Getting my does back up

if you only have certain things on hand and can't get any others why bother even asking? Just give what you have and see what happens. No need to get so upset. I have on occasion when I ran out of alfalfa pellts used a small amount of rabbit pellets till I could get some more. No harm but a lot more costly. If you can get to the store on the weekend its only a couple of days unless a goat is dropping dead it can wait

The person was asking what they could do with what they had at hand. They cared for their animals and knew they would not be able to run to the feed store (4 hours away) till at least the weekend, and was looking for an alternative to tide them over until they could. The OP did not at first make that clear, and those that answered her posts were honestly trying to be helpfull. Latter Dunroven clarified their situation. It would also seem they could not presenty afford expensive hay, and the OP expressed that. So therefore any answer that did not take those factors into consideration, was at best inadequate. Ignoring their explanation to grace them with such hallowed opinions implied that it was too much effort for you to pay attention or that you disdained their ecomomic situation..



It only took a couple of days to sort the wheat from the chaff.

__________________
Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

The goats did not get thin overnight and will not get fat overnite.

Feeding poor quality feed will give you thin poor quality animals. If you cannot afford better feed maybe you should have less animals .

I have not had a Vet here in over 1 year . My animals are not spoiled show animals. Do I show yes . But my animals have to produce to stay here . My milkers average 1 gallon a day with some as high as 2 gallons. That being said my feed bill for 40 goats is under 60.00 a week which includes chicken feed ect. We make our own hay .

I have no problem eating animals we produce or putting something down if its gonna cost to much to fix it . I do have a problem with someone not being able to keep an animal in good flesh.


The OP never said what they are worming with and when the last time they fecaled, that could be a big part of the problem.


Patty

__________________
Milk Made Soaps & Lotions
Raising Saanen Dairy Goats , Icelandic Sheep , German Shepherds ,Registered Jersey cows , LGD

When I had pygmy goats and yes, they were "just pets" but I treated them just like livestock type goats, ocassionally I would feed them cornstalks from the garden, which they seemed to love.

Now I know it is winter, but being that Dunroven lives in corn country, don't they have farms where you can buy corn chops? Just making a suggestion as corn is a great way to fatten anything up..old timers used it with hogs, cattle, horses, etc. long before new "feed store" feeds came about. I wouldn't make something like that the goats WHOLE diet, but as a supplement it might work, be readily available and be cheaper than other alternatives.

Dunroven, could you inquire with your neighbors and see if they have corn chops or something similiar that they might buy in bulk or produce? I have shared feed oats with farmers before since they bought by the ton and I only needed a few bags, I bought from them when they ordered and brought my own bags. Might be worth asking some neighbors who have cows.

I know you can't feed certain feeds to goats, but in my opinion, raw feed that hasn't been treated with hormones or antibiotics would be ok to feed to a goat as long as it is something like corn, oats, etc.

Hope this helps, I have lived in the boonies before and the feed store was a long ways off, usually only went once a month and just stocked up as I certainly couldn't run to town every few days for this and that. Fortunately I live closer to town but have kept my same ways about running to town, I make that a once every two week trip now.

Hope this gives you some ideas,
sidepasser

__________________
Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

I just posted this on General Homesteading. Feel strongly that the folks who tried to help are being unfairly maligned. I know junk like this happens on an open forum, but I really hate injustice.

__________________________________________________ ______________

I read and post on the Goat Forum all of the time - just didn't read that post. We raise excellent goats - and we don't go broke doing it either. Having nice animals and figuring out how to do a really good job doesn't make folks "elitists" - just good animal husbandry.

All of the posts were appropriate and kind. If Dunroven is having a hard time in other areas that is unfortunate, but it is very unfair to take it out on folks who are trying to help.

Frankly, I would never try to "fatten" up my goats by adding a bunch of corn, sweet feed and rabbit pellets - sure recipe for a rumen disaster. And then you can get on the forum and beg for help when your animals go down from that.

Not nice to post over here and try to give the Dairy goat folks a bad name.... Ciao.
__________________________________________________ ___________

__________________
Camille
Copper Penny Ranch
Copper Penny Boer Goats (home of 4 National Champions, 4 Reserve Champions)
Copper Penny Pyrenees
Whey-to-Go Saanens


www.copper-penny-ranch.com

Anyway, it a good thing to keep in mind that getting the right body condition happens during the dry period and pregnancy, before the goats start lactating. They burn more calories during their lactation than they do when pregnant. Not much you can do with overly thin goats while they are in the heaviest part of their lactation, but as they milk less their condition should be improving. Alfalfa of some type does help a lot as it has more nutrition in it for milking does...See if the feed store can order some pellets in for you and you can pick them up when you can. Increasing the hay won't be harmful but do go easy on any concentrates, BOSS or other rich food.

It's a situation that can only be improved gradually for these animals right now. Next year before you breed them, feed them a bit better and most likely they won't get so thin. While pregnant my fat ladies get about 40% alfalfa in their diet, and this climbs to about 75% when they are lactating. We use a combo of grass hays, alfalfa hay and pellets. I don't give much grain at all, since they are Niggies and Kinder's and keep their body condition pretty well.

Now this is my last piece of advice, take it as you will. It comes from our personal experience. If you can't afford a good quality hay, and expect your animals to do well on poor grass hay you need to adjust your thinking. Goats need more in the way of nutrients than ponies, cows and other larger animals who take in a much greater volume of food. Always keep in mind that for any lactating goat, if you don't give them the calcium they need you are running the risk of loosing them completely to milk fever and ketosis issues.

Nutrition and preventative care are sometimes much cheaper than trying to fix a host of problems...boy we learned that from experience, too.

__________________
my posts and pictures are my exclusive property and may not be used without my permission.