Look at my new babies..........

[texaschickmama]

These are our first goats ever. They are the cutest, sweetest little boys. They follow us like dogs around the pasture. The brown one is about 4 wks and the others are 2 wks. So much fun.

Aren't they cute. Oh yeah, they were disbudded and banded and had a shots before they came to their new home.

 

[Screebert]

Cute! Will they be pets? Obviously you're not gonna milk them.

 

[texaschickmama]

Well, they are pets right now. Later they will be our brush cleaners in the back 10 acres, then maybe they will be BBQ. BUT I don't know yet. They sure are sweet right now, though. They run in the pasture after us like little puppies.

 

[helmstead]

They are so so cute!

Just a warning - they were wethered WAY too early! You're going to have to be VERY careful about what you feed them to avoid UC. You need to go ahead and order some ammonium choloride and begin adding that to their diet. Avoid grain altogether (ie ignore my post on your other post).

 

[texaschickmama]

Oh no, what is ammonium chloride do for them? Can I get at any feed store? Is it powder that is added to food? Now, I'm worried. When are they supposed to be wethered. She should have known this because she raises goats. Oh, no.

 

[helmstead]

No need to panic. Most large breed wethers don't have to live long...so the breeders don't worry about UC.

What happens in an normal, intact male goat is his urethra widens as his testicles mature. If you wether early, this widening doesn't get to take place and they will have a narrower urethra.

UC (urinary calculi) is when the phosporus and calcium ratio is off in the goat and the urine forms crystals. In a narrow urethra, this spells disaster...whereas the longer you wait to wether, the more margin for error you have.

Ammonium chloride is an acidifier. You can order it through caprine supplies and also get it from vets (we get ours from our vet). Sometimes it is in tablet form. You just powder it and add it to the diet. Some feeds also contain AC - such as Purina Show Goat. The acidifier helps to break up the crystals or prevent them altogether.

The biggest things to avoid are sweet feeds and overfeeding (fat goats). With careful prevention, you should be fine.

We lost a 4 month old buckling (not even wethered) to UC when we were just getting started with goats. We were feeding sweet goat feed at the time with alfalfa hay and the Ca/Ph levels were way off. Even with huge doses of AC and a pizzle trim, we were unable to save him...so we're scared to death of UC now and do all we can to avoid seeing it again.

 

[texaschickmama]

Wow, thanks for the great info, Kate. I will try to get some AC from my vet. The feed I have is Purina Goat Chow, I will look and see if it contains AC. Thanks again. I would hate to lose one of these sweet little things, we are already attached to them, little buggars!!!

 

[meant2bemommie]

Way cute. That is adorable that they follow you like puppies!

 

[Chatychick]

Nice Nubian/Alpine cross babies and yes I agree with Kate about the banding...steer clear of the sweet feed... If at all possible dont feed them grain at all just basically hay. also you can get the ammonium chloride at www.thegoatstore.com that is a goat supply and its Hoeggers...you will get I thinks its a 1 or 2 lb bag...I feed it to my bucks when they get grain and you can also add it to their water too. UC is bad and sometimes there isnt anything you can do to fix it. and then sometimes if caught soon enough you can .
Wethers should be done when they are 8 wks or older to help with the growth of the urethra. The lady did it way to young. She should of known better. Good luck

 

[hazelton farms]

Aww...super cuties!!


Does that whethering too early thing apply to lambs too Mitzy, do ya know? We were going to do ours at 2 weeks. What's a good age to be able to do this and still do it by banding them?

Stacy