putting weight on my doe

beewench · #1 04/13/12, 12:39 PM

My older doe (2003) kidded 3 weeks ago with triplets. 2 bucks and a little doe. I left the kids on her for the first 2 weeks and then began bottle feeding them. They are separated from her at night, I bottle feed them and keep them separate from her until around 4 pm and then they are on her until about 7pm.

I milk her in the morning, she's giving me about 1/2 gallon. However, she is SOOOOO skinny!

She is free choice alfalfa all day. She's eating...I've seen her. Plus at morning milking and in the evening she gets about 1.5 lbs of grain mixture. My grain mix is as follows:

75lbs sweet feed
75lbs barley
10 lbs calf manna
50 Dairy 20%
12 lbs BOSS
all mixed together

Can you guys help me suggest ways to fattening her back up. She is really thin. Yes, I know that lactating animals are thin. But she is thinner than she should be, to the point that individual vertebrae are showing.

She is otherwise healthy; chewing cud, no temp, easy birth etc. Its just the weight issue.

Thanks!!

Alice In TX/MO · #2 04/13/12, 01:30 PM

My prediction is that this discussion will get awkward and heated. That said, I'm just going to enumerate my thoughts on the feed you present to your goats.

1. I don't feed sweet feed, as I don't want molasses in the goats' feed.
2. I don't feed calf manna. The first reason is that I can't stand the way it smells. Second reason is that I think it's soy based, and I don't eat or feed my animals soy products due to the estrogenic effects.
3. I think either beet pulp or rice bran would help add carbohydrates that she can use to put some weight on her.

melco · #3 04/13/12, 01:38 PM

Alice, not to hijack this thread but would you mind to give
A detailed list of how you feed. Thanks in advance. I have struggled with thin lactating does before as well and am rethinking my feed plan.

cmharris6002 · #4 04/13/12, 01:40 PM

Rice bran pellets for horses are an easy choice for weight gain.

Alice In TX/MO · #5 04/13/12, 04:22 PM

Dairy Parlor 16% (two parts)
Oats (one part)
BOSS (one half part)
Mix in big plastic trash cans.

Does get enough on the milk stand to keep them distracted, but NOT over 1 pound each per milking session, and the two mini goats get 1/2 pound.

I'm gradually cutting down on alfalfa pellets due to excess protein, but currently, for a herd of 11 (eight does and three kids), I put out 6 pounds of alfalfa pellets and three pounds of the mixed grain in the AM, and the same amount in the evening. They have good quality hay and a deer browse planted field available at all times.

This is what is working for me at this time. I forsee tweaking in the future.

I also add yeast and kelp on a semi-regular basis. They have a high copper loose mineral and baking soda out free choice. I have a cobalt block in Missouri that I put out for a week and then put away for a week or two at a time.

beewench · #6 04/13/12, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

My prediction is that this discussion will get awkward and heated. That said, I'm just going to enumerate my thoughts on the feed you present to your goats.

1. I don't feed sweet feed, as I don't want molasses in the goats' feed.
2. I don't feed calf manna. The first reason is that I can't stand the way it smells. Second reason is that I think it's soy based, and I don't eat or feed my animals soy products due to the estrogenic effects.
3. I think either beet pulp or rice bran would help add carbohydrates that she can use to put some weight on her.

Thank you Alice! Dont want to cause a ruckus

Ill look into adding some beet pulp for her. My other does dont have a problem keeping weight on, and she didnt last year...so we shall see.

Question: I fed beet pulp to my older horses years back and it had to soak all day for their evening feet...are goats the same way?

Alice In TX/MO · #7 04/13/12, 05:15 PM

Goats eat it plain/dry.

melco · #8 04/13/12, 05:27 PM

Thanks Alice. I have heasrd of Dairy Parlor but haven't
Been able to find it as of yet. What kind of store are you
Buying it from.

Alice In TX/MO · #9 04/13/12, 05:32 PM

It's a Purina product, available at two feed stores here. Look for the red and white checkerboard symbol on the outside of the store.

melco · #10 04/13/12, 06:00 PM

Thank you.

**mygoat** · #11 04/13/12, 06:05 PM

A good dairy animal *should* be thin at this point in lactation.

I feed a grain ration at a rate of 1lb per 2-3lbs milk produced. I free feed alf pellets while in the milkroom. Free choice alfalfa/mix hay for the entire herd.

Alice In TX/MO · #12 04/13/12, 06:14 PM

I discovered that feeding grain at that high a rate resulted in sore feet/hooves.

chamoisee · #13 04/13/12, 10:07 PM

Yes to the beet pulp. I soaked mine by pouring boiling water over it in a coffee can and then carrying it down to the barn with me. The boiling water causes it to swell quickly; it can be fed within half an hour that way. You can feed it dry, but because so much water is already being taken from the doe and being put into milk, I soaked it. I also would give her more BOSS.

Here's my experience with skinny milkers:

It is really hard to put flesh on a milker once she is in milk. The easiest time to put flesh on a doe is when she's pregnant, although it is important not to overfeed during pregnancy, because that can cause very large kids that the doe has a hard time birthing, and birthing problems due to being overweight as well.

The more heavily a doe is milking, the harder it is to keep weight on her. Grain causes her to make more milk. With my does, the more grain I gave them, the more heavily they milked. I don't know how much they would have produced if I had kept increasing the grain; some of them were producing 12+ lbs of milk on about 3 quart sized yogurt containers of grain per day.

For the heaviest producing does that were thin to the point of being alarming, I started feeding their own milk back to them if they would drink it. If you do this, it is critical that you use a milking pail that is only for that doe, not the others, and it might be a good idea to wash her muzzle off afterwards, too, so that she doesn't contaminate the next thing she eats (such as hay) with the milk on her mouth. I had more milk than we had gallon jars or refrigerator space, and the health and well being of the doe was more important to me than her milk, so this was a solution for me. It might not work for everyone.

If she is in a herd with hay feeder competition, it might be good to put her in private stall at night with free choice hay that she can eat without being harassed.

Have a fecal test done on her and worm according to that fecal test. She is working hard enough without also having to feed parasites. Not all wormers work for all parasites, thus the fecal to target specific worms.

Pony · #14 04/14/12, 05:19 PM

Trub has really milked off her spine this lactation. Otter was kind enough to share a generous amount of beet pulp, as well as an herbal mix that smells great but I have no idea what it is.

In addition to beet pulp (and I'll be soaking it per Chamoisee's direction, as we had not considered the benefit of adding liquid), we also give sunflower seed and some oats. We feed Trub separately from the rest of the herd, and she gets an extra ration at noon.

Her fur is looking much better, and she's actually developing a bit more meat along that spine now. Yes, a lactating doe should be thin, but Trub was looking like an Ethernubian.