One of my goats (who kidded last spring) is starting to get bony. I don't understand why, though. She is on pasture 24/7, and the pasture has everything but trees in it. :help:
is she still in milk? I know dairy goats can be brought down easily if they are good producers as they put everythign in the milk
dairy goat? most of the time you can see a bit of bone on a dairy goat...like dairy cows and agree with stacey
My doe went off grain and lost weight due to her rumen bacteria being screwed up. Adding probiotics/nutritional yeast helped get her back on track. Took me a while to figure out what was going on with her because she had access to plenty of feed, she just wasn't eating it (hard to tell when there are multiple goats).
I have to say I totally agree with everyone. First thing first. DO a fecal float on them. Do not just deworm them because you need to know WHAT worms you are needing to treat.
I agree with everyone as well.. :thumbup: ...it is a good idea... to have a fecal done.....Also it may be cocci ..without the symptom of scouring.....Adults have been known to do that......A fecal should find out... if she needs treatment or if you have to start her on grain.....Good luck...
I would feed her a mix of oats, barley and BOSS, its high energy low protein and good for keeping weight on
i agree with sarah on this one. you may also want to check her for lice. my friends doe has been getting skinny for months now, she has been wormed and treated for cocci, her fecals came back clean but her gums were still pale. I really did some hunting and found some lice on her. mites can also take a lot out of a doe and make her get thin. Goats get a lot of protein just fraom hay and browse. If she is on a good quality pasture she doesnt need a lot of extra protein in her diet. Carbs also help to build weight, just like they do in people. carbs give a goat inergy, inergy she needs to put into making milk for her kids. If the kids are old enough to be weaned, weaning them will also help to get weight built back up. as the kids get older they really start to take a toll on a doe. six to eight months is past peak production for a doe, and if the kids are still nursing her body is telling her she needs to slow down on the milking to build up strengeth for the coming breeding season. The kids are demanding more milk and kieeping her nursed out is telling her to make more milk. if she is towards the end of her lactation she is putting a lot more energy into making milk then she needs to. beth
May help to feed some alfalfa hay if available and grain to. We feed a sweet feed/grain with molasses to our goats and they did well-of course now they are on a pelleted form that a friend of ours created-and they love it. Although for a time or two they didn't know what to think about eating pelleted feed.
