Thin/Bony goats

ozark_jewels · #21 07/29/07, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

I think I should clarify... I don't think any of the dairy goats posted so far look bad. They're all lovely. It's the pygmies that aren't right.

I knew what you meant, Dona.

I just think much more info is needed before anyone decides those goats are abused. Even if they aren't fat, it does not mean they are abused.

christij · #22 07/29/07, 02:54 PM

Emily after being to your place I don't worry about if the girls are fed no matter the pics b/c I know they are! those girls don't know how good they got it!!! Ohh... are those bottom two Nubians in anyway related to Cassie??

I just want to add my Cassie changes looks depending on the time of day/week you catch a glimpse at her. Now if I could get her udder to look like some of your girls we would be in business!

ozark_jewels · #23 07/29/07, 03:16 PM

Thats my point right there.....you've been here so you know. I think thats the least a person could try to do before reporting. By the way, thank you.

Mulberry and Kenya aren't related to Cassie......but they do look like it, don't they? Mulberry is one of my favorite Nubians and Kenya is here because she is the only daughter of a Nubian I lost a couple years back.....She is sweet once you catch her...but catching her is the problem....dates back to the year I dam-raised.

Bercado · #24 07/29/07, 05:23 PM

Just wanted to agree. Our hounds and dairy cows always had some ribs showing. It was the sign of a productive animal.

AnniesGoats · #25 07/29/07, 08:25 PM

My girls (alpine, nubian and especially saanan), those that have been in milk for 6 or 7 months, are all bony looking (except for one nubian). I sometimes look at them and think, "Man, someone could call in and say I do not take care of them." But I do, and they are spoiled...very well taken care of. Even my boers look thin after twins have nursed on them for 4 or 5 months (and I usually leave the doelings on the dams that long).

I have not looked at the pygmy pics yet. They normally look like barrels on legs (no offense please) regardless of milking out twins.

Thanks for posting these pictures, if nothing else, for the sake of mind for many of us!

sammyd · #26 07/29/07, 08:42 PM

I'm just glad I don't have people driving by and armchair quaterbacking my operation and waitng to call the HS at the drop of a hat. Not that my animals are mistreated in any way, just for the fact as said before..first hand info should be procurred before any action is taken and a lot of people have no idea how animals should really look.

"I've seen pictures of cows/goats in a book and these don't look like those"......

susanne · #27 07/29/07, 08:48 PM

my girls look more like the does in the last set of pictures

very similar.

and i totally agree, without knowing the history from the animals in question and more pictures it is nothing more than hot air. not of my busyness to interfere.

Up North · #28 07/29/07, 09:56 PM

Amen Emily. I thought whoever posted the thread about reporting goats starving had jumped to conclusions without providing all the facts.
For instance, the photo showed the goats standing in an area with short grass.
Maybe that was just a common area that recieved heavy foot traffic, like an area where they were watered or fed daily? How do we know if there is not a gate leading out of that area to another pasture?
How do we know if maybe the owner is supplementing them with hay?
Just saying folks should not jump to conclusions unless they have all the facts.

christij · #29 07/29/07, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

Thats my point right there.....you've been here so you know. I think thats the least a person could try to do before reporting. By the way, thank you.

Mulberry and Kenya aren't related to Cassie......but they do look like it, don't they? Mulberry is one of my favorite Nubians and Kenya is here because she is the only daughter of a Nubian I lost a couple years back.....She is sweet once you catch her...but catching her is the problem....dates back to the year I dam-raised.

No need to tell me about the dam-raising!!! I have given up trying to wean the girls and moving to the selling route!

Cygnet · #30 07/30/07, 01:00 PM

I meant to post on the other thread but doesn't look like it went through.

It is so true that people who are not familiar with dairy goats may get the wrong impression. I have a pack wether who, when I'm hiking with him, I'm worried about taking his pack off around "the general public" because he "looks" like he's starving -- he's got a backbone and hips that are showing and very "dairy" conformation. He's at a very good weight, just doesn't "look" it. Lots of energy, and he's a happy, healthy goat. He eats like a pig at home; he literally gets as much hay every day as I have fed to full-sized horses in the past and his only competition are two nigerian bucklings that definitely are below him in the pecking order!

I had a horse person see him on the trail one day when I'd taken his pack off for lunch -- she was so convinced I was starving/abusing the "skinny" goat that she tried to buy him off me. :-( (Meanwhile, the goat is eating his own portion of potato chips and drinking from the bucket of electrolytes that I'd packed for him ... Really, he's starving ....)

Leva

trappmountain · #31 07/30/07, 01:07 PM

Not being very familiar with dairy goats I was going to ask if they were like dairy cows. Of course you were good enough to answer that for me already. I had always noticed that dairy cows looked bony. They were just built that way. I guess it it the same for dairy goats. I have pygmys and they have more meat on them and the rounder bellies.

Gailann Schrader · #32 07/30/07, 01:21 PM

I always look for coat-shine. Yours have it. Skinny/unhealthy goats don't shine. Besides, my farrier/goat guru told me loooong ago that fat goats don't get pregnant as easily and tend to have problems kidding.

Years ago I got reported over and over again for the horse I had in my front yard (rescued him). Finally the sheriff told me to "please move him to a paddock when you can so we can quit coming to bother you." The horse has been a poor keeper ever since. He liked watching TV through the picture window and I enjoyed not having to mow. Even 8 years or better later? I'm still known as the crazy woman who kept the Arab in the front yard.

Late at night he would get spooked (duh - Arab) and would fly butt around the house at a dead run. I kinda miss that pounding hooves sound like a Ghost rider come to call...

XCricketX · #33 07/30/07, 02:50 PM

Emily's goats are all very nice, even the few skinny ones. I was able to come to her farm and feel the thin one's coats. Nice, slick, and soft!
Definitely proof they are getting their nutrition!!!
I just recently bought some someplace else, and 1 has a rough coat... but by looking at her... she looks heavier than the pictures Emily posted of her thin girls. I started putting her on some good nutrition, and the rough hair is coming out.
I just rescued a horse that was pregnant from the sale barn. She had a baby 1 day after I bought her! The horse was disgustingly thin! If someone were to come by the day I brought her home... they would probably report me as well. They just would not have all of the facts... like when I gave her fennel herb to make her bag up better for her baby.
No... not the abuser here!!!
I went on a trail ride one time, and was accused of abusing my horse because we staked them out for 10 minutes, but in the SUN! Even though we de-saddled them, brushed them out, put them on plush grass, and gave them plenty of water to drink! Hello!? Don't animals stand in the sun out in the pasture?

Cricket