Skinny Nigerian bucklings

[SassyKat6181]

I picked up two Nigerian dwarf bucks on Saturday. They are 10 months and only weigh 30# I wormed them with Valbazen yesterday and saw a lot of worm segments in their poop this morning. I rewormed them this afternoon and will do it again tomorrow.

I have Blue Seal meat goat pellets. My two 10 month old does that I have raised from 8 weeks old weigh 40# and 45# and I give them 1/2 cup twice a day. I am feeding the boys the same amount. Should I be feeding them more? They look considerably thinner today and I can feel their spines and rib bones. They have free choice hay, minerals and baking soda.

Thanks!

 

[Stacykins]

Poor lads, hopefully they are on the road to recovery with your excellent care!

Be careful about giving them too much feed too soon. You wouldn't want to cause a lot of digestive upset or bloat. I am sure you can increase the grain amount, but do it slowly. As long as they have all the fresh hay they want, they'll be happy goats in the meantime.

In order to kill all the stages of worms that are in your boys, you will need to do a few more wormings. A place called Goat-Link explains it well:

"There are 4 stages of larval development and in order to kill all 4 stages (which have an approximate developmental period of 10 days) we deworm 10 days apart for a consecutive 3 times- so you will deworm , then in another 10 days and again in another 10 days - then again one month later and then on an as needed basis."

It might be a good idea to check them for a coccidia load. Valbazen won't take care of that. A medication such as corid or di-methox will.

 

[SassyKat6181]

Thanks for the reply. They are eating fresh hay like little pigs and they gobble up the 1/2 cup in no time. Today will be the 3rd day with the valbazen to get rid of the tapeworms and I will follow this with Eprinex. The meat goat pellets have di-methox in them. I have the local farm vet coming out on Thursday for a checkup and to test everyone for CAE and CL. Should I test them for cocci? I don't see any signs of it. Would the feed treat them, or is that just a preventative?

 

[Renegade]

The meat goat pellets have di-methox in them.

Goat feeds have either Rumensin (monensin) or Deccox (decoquinate) in them. Blue Seal appears to use Deccox.

Donna

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Thanks for the reply. They are eating fresh hay like little pigs and they gobble up the 1/2 cup in no time. Today will be the 3rd day with the valbazen to get rid of the tapeworms and I will follow this with Eprinex. The meat goat pellets have di-methox in them. I have the local farm vet coming out on Thursday for a checkup and to test everyone for CAE and CL. Should I test them for cocci? I don't see any signs of it. Would the feed treat them, or is that just a preventative?

Like Renegade said, the medicated feeds have preventives in them but not sulfadimethoxine which would be appropriate if the goat gets overrun with cocci. Have the vet do a fecal test for worm and cocci---some goats do not show symptoms of these and it is best to test before doing any worming or parasite treatment. You should plan to have another fecal done in 3-4 weeks as well to see what parasite loads you are dealing with.

 

[SassyKat6181]

Sorry for the misinformation, the feed has deccox in it.
I will have the vet run tests. Their tummies were extremely
bloated and they are skinny which is why I gave them valbazen
They are in their own stall, away from my does. I enter their stall
last and put my clothes in the wash. Ive also been putting plastic bags
over my shoes.