Pregnant Doe not eating her grain

[southerngurl]

This morning when I fed Penny (nubian doe) her grain, she didn't show any interest in it. She ate a bite or two. Normally she is a pig and gets excited about it and eats every last bit. I had noticed yesterday that her belly seemed maybe a little bigger (like the hollow in her flanks isn't quite as hollow as usual). The babies' movement is also very visible and constant. I checked her behind and she did seem to have a little bit of mucus.

She is going to be 2 in the Spring, this is her first freshening.
She is due in Febuary.
She has grass hay available 24/7 along with cut blackbery vines, pine needles and privet hedge that I cut for them daily. I'm feeding a mix of barley, oats, sunflower seeds and a wee touch of corn with just enough molasses added to make the kelp powder I add stick to the grains. Probably a tablespoon of molasses in the feed between both goats. She gets about 2 cups of the mix, once per day. Also she gets a good handful of chopped alfalfa hay in the evening.
The also have a loose mineral mix for goats available, with copper.

The only change to her food today was I didn't give her the herbal wormer she's been getting for the last three days. It's Molly's herbals wormer (#2, without wormwood).

Any ideas? I hope she's not going to have them premature. I wonder if he could have gotten the due date mixed up on her. She doesn't seem that huge though (I mean, she's fat, but compared to these pregnant does I've seen...) . She started making her udder about a week or two ago.

[sixstrothers]

The mucus, I would watch. They can loose their plug a couple of weeks before kidding. Do you offer any alfalfa? They need some for calcium. I would watch her close for Hypoglycemia. They can get this late in pregnancy.

Here is a good link: Fiasco Farm
Lori

[mpillow]

Is it possible she was bred earlier?

B-complex will help her appetite....and baking soda will help too

I had bad luck with the herbal wormers...switched to Ivermectin.

[southerngurl]

We tied her up where she eats to take her termperature. While we were taking the temp (which she didn't mind, thank goodness, she's a stout goat) she ate the chopped alfalfa I had put in her food bowl earlier (after she didn't eat her grain, I was seeing if she would eat anything else). Her temperature is normal, 102.2 . I offered her some grain again after she ate the alfalfa and she ate a little of it. She doesn't seem to feel bad or anything. Is it possible the babies moving around so much is putting pressure on her stomach so she doesn't really want to eat? Normally when I come in with the blackberries, or pine branches she comes running, bud didn't eat them today. I fed her a few by hand and she ate those.

There wasn't much of the mucus material and it is gone now. I may have been worried and looking too hard.

I didn't breed her. The man I bought her from said he put all his does in with the bucks in the beginning of September and left them in the whole month. So they may be due anytime in Febuary. He did have one doe he said was bred earlier, so I don't know if she could have been too.

I'm going to get fecals done to ensure the worm program is effective.

What type of herbs did you use, in what quantity?

[Jcran]

If one of my goats refused grain, I would be VERY WORRIED. Please double check that she doesn't have ketosis or milk fever(not sure if they can get that early?). Anyhow, just my thoughts. Good luck.

[yarrow]

Hi Southern Girl. Susie here (the neighbor to the folks you bought your does from) I saw them when they were put in with the buck. I'm not certain of dates, but I do remember that when I left on vacation (Sept 16th) I moved my bucks as far from the fenceline on that side as possible. If I recall correctly most if not all of the does in that pen (I called it the red pen. Lots of red & brown does being bred to a red buck LOL. I'm sure your girl was one of them) were beginning to bred when I left. My nubians were also breeding then. I have due dates from the first day of feb til feb 10th. I hope the herbal wormer works for you. It doesn't do a thing for us. If she were mine and not interested in food I'd be worming her with a chemical wormer. Either Cydectin (yes even pregnant. 1 CC per 20-25 lbs orally. I'd guess she weighs about 120 or so) or if you don't have the Cydectin go with ivermectin
again orally. I give 1cc per 33 lbs. I wish the herbal wormers worked here (Ozarks) and had hoped to be able to use them back when I moved here, but alas they just don't get the job done. Hope she straightens out and gets back to her piggie ways.
susie

[Hip_Shot_Hanna]

My husband just wanted to tell you that

PRIVET IS POISONOUS.[SIZE=5] Apparently a friend of his tethered his goat next to a privet hedge, the goat ate it and died.

PRIVET was a Victorian insecticide - they boiled the leaves down and sprayed plants with the juice.

http://www.goatworld.com/health/plants/

Please note in the drop down menu at the top of the page there are a lot of plants listed. Privet is one of them.

[Hip_Shot_Hanna]

Originally Posted by Hip_Shot_Hanna

My husband just wanted to tell you that

PRIVET IS POISONOUS.[SIZE=5] Apparently a friend of his tethered his goat next to a privet hedge, the goat ate it and died.

PRIVET was a Victorian insecticide - they boiled the leaves down and sprayed plants with the juice.

http://www.goatworld.com/health/plants/

Please note in the drop down menu at the top of the page there are a lot of plants listed. Privet is one of them.

