Is my baby goat too thin?

[PurpleCArTires]

I am totally new to goats. We just bought 2 boer/alpine doelings and 1 nubian buckling. The doelings are supposed to be 10 weeks, the buckling is supposed to be 9 weeks. (Got the buckling from a different breeder)
We had them for a week. Supposedly they were dewormed and totally weaned.
The girls seems good. They are 21lbs and 29lbs. They dont look too thin and took right to eating the hay and a portion of sweet feed (thats what the breeder had them on, so we are keeping them on it). The smaller had a differnt mother and was a tiny newborn.

The male is another story. He seems very thin. He is only 23lbs, he eats the sweet feed, but wont touch the hay. He has slowly been tasting some of the pasture, and just today he seemed to finally be into eatting more of it (we have had him for 1 week). I am worried i was bamboozled into buying an unweaned kid and now he is super stressed and lacking the nutrients from his mama. The breeder wont answer my texts asking for his actual birthday and information. Apparently he was doe raised so I dont know if he would even take a bottle.

My question is should I just let him be and let him settle in more and maybe he will start to gain? Am I worrying too much since he just got here?

I did deworm him again today (even tho his eyelids looked nice and dark red, and he is full of energy).

I didnt weigh him when I got him home, today is the first day weighing him.

 

[Sheepheart]

Gosh he makes me want to get some more kids. Honestly sounds like he wasn’t fully weened, and looks a bit on the thin side. I wouldn’t start bottle feedings him but try getting him a topper or some other additive for his feed that will add some calories.

also can you post a picture of the feed your feeding and a picture of the guaranteed nutrition

also also, get a bottle of injectable vitamin b complex to keep on hand. Sometimes when goats start eating more their bodies get deficient in vitamin b and they start having problems. First symptom you’ll probably noticed is head pressing.
You can inject the vitamin b into the muscle but you can also give it orally. If you have to use it you may see an increase in appetite.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Gosh he makes me want to get some more kids. Honestly sounds like he wasn’t fully weened, and looks a bit on the thin side. I wouldn’t start bottle feedings him but try getting him a topper or some other additive for his feed that will add some calories.

also can you post a picture of the feed your feeding and a picture of the guaranteed nutrition

also also, get a bottle of injectable vitamin b complex to keep on hand. Sometimes when goats start eating more their bodies get deficient in vitamin b and they start having problems. First symptom you’ll probably noticed is head pressing.
You can inject the vitamin b into the muscle but you can also give it orally. If you have to use it you may see an increase in appetite.

Ill get the feed info when I get home (i belive its purina goat sweet feed... But ill double check). They get about 3/4 cup each in the morning and 3/4 cup at night. The rest of the time they get alfalfa/grass mix hay free choice and have been outside in their pasture during the day.
I also gave them a little DE on their nighttime sweet feed. And ACV in one bucket of water. The other bucket is just plain so they can choose. They get free choice loose minerals (manna pro brand) and free choice baking soda.

I saw a topper from manna pro, but it said dont mix with free choice minerals.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

also also, get a bottle of injectable vitamin b complex to keep on hand. Sometimes when goats start eating more their bodies get deficient in vitamin b and they start having problems. First symptom you’ll probably noticed is head pressing.
You can inject the vitamin b into the muscle but you can also give it orally. If you have to use it you may see an increase in appetite.

By Head Press, what do you mean? (Lol sorry, still learning the lingo). Can I use vitimin b caps for people?

 

[Sheepheart]

Ill get the feed info when I get home (i belive its purina goat sweet feed... But ill double check). They get about 3/4 cup each in the morning and 3/4 cup at night. The rest of the time they get alfalfa/grass mix hay free choice and have been outside in their pasture during the day.
I also gave them a little DE on their nighttime sweet feed. And ACV in one bucket of water. The other bucket is just plain so they can choose. They get free choice loose minerals (manna pro brand) and free choice baking soda.

I saw a topper from manna pro, but it said dont mix with free choice minerals.

Sounds like they have a pretty good set up! I would weight them at least once a week, maybe the Nubian every four days, write down their weights, so you know how they are doing, should be gaining for quite a while, so if you notice a change you can see if they need wormed again, they have something going on, or they just need a bump in their feed.

I would say if the Nubian doesn’t start gaining with in a week start adding some kind of topper, there is some oil some people add to show boer goats feed if they need to add some weight before show season, I can’t recall what it is but I’ll try to find it for you.
Also keep an eye on the boer crosses. Boer kids don’t do great with high fiber levels, being a cross they will probably be fine. When they start learning to chew their cud they might regurgitate it up their nose instead of into their mouth. They should be able to sneeze it out, or like humans kids suck it back in. If it seems really thick or fiberous, they may need a feed with less fiber or cut back on hay. If it’s to think they may have a problem clearing their nasal passages.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Congrats on becoming a goat owner!

