So what to feed this pregger goats?

[FarmerMack]

yea when I first bought 50 goats and bred them (not knowing too much and learning very fast) I had 3 does die. Very very fast. Fine one day, boom on the ground the next and dead within a day. I had no idea why cause they were cared for very well. Called the vet when another doe went down and he came and hit her with an IV of propolyene glycol and other stuff and she jacked right back up. But he said usually they don't respond well at all and don't make it......well I never had any does die over the next 14 years of goat farming at kidding time. I read up on ketosis and preg toxemia and all that and know how to fight that problem now.

my first pregnant goat was mamma goat at 9 she had been pregnant every heat since the first or so i was told and she came to the farm with one male angora i bought... start slow i figured. mamma did well gave me 4 bucks 2 with my angora rasta goat . the second 2 had a sister but she was pushed away in the gorebal warming of a febuary night in New Hampshire and probably froze to death. I learn that female do that and it's most times a doe that gets shoved aside instead of a buck. solution is bottle feed the 3rd... lessons learned the hard way. still made me sad

a gentler gentler farmer

 

[FarmerChick]

I only feed sweet feed 3 weeks before kidding time.
I flush them to provide extra glucose in the system for preggo does.

Are your does pregnant or lactacting right now? If they are, then I guess you are fine feeding it, if they are not, then why feed it? lol

After the kids are born goats do not require high levels of sugar in their system....actually it is needed when they are heavy pregnant...after they do not require that level of glucose once the kids are born.

After born, I go back to normal goat pellet chow and all does do fine.


(I have meat goats so I do not worry about milk production and feed to the level of what a dairy goat farmer would be feeding of course)

 

[FarmerMack]

Okay, now I am confused. Is it okay to feed goats Sweet Feed and hay? Our Sweet Feed isn't just strictly Sweet Feed - it's a mixture that our local feed store mixes up for dairy goats. They make it for each "growing" level of goats and increase the protein. Right now, we are feeding the feed that is recommended for pregnant or lactating goats. Am I doing it wrong? They get a few flakes of hay a day and about 4 scoops of the mixture a day.

i was told by the same feed as for a doe that you are milking, and give her molasses water. nothing else was needed. i continued both for both her and the kids after they were born for a few more months. mamma weaned herself of the molasses water within a week, figured she had more experience at it than i LOL

everyone still alive and butting heads except one

 

[FarmerMack]

I only feed sweet feed 3 weeks before kidding time.
I flush them to provide extra glucose in the system for preggo does.

Are your does pregnant or lactacting right now? If they are, then I guess you are fine feeding it, if they are not, then why feed it? lol

After the kids are born goats do not require high levels of sugar in their system....actually it is needed when they are heavy pregnant...after they do not require that level of glucose once the kids are born.

After born, I go back to normal goat pellet chow and all does do fine.


(I have meat goats so I do not worry about milk production and feed to the level of what a dairy goat farmer would be feeding of course)

exactly... you say it better than i did though

 

[FarmerChick]

yea when I first bought 50 goats and bred them (not knowing too much and learning very fast) I had 3 does die. Very very fast. Fine one day, boom on the ground the next and dead within a day. I had no idea why cause they were cared for very well. Called the vet when another doe went down and he came and hit her with an IV of propolyene glycol and other stuff and she jacked right back up. But he said usually they don't respond well at all and don't make it......well I never had any does die over the next 14 years of goat farming at kidding time. I read up on ketosis and preg toxemia and all that and know how to fight that problem now.

my first pregnant goat was mamma goat at 9 she had been pregnant every heat since the first or so i was told and she came to the farm with one male angora i bought... start slow i figured. mamma did well gave me 4 bucks 2 with my angora rasta goat . the second 2 had a sister but she was pushed away in the gorebal warming of a febuary night in New Hampshire and probably froze to death. I learn that female do that and it's most times a doe that gets shoved aside instead of a buck. solution is bottle feed the 3rd... lessons learned the hard way. still made me sad

a gentler gentler farmer

One thing I learned over my many years of farming goats......Mommas will push aside a kid and not let it nurse---usually it is because their is something wrong with it. Something medically/internally and usually not seen by us, but momma knows and she will push it aside and let the strong kids survive.

This happened some times to me and mostly all kids pushed aside died rather quickly....there was something "just not right about them" and the doe knew this.

I did bottle feed some pushed aside but they never lived very long...like up to 5-6 mos. and died "from something" --some internal medical problem or something, I just don't know.

Momma goats know more than we could ever fathom. They are doing the nature thing, pushing away a seeming healthy or runty kid seems weird to us, but those does know more than we know..LOL

 

[PattiXmas]

The does aren't lactating yet, only bred them in October. We have been feeding this feed from the day we got them (only increased the protein as per the feed store as they grew). So, is it okay? If it's a matter of cost, it really isn't that much more expensive since we only have 2 goats currently. I just don't want to feed them something that would be harmful to them and the babies.

Also, we were told that as soon as the kids are born, that we need to pull them from the mommas so that we don't have any damaged udders. We plan on bottle feeding (obviously) the kids. We know that we will need colostrum for the first feeding. Would it be safe to milk out the does right after and give to the babies or should we get some dried/frozen colostrum to have on hand?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

thanks FarmerMack for the molasses info! i'll give it a whirl.

we give a little sweet feed with their dairy ration as it is.... so we are good on that and will increase as we get closer.

there are a couple 16% sweet feed for goats out there. our breeder mixes his own - of course his animals are spectacular.

i knew that pumpkin was a wormer for hogs but didnt know if it would work for the goaties. just another reason for me to haul myself out there and give her some!

our strategy for the babies is to leave them on the mommas for a couple of weeks. i've been trying like the dickens to understand why you'd bottle only - i know that people do this.. but it seems a little counter intuitive. i know that people have strong opinions about this.. but since this is the "organic' forum maybe there are more "leave with momma's" over here.

mine arent production nor show gals so maybe thats the difference??

 

[freemotion]

The only reasons for pulling the babies that I have found are if the momma is CAE positive (a nasty goat disease spread via momma's milk), you can prevent the babies from having it by bottle feeding them right from the start if you are trying to develop a CAE-free herd from does that are not CAE-free.

The other reason would be if you want more control of the milk volume that the babies are getting and that you are getting. Too much work for a bit more milk, for me, anyways.

I plan to let my does nurse and I will milk, too, starting after 2-3 weeks, more or less depending on number of babies.

 

[FarmerChick]

goat diary works the same as cow dairy.

pull kids or calves immediately....milk the momma and feed the bottle kids or calves the colostrom etc. from the momma to take all this out of her...then the animal is ready for FULL milk production, while you mix bagged powder milk supp for the babies.

Other than that reason, I don't know why people would pull the kids or calves from the parent. Some people said they do it cause they want a tame adult, handled from birth etc. hey whatever, ya know..lol

 

[landis1659]

I've been hearing about sprouts, what kind and how do I make them, what type of seeds do I use. Thanks Pepper