new goat help ~

[harvestgirl]

i got 2 goats from a friend last night. all seemed well yesterday. she gave me some of the hay they usually eat & i put a small amnt of that in their pen.

we also gave them a few pelleted "treats"

this a.m. one goat seems to be regurgitating. it's green & hay like, but all mashed up. it's falling out of her mouth & she is trying to chew it. they came from being in a garage/pen to being out on a hillside, did she eat too much?

guidance? serious?

2nd goat seems fine.

thanks!

[harvestgirl]

hoping for some advice ~ thanks!

[LoneStrChic23]

Sounds like cud... this link explains goat digestion:

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/meat...atgoatfs14.htm

Though I've never seen my girls have it falling out of their mouths...hopefully someone else will chime in on that.

You don't need to limit the hay they eat....especially if it's a grass hay. Let them have what they want. Grain is what you have to worry about overfeeding (grain being either actual grains, or goat foods like Purina Goat Chow)...... I have a huge feeder I fill up with Standlee Brand Alfalfa pellets (I use pellets because I cant get good alfalfa hay) & they have as much as they want. They also have a hay rack full of coastal grass hay that they get as much as they want.

Grain here us only given to growing babies or to girls who are milking (they get it in limited amounts on the milk stand twice a day).

Get a container they can't dump over & get them a good loose mineral...... I mix baking soda in mine, but if you don't want to, get a container of baking soda out there so they can have it if they need it.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Don't just turn penned goats on a pasture/browse area willy nilly. They need small time segments. Quarter of an hour a couple of times the first few days. Slowly work up.

[LoneStrChic23]

LOL good point Alice..... I'm thinking in terms of MY world..... I could turn them loose here with no problems..

Thanks to the drought I have NOTHING green that a goat could over do it on.....Forgot the rest of the world may actually have legitimate vegetation

[harvestgirl]

they aren't on a pasture, they are in a pen it's a wooded hillside area.

thanks! will read about the cud.

[Alice In TX/MO]

That's why I said BROWSE AREA. They have been in a PEN. Their stomachs are NOT used to BROWSE in BULK.

[LoneStrChic23]

Browse = trees, shrubs, brush.......basically anything that isn't GRASS.

[Donna1982]

How old are they? I've seen babies who have just started to chew a cud have it fall out of thier mouth. Monkey has done it a couple times.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Are they crying or bleating loudly? If they were to eat something that didn't agree with them they may throw it up but they most likely will be slinging it from the mouth & crying.
It could be since they are used to being penned up & the only things they are used to eating is brought to them that all the new fresh green stuff is a little much all at one time.
Make sure they have access to baking soda 24/7, that will help if they are overdoing it also.

[harvestgirl]

she is better today, i think she at too much of the pelleted treats.

putting out baking soda today.

[momagoat61]

Harvest please make sure you Identify all the plants on the hillside the goats have acccess to. The plant behind them in the picture kinda looks like a Mountain Laurel which I sure hope I'm wrong and that not what it is. Mountain Laurel is very deadly to animals. They sure are pretty girls.