed to a non medicated feed in December, otherwise she was on Rumensin feed for about four and a half years. Could she have some stomach deterioration from Rumensin? I hoped changing the feed would help decrease the size of her stomach but so far I do not see much difference. I kind of want to figure out what is wrong before we breed her again. I would apreciate any ideas.
Really fat five year old doe
- Thread starter Beatrice
- Start date
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Sounds like she's getting more than her share of the feed. 
Is that one side hard all the time?
You might tie her at feeding so she eats only her portion....for several weeks....see if that helps. Obviously, cut her feed back some.
Is that one side hard all the time? You might tie her at feeding so she eats only her portion....for several weeks....see if that helps. Obviously, cut her feed back some.
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Exactly - pigging all the feed is my guess. She is probably an easy keeper and is just putting on the weight. Some animals are just prone to being fatter on less feed. As to only singling, being fat or "over conditioned" when being bred will cause a lessening of fertility - less eggs dropping leading to singles or not getting pregnant at all.
Can you feed her separately and cut her feed down to get some weight off her?
Can you feed her separately and cut her feed down to get some weight off her?
Ridgetop
Herd Master
BTW - do you milk her after she kids and keep her in a 10 month lactation cycle? If you keep her miking twice a day, you can take some of the weight off her since she will be putting the feed into the bucket.
- Thread starter
- #5
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Lol. Boer are designed to put on weight -- meat goat extroidinaire.
Baymule
Herd Master
I had a ewe like that. I called it a good spread of the ribs. She looked pregnant with twins immediately after giving birth to twins.
