What is the fastest/best way to put weight on a doe/goat?

arabianequine

Crowing
9 Years
Apr 4, 2010
4,174
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I got 3 does this last Sunday. Two of them are very skinny. I wormed them and gave them pro bias the other day. I have been giving them half a 3qt scoop of sweet cob/grain am and pm to share between the 3 of them. Plus all the hay they want. They don't eat all the hay I put out.

One that is real skinny is a Toggenburg doe about 2 years old. She is very timed but the most people friendly once you get a hold of her. She has no horns and the two boers have horns and ram her out of the way alot. I am thinking of putting a collar on her and feeding her grain separately and let her graze on a lead. Not sure how much sweet cob or grain of any kind a goat should have daily. Is that the best thing to put on weight?

The other skinny doe is a boer and 3 years old. All 3 does are about 100 lbs.
 
Goat's don't actually need any grain unless they are lactating or pregnant. That said, though, if you do want to put weight on grain will definitely help. There's no real set amount of grain goats should have, but they should definitely never have too much or be given grain free choice.

I have 9 does, 2 of which are in milk, 1 is pregnant and the other 4 need to get in better condition for breeding this fall so I am feeding the two does in milk as much as they can eat on the stand, which is probably about 1 or 2 cups. Then everyone is fed together in a community trough and a few separate bowls - I give them about 6 quarts to share.

Putting weight on a doe is a long and hard process - even harder if she is pregnant or in milk. I don't think yours are, so what I'd do is change gradually from the sweet cob/grain to a 16% protein grain made for goats and add in some calf manna. The calf manna is usually in the cow section and is rather expensive, but you don't need to give that much for it to be effective. I mix about 12# in with 50# of goat grain and see a difference in about a week.

You mentioned that you wormed them - what did you worm them with and how much?

Are you also offering free choice minerals?
 
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We have used calf manna for years on any animal that needed weight on. I think if you could feed her seperate for a while it would help and she would gain faster.
 
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I wormed with Ivermectin horse wormer about double their weight on the paste tube. I was told to do this at a feed store by someone that has over 100 goats. Probias I gave 5mg each.

All 3 does are together and share 1 1/2 qts am and pm. I see a problem with the 2 boer does push the togg out of the way the boers have horns and the togg does not and she is pretty timed.

I am gonna make a goat stand real soon.

I did a bunch of work out in their pen today and put the togg on a collar and lead to eat all the weeds she wanted for a few hours by herself. The 2 boers were in a different pen.

I don't know if they are pregnant or not. I want to do a pregnancy test since I just bought them so I know if they are or not. One of the boer just had her baby taken off her when she got her.....I am not gonna keep milking her. She is not that skinny. I am not worried about her weight. She has a skin issue the owner said from a bad case of lice or like. Her hair is missing on her back in a big area and flaky. I got some spray for them to keep the bugs away. Permethrin concentrated. Wow is it ever strong I love this stuff....you can use it on almost everything and a wide variety of insects. I put 1/16 about in 32 ounces of water and it is still strong smelling. Not sure if this will clear up the flaky skin and let the hair grow back but I will use it to keep the bugs away anyways. Do you know what can help this?

She does keep peeing over and over seems really frequent same with the togg.....do you know why they keep doing that? I was thinking maybe in heat but I have no idea? Could it be a bladder infection?

No they don't have salt or minerals......I will be getting something like that not really sure what to get though.....I was told at the feed store by someone that had goats to just get a trace mineral block but I have not yet. Also I am going to get some bosee from the vet for them. We have a lack of natural selenium here.
 
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I'm not sure about the horse paste; I only use the injectible made for cattle. I have heard of people using the paste, so if that person said they use it, go for it. The probios is a good thing to give them, too. It'll put good bacteria in their systems.

All 3 does are together and share 1 1/2 qts am and pm. I see a problem with the 2 boer does push the togg out of the way the boers have horns and the togg does not and she is pretty timed.

