Marleys Story =(

[jackrooster]

I rescued this little black Nigerian dose(Marley) last september. I was looking for another goat for my pygmy(Daisy Mae) because she was lonely.
She was pretty skinny with this huge belly(from the worms) with absolutly no fat on her body, and right after we loaded her up to take her home, the owner turns and say oh by the way she is possible pregnant. Now i only took in this goat because i felt bad for her no goat should live they way she was living, her and 3 other goats her crammed into this tiny shed no food no water wet black and moldy hay for there bedding. I wouldn't even call it hay anymore more, it was more like desinagrating hay with poop and goat urine all mixed together. Unfortunetly i had to leave the other 3 behind=(..... Now i didn't want to take on a possibly pregnant goat that is very unhealthy. Buut i thought if she is going to have a baby, she will have a better chance having it if i keep her. So i did research on goat birthing and everything that can happen while the dose is birthing. Now i was just praying she would no be pregnant. Her utter was pretty full at the time buut at the crazy ladys house she had a kid who was the size of her that was still suckling. So after a while after i had wormed her and she got desent food her her stoach started to go down and by now we no she is not pregnant!
Marley had gotten SOO much better since then and her and daisy get along great! But my real quetion is she isn't gaining weight as fast as i thought she would be. since we got her in september she has never been locked in her stall so she is alway out in the pasture eating. She get a half scoop of grain a day and when winter came she has free choice of hay and a half scoop of grain. They hay we feed is very rich and my pygmy is pretty fat and Marley has gained some weight but not as much as i thought?? If goats have been not been fed properly is it hard for them to gain weight???

 

[Skyesrocket]

Marley is a lucky little doe to have you take her out of that situation! I'm not sure where you are but if it is cold there like it is here that could be one reason she is slow to gain weight.
A pygmy is a meat goat and they gain weight and can get overweight pretty quick. A nigerian is a milk goat and even in perfect health shouldn't have the same barrel shaped body as a pygmy. A picture would be helpful. Or, look at pictures online of meat goats and then dairy goats. You will see that dairy goats naturally look leaner.
Good Luck to you and Marley!

 

[cassie]

I would have her checked for Johnes and CAE.

 

[cmjust0]

If goats have been not been fed properly is it hard for them to gain weight???

Well.....yes, and no.

There are certain things that can happen to a goat early in its life that may lead to it being a poor-doer its whole life. For instance, if a goat develops coccidiosis as a youngster and is left untreated, it can permanently damage the GI and lead to life-long nutrient absorption issues.. Same thing goes with acidosis.. Same thing with bacterial gut infections, including clostridials.. I can even see how a heavy, persistent worm load left untreated could permanently damage the GI and lead to the same problems, and I know for a fact that an untreated heavy worm load alters the pH in the gut and leads to malabsorption. That's the 'yes' part...yes, there are things that can happen early which can make it hard for a goat to gain weight.

The 'no' part is that a couple of the above don't necessarily have so much do with with proper feeding as proper husbandry in general. Raising kids on wet, feces covered bedding is just asking for coccidiosis, bacterial gut infections (e.coli, for instance), etc.. Not vaccinating with C/D-T and raising a kid in a filthy environment invites enterotoxemia.. Feeding shell or cracked corn -- as many folks do to save money on feed -- can bring on rumenal acidosis.. There really are any number of things you can do to screw up a goat from the word go which will leave it screwed up forever.

Thing is...none of that may have anything to do with why this particular goat isn't gaining quickly. Some goats put on weight really quickly, while others....well, it seems like you can shovel some goats grain all day long and they just flat out refuse to gain an ounce.

What I'd say is that if her worm load has been effectively and verifiably knocked down to either zero or at least a manageable level, and if she's eating/drinking/pooping normally, not running a temp or acting 'off,' if her coat's slick and shiny, and she's acting otherwise like a normal goat....I'd just keep at her. If she were mine, I might actually try adding some black oil sunflower seeds to her diet.. They're not something I've ever used before, so I can't sit here and say "They're grrrrrRRREAT!" but they're something I've read a lot about and have decided that I'd use on a doe (...probably not a buck, but a doe, yes...) in a heartbeat if I needed one to gain and I wanted to slick her coat up. They contain a whole bunch of fat, and it sounds like fat's probably something she could use right now in addition to protein.

Hope that helps..​

 

[cmjust0]

Something else I failed to mention...mineral.

Mineral deficiency can manifest in many, many different ways, and just being an overall poor-doer is certainly one of those ways. Mineral deficiency is also something that doesn't happen overnight, and can't be cured overnight. If I came into a doe that had previously had a really heavy worm burden and was probably also mineral deficient, though, I'd hit her with a product called Red Cell at a dosage of 15ml/day for 7 straight days.. Red Cell is sorta like 'liquid mineral,' in a way....contains copper, selenium, and provides iron which helps a bunch with anemia.. A wormy goat will almost certainly suffer from anemia, and I doubt seriously that a goat sleeping on moldy, slimy wet bedding had high quality, palatable, free-choice mineral at its disposal.

That brings me to the next question...are you offering free-choice loose mineral now, and if so, what kind?

I ask because, if you're not, that could also help to explain why she's not gaining for you.