Updated 3/29/12 Melissa Farm Picture Journal *New Pictures Pg 10*

[aggieterpkatie]

If y'all think AB is slightly underweight that must mean I am at a perfect weight. Sweet.

 

[Melissa'sDreamFarm]

I know the rumen moves, but I am just so confused about her being pregnant or not. Could she have had a "false" heat? I know cows do and one time I "saw" a bull cover a bred heifer who was later diagnosed with some hormone issues and had some large follicles causing her to have the "false" heat. From what I know, cows have "small" false heats throughout pregnancy, but the bulls know the difference and won't breed them. This is the kind of information you get when you work with a bunch of vets, lol. We do see a large amount of cows (surprisingly) but not too many goats.

We once got in a silkie chicken that was caught eating decorative beads and rhinestones, lol. She was a "house" chicken that wore diapers. That x-ray was one for the books and they use it in Open House here at the Vet School, lol.

 

[helmstead]

If y'all think AB is slightly underweight that must mean I am at a perfect weight. Sweet.

I KNOW AB - she was one of our first goats...so I know what's right for her. She's under conditioned. With her, unless she's lactating, you should not see her hip bones or spine.

Remember, you cannot judge a goat's condition by it's belly.

If she were shaved, everyone would see what I'm talking about. A shaved goat tells the story (which is why we shave ALL our goats every year, at least once).

 

[Melissa'sDreamFarm]

I've considered shaving. I itch thinking about it, but it's so hot I just might do it. I am interested to see how my goats look, frame wise. I want good condition, but I'm notorious for having slightly overweight animals. I finally have our gelding (horse) with good flesh. He was overweight for years and came down with colic. Then he was a skeleton (after recovering from colic) and slowly we added the weight back on and I now know exactly what to feed him (seasonally) to keep him in good condition without over doing it.

We now have a small mare pony that is portly looking, but the vet said it's normal for a pony to have a slight barrel. I have to keep my eyes on her ribs, this is the area I've learned in horses to watch to know condition.

I'm still learning goats. Thanks you guys for your help.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

If y'all think AB is slightly underweight that must mean I am at a perfect weight. Sweet.

I KNOW AB - she was one of our first goats...so I know what's right for her. She's under conditioned. With her, unless she's lactating, you should not see her hip bones or spine.

Remember, you cannot judge a goat's condition by it's belly.

If she were shaved, everyone would see what I'm talking about. A shaved goat tells the story (which is why we shave ALL our goats every year, at least once).

I'm not looking at her belly, I'm looking at her hooks and her withers...but that's only going from what I can see in the pictures, and pictures don't mean everything, especially when judging things like this. But I'm not used to seeing any dairy goat with non-visible hooks.

 

[helmstead]

Oh, shave 'em LOL.

The chocolate buckskin is a little over-loved - as she should be going into her first lactation (FFs tend to take their lactations harder).

Aggie...hooks?? Do you mean hips?

AB is somewhat mutton-withered (not very sharp over the withers), and with the hair over them, they're harder for someone to judge if they don't know the goat already. And, dairy goats that are DRY shouldn't be BONY. IMO.

Fret not Melissa...you're doing fine. You're going to have a little more trouble keeping weight on aged does and bucks, generally...and she's far from being THIN...she's just a little under.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Aggie...hooks?? Do you mean hips?

Fret not Melissa...you're doing fine.

Yep. And yep. They look well cared for, Melissa!

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

AB had false cycles her last pregnancy. Drove me nuts. She also tends to be a little saddle-baggy so the belly tells you nadda. Unfortunately there's just no guessing with her- if you want to keep your sanity you mind consider sending in a sample to BioTracking.

She also puts EVERYTHING into her kids periparturition and everything into milking postparturition. That means having her a little overconditioned going into late gestation is going to be a good thing.

 

[Melissa'sDreamFarm]

I need buck advice now. Seems none of my does are pregnant. He will be 8 months old August 28th. We removed him from the heard in May. He was 5 months old then. So I do have a buck pen, but it's not at big as I would like. It's only 50x50 with a 4x4 open face shelter. How do I tell if he has done his job and it took? Because he was all over them before several times a minute (lol). You could really tell when one was in heat, it was just constant, like he was a growth sticking off their backsides.

What I'm debating on is taking them to the next county for breeding, but if I do that, why do I have a buck?

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

If they haven't settled I'd give him another chance. 5 months old is pretty young... our Junior buck Pie settled does at 6 months old but even then the does were a little pushy with him. At 8 months he should be able to handle it. The other thing is that if you're pen breeding it's entirely possible he got them but you didn't see it. They seem to be equally appealing to the bucks throughout a heat cycle but the doe is only receptive during a short time so it's easy to miss the act, even if you see the buck glued to her behind for 2 or 3 days. If you don't think they're settled because you're seeing heat cycles why don't you hand breed them? Then you'll know for sure the day they're bred and can send samples into BioTracking 30 days later.