I am gonna make a goat stand real soon.

I did a bunch of work out in their pen today and put the togg on a collar and lead to eat all the weeds she wanted for a few hours by herself. The 2 boers were in a different pen.

I'm sure she enjoyed that. You may want to create another feeding area for her so you know there's a place the boers can eat and a place for the togg to eat.

I don't know if they are pregnant or not. I want to do a pregnancy test since I just bought them so I know if they are or not. One of the boer just had her baby taken off her when she got her.....I am not gonna keep milking her.

Were they exposed to a buck? If so, a pregnancy test might not be a bad thing so you are certain. Either that or you just wait and see - sometime between now and ~155 days from when you got them they may or may not kid. If they don't, they weren't pregnant!
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She has a skin issue the owner said from a bad case of lice or like. Her hair is missing on her back in a big area and flaky. I got some spray for them to keep the bugs away. Permethrin concentrated. Wow is it ever strong I love this stuff....you can use it on almost everything and a wide variety of insects. I put 1/16 about in 32 ounces of water and it is still strong smelling. Not sure if this will clear up the flaky skin and let the hair grow back but I will use it to keep the bugs away anyways. Do you know what can help this?

I've never used the Permetherin but I've heard good things about it. It won't clear up the flaky skin. What you can do is give them calf manna and BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) and also add some vitamin E to their water. There's also a feed product from Blue Seal called Sunshine mix. It's expensive but it does work.

She does keep peeing over and over seems really frequent same with the togg.....do you know why they keep doing that? I was thinking maybe in heat but I have no idea? Could it be a bladder infection?

Some goats just pee a lot. If you see blood in the urine, that's when you should worry.

No they don't have salt or minerals......I will be getting something like that not really sure what to get though.....I was told at the feed store by someone that had goats to just get a trace mineral block but I have not yet. Also I am going to get some bosee from the vet for them. We have a lack of natural selenium here.

Everyone is different and everyone will tell you to do it their way. I won't - I'll just tell you what I do. I give loose minerals that I buy from TSC. It's made by Manna Pro and is literally called "Goat Minerals". Mineral blocks are fine, too, I sometimes put one out just because the goats like the molasses in it. But they're more expensive than the loose stuff and also make a bigger mess so I've decided to put the loose out each day and offer it free choice to them. If they crave minerals, it's there and if they don't they just don't eat it.

I wouldn't really give a salt block. They might favor that over loose minerals or a mineral block and all the salt really does is cause them to drink more. Getting BoSe is a good thing to do. You may want to inquire about giving a copper bolus - that also helps with getting their coats in good condition.​
 
The 3 year old boer the older of the 2 boers has ink stamped on her rump so I know a buck tried. The lady I got them from only had this older boer 1-2 months.

The owner I got them from said her buck had access to them. She can never tell when the younger boer is in heat. She is pretty sure the togg went into heat 2 times this spring. None of them look pregnant to me but maybe too early.

I want to test the buck and togg for CAE and all for CL so I will ask for the pregnancy test to be done then too. I have the needle kit to do it. I ordered that from biotracking. I am just gonna find someone to help me the first time.

I just tied the younger boer that has skin issues to eat some weeds but good weight. She is eating alot of stuff out there. I think she maybe pregnant by the looks of her....she always has twins. She is 2. The lady I got them from has always had this boer. She is small like short but nice looking and her babies are sure nice looking.

The other two maybe only have singles? I know the togg had a baby in december last year and it died. She had it in the snow and dead when the owner found it. She says she did not even know she was pregnant.

The togg did not seem to eat that much when I tied her up yesterday not going crazy like the boer today anyways.

When they pee it actually does seem like they have to go enough of an amount to be going anyways. It just seems a bit often to me. I have not seen blood but not really looking and probably hard to see.

I will see what I can find at our feed store. I am pretty sure they said they had loose minerals too.

Thank you for all the help.
 

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