Baby Goat

[newgoatmama]

I just bought 2 pygmy goats, one is 3 weeks old the other is 2 weeks, the 2 week old has started with yellow stools and is not active at all. She will stand in one spot for a while, then start slowly walking. I have them on a milk replacement and feed them 4 times a day 4 oz. Not sure what is going on.

 

[calpal212]

Try giving a little hay for them to nibble on and try to mix in a little baking soda with whatever you feed them, this will help with an upset stomach and bloat

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Make sure you mix the replacer exactly as the directions call for, it's important, make it warm, I would probably go down to three times a day and slowly increase the amount fed to 6 ounces. Is your replacer made for goats? Is it what they were getting before? It's important not to make sudden changes to the diet, goats can quickly die from changes.

 

[calpal212]

Sometimes even whole milk is better than milk replacer

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sometimes even whole milk is better than milk replacer

always buy the best and follow directions, otherwise I would agree with you.

 

[calpal212]

Have they been tested for parasites?

 

[cassie]

Some kids do just fine on replacer and some cannot tolerate the stuff. I do not know why. Here is a formula concocted by a breeder of Pygmies or Boers, or maybe both. Boers and pygmies produce a richer milk than dairy goats and this formula takes that into consideration. Anyway, here it is. You take a gallon jug of regular whole milk from the store. Pour off about a quart. Add a can of evaporated milk and a cup of buttermilk to the jug and shake it up. Add enough of the milk you poured off back into the jug to fill it up. Kids thrive on this. Something else you might find helpful is some live acidopholis culture. It helps in the digestion of milk. It replenishes the good bacteria in the gut and this is important especially if a kid has been on antibiotics. I think it is available in both powdered and liquid form. I used to get the liquid form and I found it in the refrigerated case in the health food department of the grocery store. You should be able to find it at any health food store and it is not very expensive. A neighbor of mine who has a large dairy and who feeds replacer to her kids for economic reasons told me the kids seemed to do much better on the replacer if she mixed it half and half with milk. Your kid that is just standing there is probably dehydrated and needs some electrolytes. You can find electrolytes for calves at the feed store or maybe from your vet. Do not feed the milk and electrolytes at the same time. My vet told me to feed them about two hours apart.

 

[newgoatmama]

Yes, it is a goat milk replacer and is the same brand the breeder was using. I called the breeder and she said that since I picked up my two, the rest of her kids were doing the same thing. I went yesterday and got a probiotic to add to their milk and I also switched them to whole cows milk. Most of everything I have read state that the milk replacer is not the best choice, but whole cow's milk is must better for them. They seemed to be better yesterday and was playing and jumping around, but this morning when I went out to feed them, one acts sick and she did not want to eat. Took 30 minutes for her to take 4 oz.

 

[newgoatmama]

Thank you so much, I did put them on whole milk yesterday and got a dewormer and electrolytes also some probiotics. I have not given the electrolytes yet today, but will about mid-morning. Just fed them.

 

[Stacykins]

Thank you so much, I did put them on whole milk yesterday and got a dewormer and electrolytes also some probiotics. I have not given the electrolytes yet today, but will about mid-morning. Just fed them.

ONLY deworm when it is necessary. Did you send a fecal check to a veterinarian? I am guessing not. Just randomly giving a dewormer with no need is what leads to parasite resistance. Will you send a fecal sample to a vet to assess that it was successful? This needs to be done. Did you deworm according to their precise weight?

By the way, two weeks is too young for any worms to have matured in the gut. Three weeks, getting there. Worms might not have, but coccidia will have reached maturity. Coccidiosis is a killer of kids (and all goats carry and shed coccidia, but the immune system of a healthy adult goat keeps numbers well below a problem level), but it is not killed by a wormer because it isn't a worm. It is a protozoan and requires a different treatment.