How much should she weigh?

[mamaC11]

We've enjoyed having Daisy the Doe with us today. My husband thinks she is too little. She is supposed to be 1 on valentines day. She's 100% oberhasli, she was a twin. What is the average size for this age? He's guessing she's 50lbs. I've seen pics of 1 year old obers online that look identical to her size. I put her photo in the other thread, but will post here too so you can evaluate her **that is his best guess on weight, we'll weigh her and get an actual # tomorrow**
Here she is
Attached Images

[Helena]

Have had hubians for..too..many years. I do have a couple does a year old that seem to be the same size as yours. Others are larger. If they haven't been sick and are wormed and eating well I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just like children..they will catch up with the others. Now..if you are thinking of breding them..I would wait. An old saying I use to hear was..either 9 months old or 90 pounds...sounds a little off to me either way though. I have some of my "old" nubians and one doe is actually 250# !! Yes, she is fat but don't bred her any more at the age of 10. Hopefully, some others have some better advice for you.

[Helena]

OOPS....that's Nubian goats...

[LoneStrChic23]

50lbs at a year would be small for an Oberhasli. My Ober doe was 120lbs at a year and she was a very light boned doe...

Perhaps cocci or worm overload was an issue and she's stunted.

[Awnry Abe]

Feed more Doritos...
ETA: OT, sorry, I don't even know what kind of goat that was in the commercial, but it was the best commercial in a looonnng time. Your pic just made me think of it.

[Donna1982]

I have been told its 10 lbs per month plus birth weight. I do not think that can be a rule to all goats because I have seen different lines grow way differently.

[mygoat]

Any dairy goat should gain 10lbs per month on top of birth weight while they're growing. That means an 8lb kid at birth would be 18lbs at 1 month, 28lbs at 2 months etc. That means by 8 months of age, that kid would be 88lbs and bred or breedable.

I'd like to hear what her actual weight is. I don't care what line it is, if it's only 50lbs, I can GUARANTEE she's stunted for some other reason. Unless obers are so rare that many people are breeding whatever is born and not culling for size requirements... How big were her parents? Did you get to see them when you picked her up? I find a lot of the time, 'slower growing lines' simply could use a deworm and cocci prevention in the kids, as well as GOOD FEED, and they'd do a lot better. Sure, some lines may be slower than others especially to maturity... but if you have several unrelated goats and all their kids grow slow... well... it might be management. (just a peeve I've noticed talking to people locally and nothing really to do with your Ober, kinda a thread drift... )

That doeling looks a little scruffy, to be honest. She is NOT emaciated from what I can see, but doesn't look as I'd expect a dry yearling to look. You already noted that with her anemic eyelids. She has no hay belly, and not a lot of body fat that I would expect from a well fed, unbred dairy doe. While they shouldn't be fat, I'd expect much different condition on a dry yearling that isn't bred.

[mamaC11]

Yes, I saw her parents, both looked excellent. He also had 2 other does as well that looked to be in good condition. I honestly think that it is a combination of poor feed and worms. I'm unschooled on cocci though. What would I do for that? He said he didn't feed them much actual feed, relied on hay more than anything. I did notice some table scraps (fruits veggies type) in their pen but that didn't bother me too much as we do the same with our goats.

[mygoat]

Cocci causes permanent stunting by essentially scarring the intestines.It is a protozoan parasite that ALL goats have. As with all parasites, the idea is not to kill off all the parasites, but to keep them at a reasonable number. As a yearling, she shouldn't have too heavy of a load as adults rarely suffer from too heavy loads (natural resistance), BUT, the damage has already been done.

Here's what I do for cocci prevention, keeping in mind that I raise dam raised boers as well as dairies that I pull at birth and raise separately on the bottle.

Starting 4 weeks pre-kidding, the entire doe herd gets grain medicated with 20g rumensin per ton. This lowers the number that the ADULTS are shedding in their feces, thus lowering the amount the kids will be exposed to when born.

