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08/21/11, 10:37 PM
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gracie88
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: OR
Posts: 913
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fattening up a goat
My favorite goat got caught in the fence the other day and my soon-to-be-steak steer decided to dribble her like a basketball  . She looked like death warmed over for a while, quit eating and has a hernia. The vet said that if/when she came around and didn't look like she was about to die, he could fix the hernia. So we are getting to that point, she's eating and drinking and eyeballing my rosebushes, but she was thin already (good milker, poor keeper) and now she looks like one of those pathetic rescue cases. My point of all this rambling is to ask what is your favorite way to put weight back on your puny goats? She's an awesome eater, not picky at all. I have lots of brush, alfalfa and grain. Is there anything else that you really like that puts flesh back on their bones? She is, at least, not milking. Between the heat (finally) and her injury, she's pretty well dried up already.
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08/21/11, 10:55 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 24,108
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Even though they are expensive right now..I would use Black oil Sunflower Seeds (BOSS) To add some healthy oils and hopefully fatten her up. She might just need some time to heal. Lots of luvin and attention! 
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08/21/11, 10:57 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 5,662
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Let her have all the brush and alfalfa she wants, but give her as much grain as she'll eat twice a day. If she's a hard keeper, even dry it may take a little while to start seeing a difference in her weight, but it will come. Carbs are what put the weight on, the brush and alfalfa are for good health.
Kathleen
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08/21/11, 11:49 PM
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Student of goatology.
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,131
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Has she had a fecal done lately? The stress of the steer attack may have cause a parasite load to ramp up. Also with a hernia present, I wouldn't want her to gain too much weight too fast, until that is repaired and healed well.
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Cloven Trail Farm
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9/14/93 -12/3/10.
Rest peacefully my soulmate, I'll love you forever.
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08/22/11, 12:25 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,638
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Boss and rice bran added to a good quality feed. I feed Equis Complete. Access to browse/pasture and grass or alfalfa hay (my feed has alfalfa in it so I only supplement my non milkers with alfalfa pellets).
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08/22/11, 06:39 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 385
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Rice Bran, LOVE IT! We've got a hard-keeper Nubian that I started to add Rice Bran (after reading it on here somewhere) to her grain and she LOOKS WONDERFUL NOW!
Val
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08/22/11, 08:57 AM
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More dharma, less drama.
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas Coastal Bend/S. Missouri
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Remember to make changes SLOWLY!
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08/22/11, 09:36 AM
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Farming with a Heart
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Huntington WV
Posts: 1,864
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Rice Bran -
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08/22/11, 10:41 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Redding California
Posts: 1,967
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Definitely do a fecal! A goat does not have to have symptoms to have cocci. Kim is right, any stress/change can cause a worm or cocci bloom. Also, check her teeth. If she is not able to properly chew her food then it can't digest right (also would show a lot of undigested food in fecal)
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08/22/11, 02:53 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Texas
Posts: 3,486
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Once parasites are ruled out, I'd go with rice bran (more fat than BOSS) & beet pulp shreds.
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08/22/11, 03:41 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Michigan
Posts: 81
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I mix beet pulp, oats, BOSS, and rice bran and feed twice a day. Give her all the hay she wants then supplement with the grain like mid day and evening. As was mentioned, she will gain slowly and do be sure to check her fecal just to be on the safe side. Keep us posted as to her progess.
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Trish
Lazy Goat Farms
Pygmy Pets R Precious
Sitting with my goats after a long hard day is the best medicine for the mind and laughter for the soul !!! 
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08/22/11, 04:15 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,638
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You know, rice bran doesn't even sound good either. One of my girls will look in her pan and give me this "look" if her rice bran isn't mixed in. They do seem to love it.
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08/22/11, 05:31 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: The Beautiful Ozarks
Posts: 1,394
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I've been fattening up my Saanen doe for the past three months. She was really underweight, just a hard keeper (did fecals & everything) and a huge milker so I guess it just goes into milk & not flesh. I dried her up after only three month of milking (and after she weaned the kids) in order to put some meat back on her. I let her have as much grain as she wants while I milk the other does (about five-8 minutes worth) and also at night (so 2x a day) and also put in BOSS and rice bran, although she doesn't really like the rice bran...have to mix it in real well.
She's slowly putting weight back on, but you'd think with all the grain & extras that she's had for the last three months she'd be fat, but she isn't. I think it's the heat. Her coat is really soft and shiny now though, probably because of the BOSS?
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08/23/11, 10:32 AM
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gracie88
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: OR
Posts: 913
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Thanks folks. This is Shirley. I was going to get a before shot, but now that she's filled her rumen back up, her skinniness doesn't come out on camera as well so it's her usurping the dog's spot instead. I told her that she could stay out as long as she's moving slower than the roses.
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08/23/11, 05:47 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,807
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Thread drift: Where do you folks get rice bran?
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08/23/11, 09:17 PM
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Farming with a Heart
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Huntington WV
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Southern States
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08/23/11, 09:36 PM
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gracie88
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: OR
Posts: 913
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Pony: I can get it from my feed store. They don't always stock it but they can order it. I don't know if that helps you or not, though.
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"I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else."
- G. K. Chesterton
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