My skinny, skinny doe ????

[Middle River]

Daisy, my 2nd freshner ( 3yr old Alpine ) was a hard keeper for me last year as a FF, and is again this year as well. Last year she had a single doeling, and i milked her for a while, but as soon as her production went up, her weight went down even with the adjusted feed amounts. So i quite milking her and let her doeling stay on her till weaning, of course giving her the milking ration still - she still got very thin, and i consulted with my vet. We tested her for johnnes (sp?), worms, cocci, and quite a few other things. We went over my feeding - all that looks good.

I got her looking great again last year a few months after weaning, and she got bred. She had twin doelings this year, looked great after kidding, i milked her when they were very young to relive her udder ( they weren't eating enough yet ), but as soon as she bumped up her production - she lost the weight again ! Talked with the vet again, he has no idea, but will continue looking for answers.

Mean while, i have this doe, that is super skinny to the point that it makes me cry, and she has two keeper does on her - had i known it would be like this again this year, i would have pulled them and bottle fed - but she didn't go down hill till around two weeks fresh - and they would NOT take a bottle then.

So Daisy needs to dry up and get her health back before she gets too far gone - i'm also planing on giving her a year off from breeding ( sound ok ? ) - BUT why is she like this ? Any ideas of what i'm doing wrong ?

I want to keep both doelings, and would like them to keep growing well like they are so i can hopefully breed them late this year, but they will only be two months old on June 15th - how in the world do i wean them early enough to save their dam's health and not hurt them ?

Thanks !

[jBlaze]

Milking ration is at least 16% probably, are you giving her all she wants? My milkers get as much grain as they want while I am milking them twice a day. This can be 8 - 12 cups for a doe that gives a gallon a day, seems like a lot of grain, but is fine as long as it is a gradual increase. This doe gets very thin if she does not have that much 16% grain at the start. I try to have enough weight on them before kidding to help with lactation.
I have heard that Copper supplementation may help, but be sure about copper levels first, there are several threads here that talk about copper deficiency, it may be something to look into.
Can you post a pict of your doe?

[Middle River]

I have asked my vet about copper, thats the one thing he seems to blow off - everything else he is very good about, and has really done a lot and learned a lot for my herd - i will pursue that more once he gets back though.

She is getting at least 16% - more though i'm pretty sure of - as part of her diet is a mix that is 21%, and then she also gets a dry COB, BOSS and alfalfa pellets, i'm feeding her a lot of it as well, it takes her a long time to clean all it up - she also gets free choice hay and browse.

All my other milkers look great, even my 2 yr old FF thats milking 1 1/2 gal per day, and Daisy is getting more feed then her even due to her lack of weight.

I do have an older pic, right as she started loosing weight but wasn't very bad yet - but i can never post pics here, as my puter won't let me get a photo bucket account - i could email it to somebody to post for me though ?

I was also told that i won't get weight back on her while she is milking still, so i need to wean the doelings at two months - is this safe ? Can i somehow with the right feeding ( any suggestions ? ) get good growth on them still ?

Thanks !

[birdiegirl]

Here is a picture of Middle River's goat:

[Middle River]

Thanks Birdiegirl ! This pic was only 6 days after she kidded and before anything was green around here - she is much skinnier now - she just started loosing weight in this pic :+(

[Feral Nature]

If she is a good dairy goat, she WILL lose weight. She may even look like "death warmed over" as some of us call it. As long as the doe is eating a good diet full of calcium which is found in alfalfa pellets (she should get free choice, as much as she wants or about 3 lbs a day), some carbs in her diet (I feed whole oats, 1-1/2 lbs in the AM and 1-1/2 lbs in the PM on the milkstand only), good hay and/or browse she has a basically good diet.

Has she been wormed with cydectin? Does should be wormed the day they kid and then 10 days later with cydectin ORALLY.

If your doe is bright-eyes and healthy, has a good diet, has plenty of good clean water, good loose minerals and is under a paracite program then i would not worry about her being thin. She is putting her calories into the pail like all good dairy goats do. Meat goats build muscle and dairy goats make milk. She will gain weight after you quit milking her. I milk mine for 9 or10 months so they get thin, but that is the nature of dairy goats.

[cathleenc]

I have a very thin dairy goat doe in milk, too - but stopped decided to stop worrying. She gains weight when she is dry. While milking, her coat has some shine to it, she is bright and active, and she has a hearty appetite. Her ribs are visible and her hip bones jut out. I had the local goat dairy owner come over to take a look - she said that my doe still had a small fat pad on her upper chest and that she looked like a dairy goat - long, lean, and productive.

Having someone who was in the know look and feel my doe gave me the confidence to stop worrying. I try to make sure that anything my doe eats is top-quality, and after that, just figure that's her 'look.'

gl!