Dying baby goat please help

[cassie]

I'm not sure if it's related but a 2 week old needs to eat more than twice a day. More like every 5 hours but they can go 8 hours during the night.

I had a commercial dairy for many years. My kids got fed twice a day and did fine. Every other dairyman I knew fed their kids the same way. The only exceptions were preemies and weak kids. Laurelwood Acres, for many years the largest goat dairy in the country, fed their kids twice a day also. My point is that if you have the time, more frequent feedings may be desirable, but they aren't necessary. Now I am talking about full sized dairy goats here, not mini goats. I don't know if that makes a difference. If the OP is losing kids, it is not because of twice a day feedings.

 

[lomine]

I had a commercial dairy for many years. My kids got fed twice a day and did fine. Every other dairyman I knew fed their kids the same way. The only exceptions were preemies and weak kids. Laurelwood Acres, for many years the largest goat dairy in the country, fed their kids twice a day also. My point is that if you have the time, more frequent feedings may be desirable, but they aren't necessary. Now I am talking about full sized dairy goats here, not mini goats. I don't know if that makes a difference. If the OP is losing kids, it is not because of twice a day feedings.

Did you not also say that you had to deal with bloating and other issues frequently? I'm not experienced enough to say with certainty that there's a correlational relationship but I do wonder if the two things are related. I have only bottle fed a total of 4 times (in the middle of one of them right now), so I won't pretend to be an expert, but because I didn't know anything about it beforehand I did a ton of research. I never once read anywhere that twice a day feeding was recommended. If so many are having intestinal/digestive issues would increasing feeding frequency not be a fairly easy change. It certainly couldn't hurt anything and could potentially be less time consuming than trying to administer treatment or to save a dying kid.

 

[cassie]

Did you not also say that you had to deal with bloating and other issues frequently? I'm not experienced enough to say with certainty that there's a correlational relationship but I do wonder if the two things are related. I have only bottle fed a total of 4 times (in the middle of one of them right now), so I won't pretend to be an expert, but because I didn't know anything about it beforehand I did a ton of research. I never once read anywhere that twice a day feeding was recommended. If so many are having intestinal/digestive issues would increasing feeding frequency not be a fairly easy change. It certainly couldn't hurt anything and could potentially be less time consuming than trying to administer treatment or to save a dying kid.

The only time I had trouble with bloating and other digestive issues in baby kids was when I had to feed milk replacer. This was true whether I fed a calf replacer or one of the replacers made for kids. I occasionally ran into trouble with bloating with kids who were coming down with entero. Since most of the time those kids were weaned, the frequency of bottle feeding was not an issue. I don't know if twice a day feeding is "recommended" or not but it is the usual practice. Of course if you are only raising two or three kids you have the time for frequent feedings. I did feed preeemies and weak kids more often, but everyone else got fed twice a day.

 

[Minnow_88]

Finally have it figured out we have a shallow well sand point and we have nitrates in our water switched wells to our drilled well haven't had a problem since

 

[cassie]

Finally have it figured out we have a shallow well sand point and we have nitrates in our water switched wells to our drilled well haven't had a problem since

That will do it.

 

[bobhoke]

Yes we've been doing that to with the baking soda Its been any age goats that die they curl their head to the side and moan like they're in pain and no matter what we try they don't make it

What are they passing from? Maybe you need a couple necropsies done, or cut them open yourself and look at what’s going on. Get a vet for sure, or read a lot and quick.

 

[ShannonR]

In the livestock feeding and nutrition class I am taking, we discussed water contaminants and minerals not very long ago. Nitrates on water should be under a certain ppm threshold (I can grab my notebook and double check how many ppm but I think nitrates need to be under 100ppm or they become toxic). Water should be tested at least twice per year as it's contents can vary widely with the seasons (rain dilutes minerals and that sort of thing). Sulfate levels in water need to be low as well.

 

[PattyNH]

One thing I did not mention is that goats with entero often have polio. This is because of the upset to the rumen and it doesn't produce the needed B vitamin thiamine. Polio is a thiamine deficiency. You need to get thiamine from the vet. In a pinch massive doses of an over the counter vitamin B complex will help.

Polio causes some truly bizarre symptoms in ruminants. They may fall flat on their sides and be unable to rise. They may throw their head back. They may press their heads against the wall. They may stare into space and appear to be blind. If they do not get the needed thiamine they will die. However, they respond fairly quickly to treatment.

It definitely does sound like polio or even possibly Listeria. You can get a necropsy done by contacting your state vet. Tht will give you a definite answer. Administering vitamin B will treat the polio and, if that isn't what is causing their illness it won't hurt them as they excrete any excess.

Best bet is to get them seen by a vet knowledgeable about goats.

So sorry you are going through this!