- Poisonous Plants To Goats
Below is a list of plants known to be poisonous to goats. Most goats will only eat a poisonous plant if they are starving. Some symptoms of poisoning are similar to the symptoms of bloat. If a goat has eaten something poisonous they will be kicking at the ground, foaming at the mouth, and rumen may appear to be swollen. They must be treated immediately with a charcoal gel or death will occur.

Poisonous Plants:
ACONITE
ALDER
ARUM
AZALEAS
ANEMONE
BRACKEN
BEET LEAVES
BLACK NIGHTSHADE
BROOM
BUTTERBUR
BUTTERCUP
BUCKTHORN
BOX
BYRONY
CELANDINE
CHARLOCK
CUPRESSES
DAFFODIL
DOGS MERCURY
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE
ELDERBERRY
ERGOT
FOXGLOVE
FOOLS PARSLEY
FUNGI
GROUND IVY
GLADIOLUS
GOURDS
HELLEBORES
HEMLOCK
HOLM OAK
HORSETAIL
HYDRANGEA
IRIS
JUNIPER
KNOTGRASS
KNOTWEED
KINGCUP
LABURNUM
LOCOWEED
LORDS AND LADIES
LILAC
LUPINS (YELLOW)
MARSH MALLOW
MANGOLD LEAVES
MILKWEED
MOUNTAIN LAUREL
MULLEINS
MUSHROOMS
NIGHTSHADES (ALL)
OLD MANS BEARD
POPPY
PENNYCRESS
PRIVET
POTATO
RAGWORT
RHODODENDRON
RHUBARB
RUSH
SPINDLE BERRY
SPURGE LAUREL
THORN APPLE
TANSY
TOMATO (ALL)
TORMENTIL
WATERDROP WORT
WILD CHERRY (WILTED LEAVES)
YELLOW FLAG
YELLOW JASMINE
YEW

http://www.tripleigoats.com/helpfulhints.htm

[Woodroe]

There must be different kinds of privette. My goats eat tons of a small leaf, wild growing variety and thrive on it.

[southerngurl]

Our pet deer used to eat tons of the hedges without problem, I will look into it though. He also used them as a sparring partner.

I went down there with some garlic greens I pulled from the garden, and she chowed down on them greedily. I then took her grain she had refused and put some supertonic in it (that was the only other change, I hadn't put supertonic in this grain either) and she then ate half of it. I think she has grown to like the taste of garlic in her grain (either in the supertonic, or the herbal wormer) and was disappointed that it wasn't there... She seems totallly fine now, eating like normal.

What type of herbal wormer did you use, Susie?

[yarrow]

I bought from both Hoegger's and I believe it's Molly's herbal wormer (got to the site of the Fiasco Farms page). I started out wanting to be all natural, staying away from chemicals and drugs. It cost the life of a beautiful doeling for me to learn that *natural* just isn't the be all, end all. There's not really a lot *natural* in the the way domestic goats are kept and raised and fed. Glad to hear she's feeling better
susie

[southerngurl]

Ok, I appreciate the info. I will do fecals and check. If it's not working, I will figure out something that does, and if I have to use chemical wormer until then, I will.


You were the one that made cheese right? Have you ever tried making cheese without rennet? I'm kind of confused as to why it's needed. I read it helps to firm up the curd? How come curd that is curdled without any rennet cannot be then innoculated and used for aged cheeses?

Love your signature BTW.

[goatkid]

You said your goat is willing to eat alfalfa. This type of hay or pellets is perfect for the bred doe. It provides the calcium they need. I feed alfalfa hay to my does as their main source of food. I would introduce it slowly so as not to upset her rumen.

[southerngurl]

She is eating just fine this morning. No sign of any problems.

[PygmyLover]

well that is good news.

[AllWolf]

Goats maybe like us women. If pregant sometimes may not feel much like eatting even is it is getting closer to time to deliver a baby or 2.. That was just a thought on that.

Good Luck on your goat.

[manygoatsnmore]

Hmm, I have to wonder about a few of the plants on that list. My goats LOVE alder and haven't had any problems with it...I'd never seen alder on a poisonous plant list before.

[mpillow]

Mine have eaten rhubarb that was almost perfect for picking leaf and all...a few times...
We give the suckers off tomato plants too and fruit

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by manygoatsnmore

Hmm, I have to wonder about a few of the plants on that list. My goats LOVE alder and haven't had any problems with it...I'd never seen alder on a poisonous plant list before.

All those poisonous plant lists are simply guidelines to be used along with common sense. If the goats are accustomed to browsing and have plenty to choose from....they will almost always pick whats good for them. Many of the plants on the list are only poisonous if eaten in extreme excess. The *real* care which has to be taken is when you are picking greens for penned goats....who will usually eat almost anything green if they haven't had access to green foods. Be extremely careful doing this!

[PygmyLover]

Sorry to barge in here with this list but I wanted to let you know that this poisonous plant list is the best I have come across.
http://www.goatworld.com/health/plants/

the way it works is on the top right hand corner there is a drop down box. All the plants listed that have a + sign before their name have a page and that means they are poisonous to goats. If they don't have a + before the name they are not poisonous.

Once on a page about a poisonous plant it will give you what part of the plant is toxic, the toxidity level, how it effects the goat, and how to treat if eaten. I find it great information. And finally someone has it right about acorns! they aren't toxic!