First picture is a 2 month old doe(doeling?) I got at the Kankakee Ill Chicken swap on sunday. Second is a 3 month old doe i got today. Any suggestions comments more than welcome I did not know much about pygmies before Sunday(still don't). They look ok? The black one is much skinnier than the silver one hopefully I can put a few pounds(well maybe a pound) on the black one. My 7 and 5 yr old daughters absolutely love them...
OK STOP! No one is allowed to post pics of their baby goats anymore until I get mine. JK. I have a few WEEKS left. Cute kid.
They look good... You probably should worm them, you can use horse wormer like ivermectin. Also they like good quality alfalfa hay and goat feed. Enjoy!!!
Congrats! They're very cute, but very thin. Pour the hay to them. Also, treat them with cattle injectable ivermec (ORALLY) per pkg directions (it's by weight)...generally a kid that size gets 1/2 cc. You'll want to do two doses initially to knock the worms out...10 days apart. That should help. Also, ProBios will help get their rumens going - it looks like they're not really rumenating yet. Lastly, get them UTD on CD&T...it will take two boosters of the vaccine 14 days apart. Kids and goats are a great thing! You'll enjoy them too, I know!
UTD? CD&T?? Above my head... How do I know if they are ruminating? They eat grass and alfalfa(couple stems a day, well the leaves of stems) I was going to get ivermec to worm my pigs. Same stuff? you typed injectable but orally...make them swallow the injectable stuff? Remember I am a rookie with goats... Oh they get all the grass they want(still growing) and a big handfull of goat feed. Sufficient?
Well...goats really dont like to eat grass, so if they ARE eating grass, they're hungry. Try hay...alfalfa would be best to get the condition back on them. UTD is 'up to date', C/D & T is overeating and tetanus vaccination, avail from Jeffers for one or from the feed store usually...about $5-12 a bottle for 25 doses. You could also use Covexin 8, altho some goats have reactions to it. If they're ruminating well, they'll look pregnant on the left side...if that side is flat, they're not ruminating well if at all. I don't know if cattle and swine ivermec are the same...but yes, you do the injectable orally by squirting it into the back of their mouths and holding the head upright - it's called drenching. You can buy a drenching gun to help, but I just use a slip luer syringe (without the needle, lol).
I use ivomec injection (ivermectin) for cattle and swine to worm my goats. It is an injectable wormer, but is given orally to goats. Like helmsted said. It's expensive, around $50 a bottle. I hope you have a lot of pigs to worm to make it worth your while to purchase it. It does work well. Your silver pygmy is a silver algouti. She's pretty! The smaller one I'm wondering about. Is that a full blood pygmy? It looks like it could have some alpine in it. If it does, it's build will be more thin than the other goat. Enjoy your goats! They are both cute!!
I have found some injectable ivermec, well generic, for around $30. Only 3 pigs(which iswhy I haven't purchased yet) But if goats can take it too.... Alfalfa... I bale hay on 20 acres.... mostly alfalfa...hay is no problem(other than the rain we get every other day)... Cows bloat on fresh alfalfa, will a goat do the same? Thus should I limit the amount of fresh alfalfa? The black one seems to love it..... Can I fill the bowl of goat food? Or just give them so much every day?(black is awful skinny I can feel ribs, silver has meat on ribs) Grass: I thought I have seen that goats do eat grass? Don't mean to start anything between grass/nongrass goat owners? Right now I have 200 bales of stemmy alfalfa hay(it got rained on twice) I got it up dry(no mold) should I feed them alfalfa stems(hay) along with the goat food? Black one: Mixed pygmy so I was told, but I was also told it has fainting goat in it, I haven't seen it act weird yet though...Unfortunately I don't know who I bought it from. Silver one I can contact he prior owner... thanks for all your answers...
