[springkids]

Hello everyone! I am new to the site as a user but I read your forums sometimes when I have questions. And I have a question. We have raised goats on our farm for 6 years. We have mostly mixes of Boer and Nubian.

This year was an extremely wet year for us and on top of that we noticed out wormers not helping. Turns out our worms had become resistant. So after checking in with the vet and starting a vigorous worming schedule with all new meds everyone looks and feels great. The problem is by the time we realized we had a problem with our wormer. We had a BIG problem and our kid goats were stunted. So we have accepted the fact that they will not meet their potential this fall.

My question is we had 4 painted doelings we were hoping to keep for our farm. Right now they weigh only 40-45 lbs roughly and they are roughly 6 months old. I am just curious with the right diet if they would "catch up" so to speak and be a good breeding size for next fall?? Or should I cut my losses and sell them with the rest of kids??

Thanks in advance for any input and God Bless!!

 

[happybleats]

welcome to the forum
Some goats will catch up nicely in time, usually by the time they are 2. A good feeding program could help...However if there is intestinal damage from the worms they coud be unthrifty. When you look at the does..are they just small compared to their peers or look "unkept" depsite your good care? ..thinner than peers, more bones showing, coarser coat? prone to illness? basically unthrifty? I ask this because of an experiance we had and learned from..

we got a doe, a nubian, who we were told had battled worms when young...she was so thin at almost 2 years old..I was not impressed with her care and thought I could bring her to health and she was basically a freebe with her sister..however, we never were able to put and extra ounce on her bones...The worms caused so much intestinal damage that made it hard to absorb nutrients...she was always going to be chronically thin..and was unthrifty..(got ill easy)

this was my expreiance and it doesnt mean your does will be unthrifty..only its something to look into inmaking your decision in retaining them
each doe will need to be assest on her own merrit..one could fair better than the other..You might choose to hold on to them and allow them to prove themselves
I wish you all the best!!

 

[springkids]

Thanks for the reply and the welcome.

Everybody looks great. Since we started our new worming routine everyone started growing again. It just seems to be very slowly. Nothing is thinly and everyone has a nice slick coat. The worm infestation stunted ALL my kid goats. So all the babies are about the same size. We have never had a problem like this before. They having been eating grain for awhile. (We always feed our goats grain everyday). The best way to describe it is they look like beautiful, healthy 3 month old kids instead of 6 month old kids.

It is just a shame they were all big nice babies and grew great for about 8 weeks.

 

[happybleats]

So glad they are doing well other than size!!! did you also treat for Cocci? We now use Baycox ..works great...if the kids have even a small load it could stunt their growth further..if all worms are clear and feeding well..I bet they will catch up with time... I do like the Nubian/Boer cross ...

 

[lottsagoats]

If you get them straightened out young enough you can reverse some or most of the stunting. I've had luck feeding several smaller feedings of medicated grain (to prevent cocci), BOSS and alfalfa pellets with as much hay as they could eat. I also add powdered probiotics to the grain to help the damaged intestines digest the feed.

However, an older goat may not respond. I rescued an 18 month old doe who had been bred and absorbed the kids due to heavy worm load. She should have been a nice big doe, but is only the size of a 6 month old. I got her healthy in all ways except for her size. She was bred as a 2 year old and had a nice set of twins by my standard sized Nubian buck and milked very well for me.

 

[toth boer goats]

I agree.

Cocci and worms can stunt growth.
Did you do a fecal to confirm worms or was it a guess? If it was a guess, get a fecal for cocci as well.

 

[ksalvagno]

With your girls only being 6 months old, they have a better chance of catching up and being fine. I would give them a chance.