Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: loosing weigt  (Read 2335 times)

poppy2012

  • Joined Mar 2012
loosing weigt
« on: September 06, 2012, 09:37:00 pm »
hi there, i was just wandering if im being totally paranoid, but for a bout a week or so our mum Pip seems to have slowed down a little.
 Shes 4 years old, has one kid still sucking, i was milking but then driend her off as we had too much on. no mastitis, her milk did taste a little more sourish than the usual goats milk when milking. i drenched her, and wormed about a month an a half ago. she has concentrates mixed with adam hensons minerals and rolled oats in morning and willow branches every now and again, plus some srappy vegetables. but lately she seems to started to be a little more dopey and look a little quiet and skinnier than ive ever seen her, you run your fingers over her spine and its all bone , i dont know if this is what she should be like and that the heat is slowing her down.
 she just seems a little off, is there anything i should look out for that might relate to the way her milk tatsted and this kind of behaviour?? shes eating and drinking fine, fresh water twice a day plenty of fresh hay and no coughing, she had bumps on her udder, which i have cream for, and seem to be clearing ....any adive, my instincts say try and fatten her up a bit before breeding again, as i would like to see if her milk comes nicer next year, but i want to make sure shes 100% healthy. thanks for your help

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: loosing weigt
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2012, 09:29:21 am »
I would be worried if my goat would visibly loose weight at this stage - but I would take the kid(s) off her and possibly stop milking her. I wouldn't put mine in kid if they had twins/triplets this spring, but would milk them through the winter into next summer and by then mine do look quite well.
If you also had ongoing problems with the taste of the milk - maybe its time to just get her bloods checked out? Is she anaemic by any chance (pale membranes/inside eyelids and/or gums). loose droppings? What's the coat like ? (a heavy worm burden will make their coat quite rough).
Just giving her lots more concentrate will not necessarily put weight on her, but I would feed lots and lors of branches (while they still have their leaves on), try and get really good hay or also some readigrass. Mine also love haylage (horsehage), but it is only for a few as it is quite expensive.
I also used a probiotic powder on my GG just before kidding this spring (she has had really bad pregnancy toxaemia last year) to maintian her appetite - not sure it worked, but she ate right to the kidding this year.
Have your goats been CAE and/or Johnes tested?

wytsend

  • Joined Oct 2010
  • Okehampton
Re: loosing weigt
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2012, 03:47:44 pm »
What did you use to worm her ?   Goats are resistant to some wormers and therfore it might not have worked.
Adam Henson minerals are good but don't contain the high levels of minerals that some goats need.  Don't forget if your ground is deficient....most is...then your hay etc will also be deficient in trace elements/minerals.   The sour taste to the milk coud be cobalt deficiency...very common.....  what concentrates are you feeding ?      Have you tried calf mix/dairy nuts........goats do very well on this.

poppy2012

  • Joined Mar 2012
Re: loosing weigt
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2012, 09:31:11 pm »
thank you for your help =  i think that i will use a different wormer, we use the same one as with the sheep, its just the boy sucking her at the moment so i have seperated them at night time so that she gets rest. I think i will try dairy nuts, a good idea, i just wasnt sure if they wilkll be ok with this. she isnt cae tested but i think i will do this...maybe its just because before she kidded she was 3 years old and never kidded before so was probably on the fat side!
she has a smallholder block mineral lick too so was hoping that would help! more green leaves it is :)

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: loosing weigt
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2012, 09:38:44 pm »
Start slowly on the dairy nuts, mine get 18% protein ones from Carrs Billington, but the GGs are less than keen on them. It is probably just a matter of old goat new tricks rather than a breed thing....
If she needs perking up you could also try and see if the vet can give you a multivitamin/Vitamin B12 injection. A general mineral boosting drench would also be beneficial.
If the kid is over 4 months s/he is probably ready to be weaned entirely, but that may be difficult if they share a paddock during the day.
 

wytsend

  • Joined Oct 2010
  • Okehampton
Re: loosing weigt
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2012, 08:18:01 am »
I would use an Ivermectin based wormer  at 1.5 times the rate of the sheep dose.   Goats need the same amount of copper as a cow..............as well as their metabolic rate being 3 times faster than a cow !!!!   So from this you can see feeding as for sheep may not be right !!
Your girl probably needs as much as 2.5kg a day of hard feed....particularly now as the feed value of grass is going down fast.......mostly amusement value !

 

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