Boers under size....feeding advice

569 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by goatblessings, Jan 24, 2022

Tlocke

Discussion Starter · Jan 23, 2022

We are new to goats and purchased 3 registered boers and 2 nubian boer cross last year. Being new to goats and with all the conflicting advice were not sure what to feed so what we have done:

Free fed hay peanut hay for the first few months then switched over to coastal hay due to cost. Those are the 2 options here in north florida.

10 cups of grain for all 5 that is a mixture of half and half sweet feed and goat maintenance. I have read so many bad things about grain that I have been hesitant to feed more.

Now my goats are as follows
2 nubian boer cross does that are 15 months old and weigh 75lbs
1 registered boer doe that is 11 months old and weighs 55lbs
1 registered boer buck 11 months old and 80lbs
1 purebred but unregistered buck 12 months old and 70lbs.

Otherwise very healthy, vaccinated, wormed every 6 months. They have never been ill, but did have lice when I got them which we treated immediately.

What have I dont wrong and can this be corrected?

We were wanting them to breed for meat/dairy goats but now I don't know what to do

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CountyLineAcres

· #2 · Jan 23, 2022

Have you performed any fecals? I highly recommend not deworming on a schedule. You might find that you only need to deworm once a year.

There are a lot of factors that will determine size including management, nutrition, and genetics. Do you know how large the parents are? When did you buy them? Did they have any struggles with coccidia?

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Jessica84

· #3 · Jan 23, 2022

Yep start with a fecal. Also what about minerals?

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Tlocke

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 23, 2022 (Edited)

We got them all when they were about 2 months old and bottle fed them for a couple weeks ro get them more friendly.

I have had a couple of fecals done and the vet saw some coccidia in low concentrations and said that is totally normal for where we are. We treated them with corrid anyways just to be sure. There were no other intestinal parasites but they recommended worming at least once per year, twice would be better. So we did them spring and fall. The hot wet climate we live in is terrible for parasites.

I will definitely have another fecal done!

They have free choices loose minerals and protein buckets from tractor supply that they love.

The 5 goats came from 3 different breeders but yes we did see all their parents and they were what boers are expected to be for size.

I just have to think it is something nutritional I just don't know what I can do to correct it.

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goatblessings

· #5 · Jan 24, 2022

Unless you run fecals, you won’t know what class I’d worms to treat for and your worming protocol could be completely ineffective. Damaged intestinal walls prohibit absorption of nutrients… start with a fecal. Growing babies need a higher % if protein- I’m not sure what yours is … you also may or may not to add more fat. Your herd is very small for breed and age … hope you can figure it out.

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