[Cornshloger]

Hello!
I'm just looking for a little more advice on a doe issue. I have had my girl Elvira for four years. Three of those years she has kidded for me. And each time, about 3 months after kidding she drops weight and I can't get her to gain any weight back until fall. Every time there has been no food changes, no milking changes. She gets de-wormed right after kidding, and I even de-wormed her again when I saw she might be dropping weight again.
This time around she had triplets. I end up doing nightly separations a couple weeks after kidding. I milk in the morning and the kids have free range. About a three months after the kid separation I noticed she was getting picky about her food then her milk production went way down. It was also very rainy and humid during this time which is why I wormed her again. So I ended up drying her up and permanently and have the kids separated until they are weaned.
She is lively and eats hay and browses on the pasture. Her coat is glossy. She doesn't have diarrhea but she has clumpy stool, not pellets. I finally bought some calf manna for her and she is eating that pretty well. She doesn't finish it all up though.
So I feel she is deficient in something? The goats have free range to loose salt/mineral, copper, baking soda and sulfur. My neighbor lady is going to lend me a bit of powdered calcium to see if she has any interest. I'm thinking that she needs vit.b, perhaps probiotics?
I'm not planning on getting her bred for next year to give her a year off. Hopefully I'll really find out what the heck is happening with her. I know dairy goats put a lot of themselves into their milk production, I think I need to find out what to give back.
Any thoughts?
Thanks everyone!!

 

[Cornshloger]

I'll get a fecal done for sure! I used to use beet pulp but forgot why I stopped, the goats loved it mixed in with their grain. Thanks, it will be good just getting those tests done to be on the safe side and figure this one out! Thanks!!!!

 

[Cornshloger]

Excellent, I'll pick up some rice bran today. I'm planning to stop by the big animal vet this morning and just chat with someone there and see when they take fecal samples. Last time I did a fecal it took 2 weeks to get results back. I have been meaning to meet the newer vet they hired anyway. I guess this new lady knows a lot about goats as compared to last time I asked for advice. It's dairy cow country around here! Thanks everyone!

 

[Cornshloger]

Howdy, I just wanted to follow up. I went to the vet and had a fecal test done. I have to say I was mightily surprised to find I would get the results that day and that it was super cheap to do. Last time I had one done it cost $80 and took two weeks to get my results back. The new vet lady is super nice and knowledgeable! So hurray! The results did show she had quite a few of a certain parasite, forgot which one. So I put her on three days of panacure. She had some severe scouring for those days but is much better now. Just need to put weight on her. She is all about brush, branches and hay. She doesn't care about any grain, calf manna, bran, or even beet pulp right now. I'm sure she will get more of an appetite in a week. The vet did seem surprised that the valbrazen I was using didn't work though. And it's really only this one doe that has worm issues. So now I know, and can be a lot more pro active about treating her! I would somehow like to boost her immunity to parasites though. But all in all everything turned out well!