Lets talk about goats!

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Sadly I do not think I can get goats. My dreams are dashed.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Just look what they did to my baby!!



I visited today and he is MUCh improved, no more skin and bones! Lice are gone and he is due tomorrow for his next worming injection! And a hoof trim!

Awww! I love that!

 

[Megan Amber]

Sadly I do not think I can get goats. My dreams are dashed.

That sucks, but I know how you feel...I was so there when I couldn't get any... Maybe one day!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Quote: Thanks.

 

[bantams4life]

Does anyone know if there is some kind of special milk I have to feed our baby goats. There is one that is only a new born and the other is two days old,their orphans. Please help

 

[cestial225]

I believe I have seen goat milk replacer at the tractor supply company

 

[mlongworth]

Does anyone know if there is some kind of special milk I have to feed our baby goats. There is one that is only a new born and the other is two days old,their orphans. Please help

They sell goat milk replacer at tsc, and most other farm stores. For that young of kids they really need colostrum but if mom isnt available and you dont have any extra frozen they might sell something extra but im not sure.

 

[bantams4life]

Thanks I will check next time I'm there

 

[cassie]

Does anyone know if there is some kind of special milk I have to feed our baby goats. There is one that is only a new born and the other is two days old,their orphans. Please help

I feel like a broken record. If you have just a couple kids to feed, you are a LOT better off to just feed them plain old cow milk from the store than any replacer. The only reason to ever feed milk replacer to kids is for econonomic reasons, not because it is better for them. Milk replacer is usually cheaper than milk. However, with the high priced replacers formulated for kids, that isn't true either. Bear in mind that kids can and do blow up and die when fed replacer, and that is true even with the expensive kid replacers. Some kids can tolerate milk replacer and some can't, and there is no way to tell which is which. They can bloat at any time and they do it without warning, although usually it happens within a half hour or so after feeding. When I had my dairy, on the occasions I had to feed replacer, I fed the kids first before doing other chores so if any were going to bloat they would do so before I left the barn. I kept a supply of Gas X in the barn to treat bloat. It works better than anything else. By the way, I never saw any difference in the incidence of bloat between a good calf replacer and the special kid replacers. The calf replacers were a lot cheaper. The calf replacer we fed had 20% fat and 20% protein and was made of all milk products with no soy. You can also cut the incidence of bloat a lot by mixing the replacer half and half with milk.

That said, if you have just a couple kids, feed milk. There is a special formula a goat breeder came up with that works very well for kids, especially mini goats and Boer kids. You take a gallon jug of whole cow milk from the store. Pour off about a quart. Add to the jug one can of evaporated milk and one cup of buttermilk. Shake it up a bit and then fill the jug back up with some of the milk you poured off. Kids thrive on this.

Your kids need to be vaccinated for tetanus and clostridium perfingens ASAP. You can find the vaccine at most feed stores and livestock supply outlets. Look for a vaccine that has both. Sometimes it it called CD/T.

 

[Megan Amber]

So this question may have been asked already, but s I am sick today and to lazy to scroll backwards I shall ask it again! When i get goats I want to try and avoid feeding commercial concentrate. So what would I grow to replace and how much of what I grow would I need to feed, example, I read a lot about people saying they grow pumpkins to store through the winter for their goat feed, but how many/much pumpkin would I need to feed daily in order to achieve my goal?