Baby Goat Silk Help I am New to goats

[Thenewgoat]

I have a 5 week old goat and a 3 week old goat someone gave to me they had a little cough when i got them found out they did not get to nurse mom she had no milk. So they put them on cows milk. I gave colostrum supplement and electrolytes. The cough got better for a few days almost went away now it is back a worse is is a real congested sound and choking sound. I have not taken a temp. All i have is penicillin in an injection form can I use this for them. I am very worried about them the older one is worse. They are Spanish/alpine cross and weight probable 10-15 lbs. I wont have money to take them to the vet for almost a week.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, sorry your goaties aren't well.

I personally wouldn't give penicillin since you don't know what you are treating and it could be completely ineffective.

I haven't had to treat for that issue with my goats yet. Sorry I can't be more help.

Is it possible your vet might see one of them with arrangements to pay later?

Hoping for a quick recovery.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Are you still bottle feeding them? Hopefully so as they aren't ready to be weaned yet. I have great luck using a good quality milk replacer made for goats out of goat milk.

Sometimes when kids are bottle fed they inhale some milk and can get pneumonia. I believe the dosage rate is 1cc for 100 pounds. We give kids 1-2 cc once a day until all symptoms disappear plus 3 days. We give it in the leg muscle, but people on this site say they give it under the skin which I haven't tried yet.

Be careful changing feed types and amounts with goats, especially kids as they can die pretty quickly from feed related problems. Always change things slowly and follow directions on milk replacer.

 

[Thenewgoat]

How long do i need to bottle feed I know i am just at the start of it but how old should they be when i start weaning I gave Penicillin today SQ as when i got them they were very skinny and now are just fating up. They were feeding only 6oz 4 times a day and i feed where they will eat which is twice that most days he did not eat for the first couple days maybe 6oz for the first 3 days i had them (he is the oldest) and now he eats around 12oz 4 times day with hay and sweet feed only a week later. I would really like it if you would educate me on the journey I have taken on so I can have a couple of nice healthy couple of babies.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's a lot of milk. You want to feed enough, but also leave some room to encourage them to eat hay as soon as possible. Most will start eating some hay at 4-6 weeks.

I wean between 8-12 weeks depending on how they are doing and how much hay they are eating. I only give small handfuls of any rations or sweet feed, hay should be the main part of their diet, grass if it's warmer.

Up to 4 weeks of age I shoot for 8-10 ounces 3 times a day. After 4 weeks I go to twice a day and slowly increase the amount in the bottles to about 16 ounces, I also begin to follow up with a few ounces of water after the replacer.

At 8-9 weeks I go down to one bottle, lowering the amount of replacer, and raising the water amount. Eventually they get about 12-16 ounces of just water and than I just quit one day.

There are many ways to feed, everyone does something different. If your kids get loose stools back off on replacer or milk until they firm up. If the bloat I always use baking soda mixed in some water and I make them drink it. Bloat will happen if you change things too suddenly. I've only had one goat kid start to bloat and it was because I increased his amounts too fast.

Always have good quality soft grass hay available, second or third crop is best because it's more tender and soft. Getting them to eat hay early helps to develop their rumen early which is important for a long healthy life.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

When I got my goats they were 8 weeks old, still nursing but on pasture with mama.

Knowing nothing, I got them some grain and they quickly had scours. Topped off by new type of pasture and the stress of the move, I'm sure. I fast learned hay was the key. Started out with grassy alfalfa as advised, still seemed too rich. Got some grass hay and they practically refuse to eat the grassy alfalfa any more. It's true it is much softer. Didn't know second and third cuttings were even nicer.

I always have loose goat minerals available as well as plain baking soda. Sometimes they are crazy about both, and either or... other times they don't touch either for long periods of time. I presume the milk replacer has the minerals already, so just mentioning it for the near future.

I can't help but wonder how do their stools look? Bottle babies are quite a task, bet they are cute as heck! And loud?

 

[cassie]

I have a 5 week old goat and a 3 week old goat someone gave to me they had a little cough when i got them found out they did not get to nurse mom she had no milk. So they put them on cows milk. I gave colostrum supplement and electrolytes. The cough got better for a few days almost went away now it is back a worse is is a real congested sound and choking sound. I have not taken a temp. All i have is penicillin in an injection form can I use this for them. I am very worried about them the older one is worse. They are Spanish/alpine cross and weight probable 10-15 lbs. I wont have money to take them to the vet for almost a week.

Everybody will tell you something different. This is my two cent's worth. There is nothing wrong with feeding the kids cow milk. I have raised literally hundreds of kids on cow milk. The coughing may be pneumonia or it may be nothing. Goats are very susceptible to pneumonia. How are they acting? Are they active? Are they eating well? Are their ears up and alert or are they droopy? If the kids act fine they probably are. You need to take their temperature. If it is elevated, and the kids act sick you need to treat them. Since you have penicillin, go ahead and use it if you need to medicate them. Inject it under the skin rather than in the muscle. The vets at UC Davis told me to give injections to goats that way because it is far less likely to hit a blood vessel or injure a nerve. You need to give a lot more penicillin than what the label says. If memory serves, I used to give about 10 cc's to a mature dairy goat and about two or three cc's to a kid.