bought a new doe today

[LittleRedHen]

I bought a Nubian doeling today. She is 11 months old. She is SMALL!! I was forewarned she was on the smaller side and she was! She is only about 3 inches taller than my little kids who were born a month ago!

She was regularly seen by a Vet and taken good care of but is there anything I could do to help boost her size any or will I just have a little girl on my hands? She was one of 3 born but I am pretty sure she was a full nubian but i am going to ask if there is any way she is a mini nubian from the people I bought her from. She is just sooo small. I have a nigerian buck who is about her size so I could breed her. Would there be any problems breeding a small doe?

[susanne]

why did you buy her?
problem with does like this, if she is purebred, most likely her intestine were ruined as a kid from coccidiosis. she will always be a hot house plant and prune to diseases. she will never produce like she should. in the end, she will cost you more money.

[KittenMittens89]

Likely she may have not have known. I know I made my share of mistakes. I bought a pregnant worm ridden starved goat. I did not know about the worms just knew she was skin and bones and pregnant. Figured I could fatten her up and she'd be alright. That was far from correct and I would never do it again. Let's just help her from here since she did buy her.

[LittleRedHen]

hmmmm....

Well i dind't realize how SMALL she was til I got her home and compared her to my other year old (purebred) Nubian. I could tell she was smaller but not as to how small. I wish I had realized the difference before I bought her but lesson learned. I will find out if shes a pure nubian or if there is a chance that she is a mini. (I had met the seller halfway)

[LittleRedHen]

Is there any signs or other symptoms to look for as to her being potentially a headache?

[LittleRedHen]

And is there any reason not to breed her? or at least attempt to? (just once to try and get does to replace her since it would not be a genetic problem) or should she be strictly a pet goat?

[susanne]

did not mean to hurt any feelings and my question was really if there was a particular reason why this doe was added? pedigree? certain trait? milk behind her?
if for no reason, could you bring her back? didn't you get papers with her?
if she is a mud (mixed with some sort of dwarf goat) she should be fine to be bred to your nigerian buck.
if she is pure bred nubian (should have come with papers) i would not bred her but bring her back.
too much headache and problems in front of you.

[LittleRedHen]

No particular reason except it was a price I could afford ($125) not papered. I am trying to get into raising Nubians but with Dh being laid off, i just cannot afford registered ones. And I am finding it difficult to locate Nubians in this area. Alpines everywhere! mini Alpines and Nigerian dwarves but the Nubians are not too common.

As long as she doesn't turn into a hassle, I won't mind keeping her. I had initally wanted Mini Nubians til I realized the first generation (and a bit further) wouldn't have the short legs with the long droopy ears. I realized it would take a lot of careful breeding to develop the type of goat I wanted. Technically, this goat is exactly what I wanted in size and in droopy ears. So I hope she stays healthy and that I can breed her

[beccachow]

Susanne, I want to be sure I understand something: are you saying you believe her stunted growth was the result of a worm overload, since I didn't see any reference to coccidiosis in the OP? I am trying to clarify so I would know what to look out for should I decide to venture even deeper into Goat World.

[southerngurl]

Coccidiosis can ruin the intestines of a goat, causing them to have very poor absorption of food and not grow well or thrive.

[susanne]

Originally Posted by LittleRedHen

No particular reason except it was a price I could afford ($125) not papered. I am trying to get into raising Nubians but with Dh being laid off, i just cannot afford registered ones. And I am finding it difficult to locate Nubians in this area. Alpines everywhere! mini Alpines and Nigerian dwarves but the Nubians are not too common.

where are you located? there are several nubian breeder in michigan.


becky this doe is very, very , small. only three inch taller then kids born in february? this must be extremely small.
if this is a purebred nubian, something must be terrible wrong and $125 is way over prized. in my opinion, this would be a non breeder and needs to be put in the freezer.

[KSALguy]

post pics if you can, this may help give a visual to better know what your dealing with

[LittleRedHen]

I am taking pics. She was the last one born out of Quads (not triplets like i thought) Is it possible she is just a runt? Even if i cannot breed her, I dont mind her as a pet I am near Ludington Susanne..

[Minelson]

She sounds like a cute little munchkin...I can't wait to see pictures

[desertshi]

I am really curious as to why she is so small too! I have a nubian/alpine cross that was a twin. Bought her when she was 3 months, her and her brother were the same size. Brought her home and immediatly wormed her as I do all of my animals. Went back 3 months later to see another potential goat for me at the same ranch and her brother, who was still nursing and he was the size of my full grown goats!! My little girl was and is to the date 1/2 the size of my full grown mixed breeds! I want to breed her, but didn't this year because I am so worried about her having twins and being sooo small herself! Will they grow when they are stunted like this?? Or should LittleRedHen and myself expect them to remain the same size?? If we do breed will they run into problems from babies being to big? Or do the babies grow to the size that the doe can handle?

Here's the picture of her in July when I bought her, she is the one in the back corner with the airplane ears! she has only grown maybe an inch or two, filled out and gotten and inch more of horns! Her brother is the size of the larger goats!

[southerngurl]

desertshi, did you give coccidia treatment when you brought her home? Also, her buckling brother would have grown better because he was still getting milk.

[susanne]

Originally Posted by LittleRedHen

I am near Ludington Susanne..

that is only aout 3 1/2 hours away from me. i'm sure there is somebody between us as well

are you member of ADGA? you could call and ask for breeder near you.

[desertshi]

Originally Posted by southerngurl

desertshi, did you give coccidia treatment when you brought her home? Also, her buckling brother would have grown better because he was still getting milk.

I didn't, I don't even know if they have that here. I gave her an injection of Triple Bovino, which is a dewormer for goats, sheep and cows that they sell here, and is what I use in rotation with one from Bayer, can't remember the name right off hand.

We figured that her brother grew faster because of the milk, but I thought that she would grow in time! But, like I said, she is almost exactly the same size she was in July. That is why I didn't breed her this year. Being that she is a twin herself, I assume that she will throw twins too. Would it be bad to breed her next season? (Well, actually, here where I live it's the weirdest thing, goats of all breeds breed all year round!!)

LittleRedHen, is your little girl like mine or smaller than that?

[Backfourty,MI.]

Little red Hen, I believe Kazaleeha has dairy goats but can't remember if nubians or alpins, she is By Alpena I think but it seems like there is someone in HT that is over by Grand Rapids. What about checking at your local fair this summer. I bet there are people there with nubians & probly not all registeered that they are willing to sell?
You could also always have your vet check her out good, wait awile & see how she does at your place to make sure she's going to stay healthy & wait till next fall to breed her. Then you'd have a better idea of her growing, health, etc. Plus you'd know she'd be what ever her full grown size is going to be.

[LittleRedHen]

She is a lot like my girl desertshi! Here is her pic. The Nubian behind her is Penny, who is a full sized Nubian that is about 4 months older in age.




She has been checked over by a vet who gave her a clean bill of health. I joined a few yahoo groups today involving nubians and mini nubians. I have learned that I am not alone in having a small stunted Nubian. One option is the cocci, another option is that she came from a malnourished mama who was not properly fed while carrying quads or 3. It might be genetics as I have learned Nubians can have genetics which causes the young to be stunted. I am going to do more searching , if i can, to find out if she was the only one so small in her lineage to rule out genetics.

Either way she is a keeper for one use or another here. I love her personality and she is very sweet!