Do bucks/goat ever stop eating?

[HorsebackandHappy]

At his age he is still growing. I would not give him much grain either, and I wouldn't give him alfalfa at all. Male goats can get Urinari Calculi (sp maybe?) and he could stop peeing, or have difficulty peeing. Bucks only need grain when they are under weight, typically when in rut.

Your last pics, he is not fat, that was some gas, but I wouldn't be too terribly concerned about it as it was. If he does not have free access to browse and pasture then he needs grass hay all day (NOT alfalfa! too rich). Goats are browsers, they eat a little all day long. If they can't then they will gorge and their tummies get upset.

If you need to give him baking soda, next time make a paste, put it in a syringe (without needle of course) and shoot it in his mouth.

 

[arabianequine]

I thought about that too with the baking soda. That was next making a baking soda and water mix or the drench.

I will be back out there tonight so I will check him out again then. I am sure he will have ate more of his minerals and soda by then too.

He was getting alfalfa but we are out of that now and only have grass. He seems to always have some to eat and he gets tethered to graze like every other day or so.

No grain for like 2 months now.

He is not two yet not till Jan. I think. I would have too look at his papers for sure. I know he is over a year old for sure though.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Baking soda is not a treatment for bloat, but rather for acidosis.

Use plain vegetable oil for bloat

Keeping a small feeder out with baking soda all the time can help PREVENT bloat

I could hear gas and burping

It's when you don't hear those that you have to worry
LOL​

 

[arabianequine]

Seems a bit better then earlier tonight. As far as swelling on that side. We did another walk and push a bit around on his sides and stomach between stops on our walk. When I push on the left side he does not seem to like it very much...like hunches over and pushes his stomach out big on both sides, his rear seems to be trying to poop too. I did see him poop earlier so I don't think he is plugged up is that possible for a goat? I am sure it is but what would you do for that?

Why is the left side of his stomach really hard not the flank area? The right side seems all squishy?

 

[arabianequine]

I know but if I can move it and not let it build up. I would rather get a jump on it. I have canola oil and light olive oil. How much? Just plain by mouth with oral drench tube.

I watch my goats very close and very in tune with their normal, I can tell when something is not right.

 

[cassie]

I have always fed my goats hay free choice. Grain, to the ones that get it, is fed twice a day. I have never known a goat to overeat hay. BTW, Saanens do tend to eat a lot of hay.

 

[cassie]

For bloat, you are far better off to give Gas X and skip the oil altogether. If you accidentally get any oil in the lungs, not hard when drenching a protesting goat, the animal will die of mechanical pneumonia within five days or so. GasX is safe, fast, and very effective. Much more effective than oil. Two things I was never without as long as I had goats was enterotoxemia antitoxin and GasX. Entero and bloat are true emergencies, and when they strike, time is of the essence.

 

[HorsebackandHappy]

Yes, it is possible for a goat to get all plugged up, just like everything else. He may have just been trying to pass gas though.

The left side is where the rumen is, so if it is swollen/bloated then it would be more extended and the skin harder/tighter.

 

[arabianequine]

Quote:
The girls have free choice for sure and he seems to always have something to munch on still from one feeding to the next. He is getting about one horse size flake am and pm. Sometimes I make him finish what is left up so does not go to waste. No grain though.

I may give him a smaller flake when I do feed him.

That is what my horse was getting at one time....seems like a lot for sure.

Gasx? People gasx?

 

[cassie]

Quote:
The girls have free choice for sure and he seems to always have something to munch on still from one feeding to the next. He is getting about one horse size flake am and pm. Sometimes I make him finish what is left up so does not go to waste. No grain though.

I may give him a smaller flake when I do feed him.

That is what my horse was getting at one time....seems like a lot for sure.

Gasx? People gasx?

Yup. People Gas X. A fellow goat dairyman told me about it. She swore by it. I tried it and I found it to be the most effective bloat remedy I had ever used, and that includes the stuff I got from the vet.