Mystery of the mini boers

Jcran · #1 04/21/08, 09:33 PM

My daughter "rescued" a borderline fishtail teated doeling we kidded out last year and I let her keep her. "Cupcake" kidded on March 11th. She's not a large boer, but ok size, about 120 lb. Anyhow, she had twins which were small, about 4-5 lbs. each. I made sure her wacky teat did not interfere with kids nursing and it didn't. I did the usual, bo-se, and wormed mom. I also do a coccidia protocol at 18, 19, 20 days then 38, 39, 40 days, and a final on 58, 59, 60. It goes as follows:
Weigh kids at beginning of each three day cycle so you know amount to admin
Day ONE: coccidiostat and 2 cc cd/tet
Day TWO: coccidiostat and valbazan
Day THREE: coccidiostat and probiotic

Well, I did the second treatment and when I weighed those little critters they were a whopping 17 and 15 lbs. at 38 days old! I mean everyone else is usually in the 30 lb. range by then. I am not sure what is going on. Their appetite is good, mom has an ok udder (kids don't seem STARVING anyway), and the kids and mom get REALLY REALLY (I mean REALLY) good alfalfa right now. They are as perky as all get out and are SUPREMELY independent for babies. I have not really been giving mom grain to speak of. I just rewormed her with PROHIBIT yesterday and will readmin in 10 days to catch the cycle. I've just never had such tiny babies before and am a bit stumped.

Backfourty,MI. · #2 04/21/08, 09:40 PM

That's actually a little over 10 pounds for the one & 10 pounds for the other in just a little over a month. Isn't that almost normal-10 pounds a month I thought. I have Nigie goats so my kids are always tiny. But you did say they were much smaller at birth than normal, maybe it'll just take them a little catching up. Maybe a little grain for mom, do you feed the kids grain at all when they are old enough to eat it?
Sure hope they start gaining for you! It sounds like everything else is right though.

KJ Farm · #3 04/22/08, 11:35 AM

I don't want to hijack thread, but I noticed you said you worm with Prohibit. I have not been able to find out much about this wormer. Do you use the powder? Maybe that is all it comes in? How do you mix it if you use powder and how much do you give to your goats. Thanks