"Traditional" cocci prevention is a 5 days of preventative dosing every 21 days until 'well grown'. Personally I usually stopped around 50lbs live weight. For your bottle kids, you can put it right into their milk. You can also squirt it in their mouth as a drench for 5 days in a row if you'd like. Last year we only did the bottle kids because catching wild dam raised boer kids every day for 5 days in a row is NOT POSSIBLE, especially since I'm only here for 2 or so days a week. (weekends). The bottle kids could taste the dimethox in their milk once their dose was for 50lbs, so they wouldn't drink their milk, lol.

Usual drugs are Dimethox, Albon, or Corid. Keep in mind that corid is a coccidiSTAT, not a coccidiCIDE. Coccidistats simply retard the growth of the parasite, whereas coccidicides KILL some/all stages of cocci lifecycle. There are different strengths/dosages for the different kinds - powder, solution, injectible - all given orally at different doses due to concentration differences.

This year, I'll be using Baycox. You dose it ONCE at about 3-4 weeks of age. Personally since I also dam raise, I'll probably do another dose at 8 weeks of age. I give vaccines at 4 and 8 weeks of age, so giving baycox at the same time would be easy. It will honestly depend on how big they are at 8 weeks of age and how much baycox they would require because Baycox is EXPENSIVE. Baycox is a coccidicide and it kills all life stages of the coccidia parasite.

Once kids are 6+ weeks old they should be consuming enough medicated grain for it to start being effective at keep ing the loads down, too. This year we'll be creep feeding kids or close to it - you want kids eating about a pound of grain per day to continue the 10lbs/month gain.

[mamaC11]

so should i get her some medicated feed? i'm on my way to TSC today

[mygoat]

Medicated feed, or cocci treatment, will not fix permanent scarring of the intestine or stunting. I would not get medicated feed. Especially since you're not likely to find anything worthwhile at TSC. "medicated' feed there would likely mean antibiotics, and that won't do anything.

[coso]

Yes, Like said above she should be anywhere from 115 to 150 lbs at this point, and there is no fixing intestinal scarring caused by cocci. She will grow more probably but at a much slower rate then normal. Most are fine boned and unthrifty, just because they cannot get the nutrients they need to thrive. You see this a lot in new goat owners. They bring goats on a new place. Do not have any trouble with coccidia for a year or two, so don't think they will ever have to use prevention then wet weather or some other stresser causes an explosion and you have kids that are stunted.

[CaliannG]

She is stunted...but that doesn't mean she won't be a good, little home milker for you.

You can reverse a lot of damage with proper management. Yes, you can even reverse *some* of the intestinal damage done by untreated coccidiosis...although NOT, by any means, all.

When you get her home, worm her. Worm her well. You want a really large worm kill on her...and you want to repeat that in 10 days.

Then, you will want to drench her with Red Cell, use half the dose recommended on the label, but give it to her every other day for a week. Those pale eyelids mean anemia...and anemia could count for a lot of her lack of growth.

After that week, start with the Replamin Plus Gel. 5 cc given every day for three days, and then wait four days and give her another dose. Give her one dose per week after that.

During this time, make sure she has all of the hay and alfalfa pellets that she can stuff into herself, but introduce them SLOWLY. Take at least 2 weeks to work up to that all-she-can-eat buffet of hay and alfalfa pellets. Keep baking soda out as well, because the change in diet (having lots of groceries available to her) will likely cause some tummy upset. Also check for a concentrate, such as lactation pellet, show goat meat pellet, or a mixed grain. She should get NO MORE than 1 lb of grain per day with the all-she-can-eat hay and alfalfa pellet buffet.

With that regimen, you should see marked improvement in her within 6 weeks, and she will be breeding weight, most definitely, by mid summer, and what is more important, she will be in breeding *condition*.

