Is anyone doing this?

Key..lol..I know exactly what you mean. I read it and reread it and read it again. I just can't quite get over the hump.

I read where she gives copper by the week. She virtually has no diseases/worm problems.

I have some powdered Vit. C here for humans. But there again. I am not sure how to give it. I want to dissolve it in some water and just drench her..

On other threads I have talked about a doe that had twins born with an iodine deficiency..Ora was that doe. So she is almost prone to be deficient. And she has always been that way. But her mother..who is here also..has not been that way.

Put your laughing bonnets on..

I relate to Ora in that neither one of us uses our food well. We neither one break down or absorb our vitamins and minerals. Example.. and this is odd..I got to feeling poorly..fibromyalgia..down on the couch for basically two straight years..hair turned gray..couldn't stand any chemicals of any sort..whether it be in foods, clothes, laundry products, fragrances..you name it.

Went to an holistic nurse. Ooh my! I do vitamins/minerals. And I don't have to wonder if they change something in my body..I get hair analysis done..OOOh my!

The differences between my first test and my last test floored me. My vitamin and mineral ratios were all screwed up. Somethings were off the charts to high and somethings were not even on the charts..they were so low. But I supplemented..according to the test results..and by golly it changed the make up of my hair analysis. It took a while..and I still technically have fibro..but I can function and have a quality of life. And some of my roots are dark again!

I guess the point I am getting at is..Ora is Sherry in the goat world. I know there is something out there that I could give her to raise her natural immune system up to where she could shrug alot of stuff off.

Sorry that was so long! Can you tell kidding season is upon me and when I get up at one thirty to check on everybody..I can't get back to sleep!

Thanks again Key..hopefully we will both glean some info on how and where and why!

Most breeders who have been doing this awhile have very little illness or disease in their herd. I think stress is alot more of a problem than most folks realize. A goat in a new persons home is going to have lots of change which stresses a goat, not only the move to the new home, but new folks are so much more manipulated to try this or try that secret bullet.

First is where do you live and where does Pat live, if you live in Austrailia perhaps her information is somehow relative? Where do I live? Are you going to be able to listen to someone who lives in the frozen north when you live in the south where we rarely have freezing days? No. Copper is huge for us here, but if you do blindly what I do...or weekly dose with something that isn't needed, you can have just as severe problems. Selenium is a good supplement, the problem is that the defficency and the overdose are the same sypmtoms.

I didn't start with goats via the internet. I feel very very sorry for those of you who do have to do it this way, because how do you discern between good and poor information if you can't see the goats the person has? Local clubs and local mentors are just such an eaiser way to learn basic day to day mangement.

And nobody has xray glasses to see if a goat has worms or copper defficency.

My answer will always be the same, everything in moderation. And if you don't have a breeder near you who tests all this info...you had better be willing to have loss. Herbal wormers, copper bolusing, weekly copper sulfate, you are playing with fire. Having a little bit of information and not the whole picture with blood tests or liver biopsy is just as deadly to your goats as not doing something when you need to.

I would never let a doe have a rest for a year...goats are bred to be pregnant and kid. A doe nursing two kids, even a young one should not be pulled down from nursing two kids, especially two kids. If she had her needs met during this nursing...protein (the alfalfa is great) energy and fat in enough calories for herself to grow being young, and grow out two kids with her high butterfat milk, she should be in excellent flesh when through nursing. I would have a fecal ran on her by someone who can tell you what worms and how many (maybe send her fecal into your lab rather than vet).

Anyone can grow out dry does and unused bucks (heard this before?) but when you have young does kidding, heavy milkers milking for 10 months, does having quads, young does having triplets and heavily used bucks, thats when your lack of skill in managing the best does in your herd, shows up. So what this shows you is that their is a lack somewhere in your management. Either your grain is not good enough or she did not get enough during the end of her pregnancy and early lactation, or your parasite program is not working. Now dry, if fed enough calories, fat and energy so she uses these to grow and not keep warm, she will put on weight, just like us. Just with being dry don't overdo it quickly or you will founder her. She should be bred back if she will. A doe easily can put on weight and be bred if she has an excellent diet. What they can't do is milk and gain weight, unless they are poor milkers. The dry period and the last 50 days of pregnancy are huge especially when they are young and still growing themselves. But letting her stay dry now, and unbred this whole spring and summer means fat deposited in that udder and around her internal organs, it also cost you alot of money she will never recoup. Vicki

__________________
Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

Thank you for answering this Vicki. I feel my doe's problem is doe specific and not herd. By sight the herd is in great flesh. I thought some insight would come when kidding started. It started this morning.

This does four year old triplet daughters all had kids. Eight kids..seven which are does. All kids were up and eating within ten minutes of birth. They are big, strong and great appetites. Moms are still in great flesh, cleaned good, easy births and are eating and drinking like it was just another day. Nothing at all showed up as far as I could see as a deficiency.

This doe that I am having trouble with has always needed extra watching out for it seems. She gives me multiple babies every year..does a great job raising them and the does go on to be great producers. She usually raises kids for three months then goes to the milkstand. She is always the first to dry up. Which..since I am not in it for the milking end of things did not really upset me..but just another one of Ora's peculiar traits.

She had twins one year with what turned out to be iodine deficient goiters. Doc gave her/kids shots and she jumped back. Its just always something with Ora and its like walking a tightrope with her. This year..its her weight. I am puzzled and looking for answers. I feel she is deficient in something again..but I cannot figure it out.

I am small, and I don't mind resting her to get her weight back up before breeding again. The girls get rebred pretty fast here. We are still feeding alfalfa hay and grain to the girls milking and Ora right now. Everyone is still broken up into groups..four together at the most. Everyone has barns, minerals, water etc. The three does that just kidded and their kids are sold, so in two weeks..we will be even smaller. Right now thirteen adult goats are running in groups on twelve acres. I have chickens raised just to go through the barnyard/pastures poop raking.

At the moment..I am steward of an unthrifty doe..and I am really at a loss.

Thanks again.