help, my milker won't eat her grain!

[smilesx4]

I don't know why or what to do about it. It started about 3 days ago and now it's so bad that I have to force her into the milk stand and lock her in quick. She will nibble ,get a piece in her mouth and chew it funny, like she's never had it before. I keep wondering if there is something wrong with her bite or her teeth. She will eat her hay just fine. But now her milk has dropped quite a bit. My other milker is eating just fine. I tried adding molasses but that doesn't do a thing.

Any advice will be appreciated!

[Smoke_Adam]

Are you having to force her onto the stand? If so it may be due to her being nervous. I have 2 does who run from the pasture, through the gate, and jump right on the stand and start to eating right away. I have another that was so skittish when we got her that she would hardly eat on the stand. She has settled down some now but if there is something new in the area or a loud noise she will do what you described. I would look at her overall demeanor and go from there. If she is eating her hay fine and drinking water I would look and see if there is something in the environment that is making her nervious. How does she seem when you bring her into the milking area?

[April]

The first thing I do with a goat who is "off her feed" is a baking soda and water drench. That usually gets them eating quickly. Have you checked for parasites? That can also make them sick enough to stop eating.

[copperpennykids]

Generally a refusal to eat grain is one of two things with a milker (who is not recently fresh):

1) She is acidotic. She needs the baking soda drench. Even if you have baking soda readily available, she needs the drench. If she does not need the drench, the drench won't hurt her - if she does, it is the only thing that is going to fix the problem. Drench.

2) There is something not quite right with the grain. Some goats will eat it anyway, but did you just open a new bag? Try a different bag and see if she likes it. Just last year I purchased a tote of grain (about 1500 lbs, all from one batch). The goats ate it just fine. The next tote the consumption really dropped off - was taking almost twice as long to go through the grain. Talked to a few folks who were using the same grain from the same company and they were having problems too. Called the company. They replaced the entire tote for me. The goats dug in again. Next tote - problems again. Talked to a few more folks - even their pigs were refusing the grain made by this company. We switched companies.

[mygoat]

Agree with Camille. If other goats are eating the grain fine, it's likely acidois. I battled this last year. You need to drench with baking soda as suggested, and change the feed. Remove some rapidly fermented carbs and increase 'bulk' in the diet. This doesn't necessarily mean a decrease in production if you replace with high quality forage sources. I strongly reccomend an alfalfa hay or alfalfa pellets (high protein, good digestibility but not rapidly fermented carbs), BOSS (just a little - this ads fat, protein and some fiber in the hulls), and shredded beet pulp (this does still have some rapidly fermented sugar, but it is also high in fiber. )

Our mix is 12 parts grain, 6 parts alfalfa pellets, 3 parts shredded beet pulp, 1 part BOSS. Free choice grass hay and pasture.

The doe I battled with hated alfalfa pellets, she'd eat around them. She had it really bad all one year, but successive years I started out on the right foot and she did fine. IT can be hard to work with once it has begun.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Feeding a bit of bread may help. B vitamin shot may help. Cobalt supplement helped my doe.

[copperpennykids]

Oh yes, and withhold grain for about 5 days (if acidosis) until she balances out. Then start in slowly and BOSS added is a great idea.

[smilesx4]

Come to think of it, I did just open a new bag several days ago. I have another bag I will try out first. I am new to goats and I have never done a drench and have no idea how. Can you explain?

Finally, if I do find I need to take her off her grain what do I give her in the milk stand?

thanks so much everyone!

[mygoat]

Alfalfa pellets in the milk stand. As much as she'll eat. You can throw in a handfull of BOSS for the fat content. What is her body condition and how much is (was) she producing?

A drench is when you squirt something in their mouth and get them to swallow it. USually you use a big syringe (with NO needle, but a feeding tube helps! it's a blunt ended metal tube that allows for easier drenching) For baking soda, it would be hard to 'overdose'. I don't ever measure water or baking soda, but when you make a baking soda drench make sure to keep moving the syringe because it will be saturated solution and it will cake up. For a full size dairy doe, I usually do at least 50mls.

[smilesx4]

Okay, I believe her problem is a tooth problem. She tries to eat, chews really funny, then stops. She is fine eating hay but not the grain. I am going to grind some up tonight and see if that helps.
My question now is, now what do I do? I checked her front teeth and see nothing. I can't see her back teeth or figure how to get to them.

[Laverne]

I have two does in milk, one started picking at the grain and even lost some weight over a few weeks. She ate alfalfa pellets fine plus hay and pasture.The other one still ate it fine. The bag was getting low and I looked closer and there were some mites in it. I got fresh grain and she is eating it normally.

[mygoat]

If she's eating hay just fine, I highly doubt the grain is giving her trouble.

And yes, having had a severely acidotic doe, I know what you mean. She would grab a piece, then nod her head up and down/quietly grunt and flap her lips until it flopped back out. She'd shovel the feed around with her nose, eat a tiny bit of the 'good stuff', then look around.