When do post-partum does start to put on a little weight?

[Cadillac Jill]

I know it's normal for does to look really thin after kidding, but I was wondering when ours might start to get a little meat back on her bones. She kidded 3 weeks ago. She's got plenty of access to grain, fresh hay, browse, etc., but her appetite is just so-so. I try to hand-feed her hay and give her time alone with with her ration (without her kid by her side) and she does eat okay on those occasions. It just seems like she's not putting on any weight. If someone could let me know how long the boney physique is supposed to last, I'd appreciate it.

P.S. We're milking one teat twice a day because her single kid strongly prefers the other one.

 

[DonnaBelle]

My FF Felicia kidded May 25 with 3 kids!! She was exhausted after the birth and didn't hardly eat for a week!! She was not really interested in doing anything but resting and regaining her strength.

I doubled her grain ration and added Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, Calf Manna and some red cell. Have you had a fecal done to check for worms? A lot of times does have a worm "bloom" after kidding. I gave Felicia an Ivomec shot the day after she kidded. But her eyelids were very white. I took a fecal in and no worms. Hmmmm. So I started giving her 15 cc of Red Cell every day. Plus all the hay, feed she wanted. It was a long slow road but she is finally looking much better.

I gave her 12 cc of Valbazen 2 days ago and I think she is looking better. I think it was just a big drain on her body to produce those babies. Plus I think she had some kind of worm. Her eyelids were white, white, white. Also, she was just skinny compared to what she looked like before she was bred. I am still keeping a very close eye on her, but the little parasites keep nursing and keeping her drained. I wish she'd only had one.

DonnaBelle

 

[20kidsonhill]

I would recommend a fecal sample or worming her. Even if she is on the thin side, she shouldn't be a picky eater, she may not be feeling well. MIne would eat me out of house and home if I gave them the chance.

Don't forget to consider coccidiosis even in a 2 or 3 year old doe.

 

[cindyg]

Gee, my Pygora doe who gave me surprise twins four weeks ago is almost as round as she was before she kidded. She is an eating machine, fights the other goat to get to the feed dish before I even get it down on the floor. Eats all the green stuff she can grab when out free ranging and the hay rack is always empty in the morning. I'm wondering when this appetite is going to slow down.

 

[freemotion]

They are very individual, as the replies here show. A fecal and FAMACHA test would be good to do, especially if you didn't worm her post-kidding. Otherwise, be patient, as she is approaching her peak production phase. B vitamins can be helpful, and/or probiotics.

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

All of our does get wormed the day after kidding. It's one of the only times we worm on a schedule, regardless of the fecal or FAMACHA. If she wasn't wormed after kidding I'd do so. Her appetite shouldn't be affected 3 weeks after kidding. It is normal for them to strip some condition in the first month after freshening (see the "nutrition and condition discussion" thread) but that's not for lack of appetite.

I see hay, browse, and grain listed, but is she getting plenty of alfalfa?

 

[cmjust0]

I know it's normal for does to look really thin after kidding, but I was wondering when ours might start to get a little meat back on her bones. She kidded 3 weeks ago. She's got plenty of access to grain, fresh hay, browse, etc., but her appetite is just so-so. I try to hand-feed her hay and give her time alone with with her ration (without her kid by her side) and she does eat okay on those occasions. It just seems like she's not putting on any weight. If someone could let me know how long the boney physique is supposed to last, I'd appreciate it.

P.S. We're milking one teat twice a day because her single kid strongly prefers the other one.

It's basically impossible to fatten a lactating animal. Think about the milk fat content of goat's milk.... Milk from nubians, for instance, is typically 5% milk fat, or more.. That means 5% or more of the milk you get out of her is pure FAT. If you get, say, 8lbs of milk a day, she just lost almost a half-pound of pure fat -- and that's not to mention the protein (which contributes to muscle loss!!) and sheer fluid volume she's lost, too.

What I'd advise is to keep feeding her as much high quality stuff as she'll eat for as long as she keeps losing condition, but to expect her to either continue losing condition or to level off at a low condition level until she's dried off.. When you dry her off and she stops literally pouring her own body condition into the milk, she should begin to regain body condition.

Dairy animals are inherently prone to becoming bony in lactation, btw.. And the older they get, the worse it gets. Go to your state fair some year and visit the dairy cows.. Invariably, you'll see a few that look like a cowhide with eyes stretched over a pile of coathangers -- with an udder as big as a smartcar. That's just the nature of the beast, and I mean that in the most literal sense possible.