[mamaC11]

Caliann,
THANK YOU. I'm sitting here feeling like an idiot for purchasing her. I read that Oberhaslis didn't always reach full growth maturity until about 3-4 years so I assumed she would be smaller. I contacted the owner and he said she has had no issues like cocci--i'm assuming he meant no presentation with extreme diarrhea. Could it be poor management? I'm thinking she may have been weaned too early and then not fed enough feed in addition to hay. He told us that he didn't offer feed to them very often...only every few days. I know she has worms from the looks of her eyelids. I dosed her with Ivermectin when we got home, was planning on following up in 10 days with another. She also got Replamin, about 5cc yesterday as well. I also have Cydectin horse paste, should I use that? We've already gotten alfalfa pellets and we're going to get an unmedicated goat feed to go along with it. She has access to tons of hay as well.

[CaliannG]

Yes, it could easily just be poor management. MOST goats don't reach their full maturity until 3-4 years old, although they do most of their growing in the first two years. Realize that they don't have all of their teeth until they are five.

Good worming (yes, I would use the Cydectin as well) along with good care should perk her right up. Give her a year of groceries and good management, and she should do well for you.

~makes a wry face~ This is one of the areas where having horns would be good. If she had horns, I could look at them and *tell* you whether her small stature was due to coccidia when she was young, or early weaning and poor feed. It would show in her horns.

[stanb999]

To the lurkers,

Cocci isn't an issue everywhere. It isn't an issue in colder areas. Some goats grow slower as indicated due not pushing hi grain/hi protein feed. $$$

To the op.
She probably needs wormed, No need to worry about Cocci unless you haven't had freezing conditions in the last few weeks. I see your in Georgia so this may or may not be the case.

The seller was a bit of a greenie and "Organic" guy in your other post. If he was just giving her pasture and hay. She will not grow at the rates noted above. Fifty pounds is the light end for sure. But not off the charts small. If she was just 4 or 5 pounds at birth. Which is also likely if he wasn't feeding more than hay and pasture.

FYI my goats take to about 1 1/2 years to be big enough to breed. I often don't have them breed till the following summer. So they are 2 when bred. This eliminates small births and stunting that can happen. Mine get only browse/hay after 12 weeks of age till they give birth.

[mamaC11]

Thank you! I've worried about this ALL day! I'll do everything recommended! She is so amazingly sweet, we were in love the second we saw her and there was NO WAY I was leaving his farm without her...my kids would have revolted!

What dose on the Cydectin? I've read that one is easy to overdose on. Should I wait until AFTER the 2 ivermectin doses or use it at the same time?

[mamaC11]

Stanb,
We've had CRAZY weather here in the past few months everything from low 20's to upper 60's, 6 inches of snow and tornadoes in the same week. I'm really hoping it is just a worm load, honestly. I got a good hold of her this morning and even though she is little she is stout/strong. Her eyes are bright despite the pale lids and she's curious about everything and energetic. Eating hay well, trying to play with our chickens and cats etc. Thanks so much for your input! It is much appreciated

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by mamaC11

Stanb,
We've had CRAZY weather here in the past few months everything from low 20's to upper 60's, 6 inches of snow and tornadoes in the same week. I'm really hoping it is just a worm load, honestly. I got a good hold of her this morning and even though she is little she is stout/strong. Her eyes are bright despite the pale lids and she's curious about everything and energetic. Eating hay well, trying to play with our chickens and cats etc. Thanks so much for your input! It is much appreciated

remember too. She could just be "very" dairy. I have one. Her name is Skinny. LOL She puts all she has into babies and milk. So she will get thin, thin, thin. Like a bag of bones. Then I struggle to get weight back on her. Alfalfa, Boss, oats, corn, dairy pellet, sweet hay. She is perfectly healthy. Get her on some pasture for a few months. She bulks up some. She is just our skinny.

[airotciv]

Originally Posted by CrownRanch

Feed more Doritos...
ETA: OT, sorry, I don't even know what kind of goat that was in the commercial, but it was the best commercial in a looonnng time. Your pic just made me think of it.

It was and Oberhasli, all goats love Nacho Cheese Doritos. As for weight, my Rocky was 50 lbs when he was about a year and now at the age of 4, he is a big wether, 130+.