New goat ???s

[gritsar]

Well, my SO's DD finally brought the goat to me on Saturday, but it was late and since I have to work all day Sunday, I've only really gotten to know him this morning. As I expected (considering the source) he's not in the greatest condition and I intend to rectify that as quickly as possible.

I have poured over fiasco farm's site re-acquainting myself with goats since it's been years since I had one; but their site is mainly geared to dairy goats (as was my long ago buck) and I have a few ??s about this tiny little nigerian dwarf.

First off, his hooves need trimming and we've got that covered. His coat is also in awful shape. I'll get a good goat shampoo in town tomorrow, but can I add anything to combat the dryness?

I've determined that he's not fat, but how do I feed to keep him in good form? How much and of what? Fiasco's site recommended what is basically horse sweet feed? His browsing will be confined to the (large) yard and garden area for now and most everything is winter dead. I already bought some MannaPro licorice flavored goat treat, but am only giving him a hand full a day. She only gave him what amounts to goat pellets and what he could browse in her yard.

Lastly, worming? I saw goat wormer at Atwoods and will get some tomorrow. I'm sure he's never been wormed (at least while DD had him

). How often will I need to?

I'm gonna let the vet handle the neutering and any shots that he needs. Beyond that, he's adorable and will fit in nicely here. I'm letting him be loose in the yard as much as possible (he's only ever been staked out before). And oh yeah, his name is Billy *ugh* but unfortunately he already knows it.

Any answers/advice would be welcome.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

I would get him a dairy goat grain with copper in it and not feed him too much of it at all, you have to be careful with whethers and too much grain as they tend to get UTIs. You just want him to get enough for the minerals. Really you could just feed him a good timothy hay and offer free choice minerals. I also like to give Alfalfa cubes as treats. They love them and it's a good source for added calcium. His dry coat is most likely due to lack of copper, I have seen the difference difference in my goats compared to goats who don't get any in their diet.

Some people worm year round but I only worm in warmer months when there is actually green around. So I worm in April, June, September and lastly in November for good measure. I would worm him every 3 months and rotate between different wormers.

Enjoy your new goat and don't forget pictures!

 

[helmstead]

Black Oil Sunflower seeds will help tremendously with the dryness and adding weight. Shell and all. You can get them cheaply at Wal Mart and mix them into your goat feed. Also offer a loose goat mineral. To help him get into condition, I'd feed him alfalfa hay/pellets, too. They should always have a good quality grass hay (fescue, timothy or bermuda) available.

I would say, for now, give him one cup of goat feed plus 1/4 cup of BOSS (the sunflower seed) twice a day. Once he's up to weight, back it off - and once he's wethered you should probably take him off grain all together and keep him on hay and alfalfa pellets.

NO HORSE FEED! It's calcium to phosporus leves are totally wrong for goats and will lead to UC (not UTIs).

We deworm with a pour on Ivermec intended for cattle. It's a lot easier to use because it's just like putting frontline on your cat or dog - no drenching, no worrying if they like how the pellets taste and eat enough. We do it quarterly all year long.

 

[ksacres]

If he's destined to be just a wether, he doesn't need any grain. A mature goat that isn't producing is easily kept in good condition on just quality hay. Hay or some kind of roughage is very important for keeping the rumen in shape.

 

[catdance62]

YOu can mix sunflower seeds in with the grain for a shiny coat. We have 15 goats and buy feed in bulk at the feed store and then mix the seed in at this ratio--4 scoops feed to 1 scoop sunflower seeds.
Worming: check the goats lower eyelids. If they are not a deep healthy pink, worm him. Clear wormer for most worms except tape worms. For tape worms (which you can probably actually see in his poop if he has them) use a white wormer. A lot of people are going with herbal wormers because in some areas of the country the worms are getting resistant to chemical wormers. The disadvantage of herbal wormers is that you have mix it in their feed once a week, and make sure it is the right amount.
It is ok to give some grain, but like was mentioned before, not too much. Lots of fresh hay is really important.

 

[hooligan]

Gritsar, you can get a 50lb bag of BOSS at your local co=op for less than Walmart...should be about $13.
If you need somthing later on you can't get there and I can get it here just let me know and I can bring it when I pick up my chick

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Many thanks to y'all for the great advice.
What's the difference between loose goat minerals and a mineral block? I already bought him a berry flavored mineral block labeled for goats when I was at Atwoods last week. He seems unsure of what to do with it, but I assumed it was because he's probably never had one before.

Also, the hay. How much do I put out for him at a time? Can you give me an estimate? I'll get some timothy hay when I go back to Atwoods tomorrow. He'll need less when there's plenty to browse on in the spring I assume?

Hooligan, I appreciate the offer, but I do have to go to M-town tomorrow anyhow and planned to stop at Atwoods while I'm there. I see by their ad that they have black oil sunflower seed for 49 cents per pound, which sounds reasonable to me.

'k, so tomorrow I get: a good quality grain that has copper in it to replace the generic junk he's eating now, plus timothy hay plus the sunflower seeds. Am I forgetting anything?

Hooligan - the reason I'm making a 2nd trip to M-town in less than a week? I didn't buy my contacts, thought my last pair would last me, and then I went and tore one in half!

 

[KingsCalls]

I don't have any goats..........

but, I'm wanting some fainting goats. Mostly this breed because I've been told they can't jump fences!

 

[Pinenot]

Our Pygmy's have never jumped our 4 foot fence. They're good pets! We feed Purina show goat pellets. One cup per goat. We feed grass hay. We have goat meneral. I vaccinate once a year for over eating disease and tetnus. One shot in the skin of the neck, pinched up. I worm them with Safeguard and Ivermectin. I do one then wait 6 weeks and do the other. I dust them every month with Seven garden dust for any lice. They get any bad veg out of the garden and they are fat and happy goats

We also have a balance beam and rock piles to climb on to keep them happy.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Our yard fence is made up of 4 ft. high stock panels, as is the future garden/chicken/goat area. Since Billy is almost full grown and only comes up to my knees (I'm 5'7") I can't imagine him jumping the fence unless he finds something to stand on first. I wouldn't want pictures of this to show up anywhere, but I had a blast today skipping...at 45 years old...through the yard with Billy hot on my tail, him kicking up his heels and almost doing back flips he was so happy.