Based on the pictures, the Nubian boy looks normal. Though Nubians are the beefiest of the standard sized dairy breeds, dairy goat breeds by nature are more slender. Think Holstein milk cow vs an Angus or beef breed. Goats are similar. The Boer part of the Boer/Alpine mix are gong to make the girls seem thicker or more muscular, and that may contribute to the thinking the Nubian is thin.

It's not abnormal for any young goat to need some time to adjust to such a big change, even bottle raised kids. Though you might not get an answer to the actual DOB, he looks big enough to be weaned without any major concern as most kids are weaned between 2 and 3 months of age.
Some good resources to have handy are-

Fias Co Farm (Fias Co...2 words)
https://fiascofarm.com/sitemap.htm

I don't know them personally, but they have an excellent site full of good information.
Philosophies on raising goats are different all over the country, as they are with chickens, but the information here is excellent.

Some good books to have on hand-
FFA Guide to Raising Goats
The Backyard Goat - Sue Weaver does a good job of teaching new owners what they need to know.

There are other books out there, and I've read most of them, the above 2, along with Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats (usually found at TSC and book stores) are the ones I always reached for first when I had questions.
https://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guid...+guide+to+raising+goats&qid=1618179298&sr=8-3

I currently don't have goats (recent farm relocation) but I did have a micro goat dairy for 10 years and from time to time had boer/dairy mixes. Welcome to a woonderful new world of adventures!

 

[Sheepheart]

By Head Press, what do you mean? (Lol sorry, still learning the lingo). Can I use vitimin b caps for people?

Not a problem, head pressing is when they will press their head against anything and everything, and will just stand and press. It’s different from head butting. They look like they don’t feel good where when head butting they look like they are having fun.
Some people say you can use the caps, my vet says that they don’t work as effectively as the vitamin b complex. Plus it can be difficult to get them to swallow a pill. The complex you can just shoot it in there mouth back by their cheeks using a needless syringe.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Congrats on becoming a goat owner!

Based on the pictures, the Nubian boy looks normal. Though Nubians are the beefiest of the standard sized dairy breeds, dairy goat breeds by nature are more slender. Think Holstein milk cow vs an Angus or beef breed. Goats are similar. The Boer part of the Boer/Alpine mix are gong to make the girls seem thicker or more muscular, and that may contribute to the thinking the Nubian is thin.

It's not abnormal for any young goat to need some time to adjust to such a big change, even bottle raised kids. Though you might not get an answer to the actual DOB, he looks big enough to be weaned without any major concern as most kids are weaned between 2 and 3 months of age.
Some good resources to have handy are-

Fias Co Farm (Fias Co...2 words)
https://fiascofarm.com/sitemap.htm

I don't know them personally, but they have an excellent site full of good information.
Philosophies on raising goats are different all over the country, as they are with chickens, but the information here is excellent.

Some good books to have on hand-
FFA Guide to Raising Goats
The Backyard Goat - Sue Weaver does a good job of teaching new owners what they need to know.

There are other books out there, and I've read most of them, the above 2, along with Storey's Guide to Raising Dairy Goats (usually found at TSC and book stores) are the ones I always reached for first when I had questions.
https://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guid...+guide+to+raising+goats&qid=1618179298&sr=8-3

I currently don't have goats (recent farm relocation) but I did have a micro goat dairy for 10 years and from time to time had boer/dairy mixes. Welcome to a woonderful new world of adventures!

Thank you very much for the information!!

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Not a problem, head pressing is when they will press their head against anything and everything, and will just stand and press. It’s different from head butting. They look like they don’t feel good where when head butting they look like they are having fun.
Some people say you can use the caps, my vet says that they don’t work as effectively as the vitamin b complex. Plus it can be difficult to get them to swallow a pill. The complex you can just shoot it in there mouth back by their cheeks using a needless syringe.

Ok whew! He isnt doing any of that. He just head butts with the girls playing. He isnt acting sick or slow or anything. He just doesnt seem to want to eat. But like the other poster said, i might be compairing apples to oranges, since the boar/alpines are hogs. As for the feed. Here are some pics

 

[Sheepheart]

Ok whew! He isnt doing any of that. He just head butts with the girls playing. He isnt acting sick or slow or anything. He just doesnt seem to want to eat. But like the other poster said, i might be compairing apples to oranges, since the boar/alpines are hogs. As for the feed. Here are some pics

Yea the boer/alpine will be more solid kids. I think that feed should be fine for him with out a topper once he picks up on eating.