I have been raising goats for going on 8 years now. Those of you in the south know this is especially challenging due to the heat, humidity, and worm load. We started using a nubian buck 3 yrs ago on some of our registered Boer goats to get some moms with better milk. I chose a spotted one "Mo Mo" with good milking lines. My full Boer does are Okay moms but not enough milk to raise multiple meat kids. This is Mo Mo's fourth batch of kids. So far I have gotten 4 nice Boer/nubian does. None with spots. I have gotten numerous beautiful spotted bucklings. Last weekend I got my first spotted doe. What a beauty she is ! We named he Momet. He full sister looks just like her mom a full boer doe, a little on the leggy side like the nubians.I'll have to get pictures later as I don't have the picture software loaded onto this computer yet(hard drive on the other crashed).
Here we get to the title "Overfed goats". I don't have a proper barn or creepfeeder for the kids. So some of my smaller does slip in and eat the creep with the kids. Two to be exact! The were both pregnant and kidded this weekend. I found and helped one with a huge 10lb buckling. I thought I was going to have to feed him but we finally caught mom and got them penned up together. The does mom was a terrible mom and we took her to the sale. This mom is small because her mom didn't feed her properly.
Anyway because she ate the creep her kid was too big and she had trouble delivering him Now she is partially paralyzed on the back end and should not be allowed to kid again. I could take her to the sale but then someone else might let her kid. The other doe I found yesterday. She had a huge red buckling dangling dead out of her back end. He was stuck by the hips . We were lucky though, in trying to catch her the kid came free and she passed the after birth with no problem. So because of an improper creep I have lost one doe and two bucklings. Don't let pregnant does overeat! Yes they need proper nutrition to maintain their condition but not get fat.
Well the shopping for a proper barn and then creep begins! Any good links to how others have their creeps set up would be appreciated. I will get pictures of the new kids. The huge buckling who survived my grandaughter named "jelleybean" because of easter.
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3 comments:
Goats have never been my thing, I still remember having to milk my husbands parents goats when they were at shows and what a pain in the butt, so more power to you!
Don't milk mine Lisa. I have too much else to do. I raise mine for a hobby mostly cause there isn't any money in having just a few. Not to mention the cute fuzzy kids. ;)
I have been trying to milk our fainter and it has not been very successful, although her previous owners swore they did it well.
I am thinking about breeding our saanen just for the milk.
Friends of ours just lost 3 bucklings and the mom due to overeating. Sorry to hear about your recent goat troubles.
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