Molly's kidding thread~Buckley improved~just waitin' on a normal poo

[glenolam]

I'm glad your FF milking is going well. I can't even get a drip out of Fudgie. Durn teats are too tiny still. :/

 

[savingdogs]

Nothing? Gosh maybe they are doing better than I thought. Molly's milk comes out so easy. I wish it were the other way around because of their personalities. Ginger follows me around like a puppy (except now when she is occupied with her kids) and would always jump up happily on my "fake" stanchion we were practicing on. Molly is a follower.

Well how many times a day do you feed your goats OFG? I leave out free choice hay. Then I give grain twice a day (lately). I used to give it once a day. Is once a day enough? I have not given the morning ration to Molly so I could wait and just give it to her tonight when we milk her. What do you think of that? But she should have her hay, right?

Ginger is already looking thin.....I don't want to milk her or stop feeding her grain twice a day. I was going to not milk Ginger until the kids are a a month or more old. Maybe I can take away her grain except for during milking then. Or should we get her on the stanchion to feed her?
I find I have to wash her female areas regularly with all that discharge. Ewww. Also, I have no shaver yet (hubby insists he can find one at the Goodwill....I know he won't and we are arguing about it). So I can't really save this milk for us yet. I washed off their udders but still got hair and stuff in the milk. I hope this is fine for kids though.

I'm taking the kids next Tuesday for disbudding. I found someone about 45 minutes away...she raises nigerian dwarfs....and she charges 15 for the first one and 10 for any more. Such a deal! I may not even buy a disbudder if I like her. She is apparently the local goat guru, I should get to know her anyway.

So things are awesome in goatie land and yes, I love love love the kids. Looking at them out my window is my favorite new passtime.

 

[Javamama]

Hey sweetie - how are you feeling today?
I had the same question about how do you know how much to feed them - my DH was grilling me on it and I just said said something about them keeping condition and he wants exact quantities, because he read something like a pound of grain for every 3 pounds of milk. But if we aren't milking them, then how do we know how much milk they make? It made my head spin. I said, I'll just give them more and keep an eye on things Hubby is a math man and wants it all in numbers.

I was so surprised at how much goo and fluids there was

I have to go play dolls with my daughter for a bit, but I'll check back soon.

 

[savingdogs]

spins right now....going to bed........ick
not good

 

[glenolam]

Sorry you're still spinning, SD!

Jav..your hubby isn't going to like this, but it really does just depend on their condition. If he wants exact numbers I believe the general rule is 1 lb of grain per kid being nursed, but that is still up to speculation. Everyone feeds differently - I feed my lactating does once a day on the stand as much as they can eat while milking. Of course, if they really don't eat that much grain while on there I will let them have some afterwards.

Here's a few articles for you to give to him

http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/generalfeedingguidelines.html

http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/graintruth.html

 

[Javamama]

He's just going to have to let me be in charge of it

Feel better SD.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I fed my Oberhasli doe as much as she wanted to eat while I milked her. I milked twice a day and she produced around 4-5 lbs of milk per day. I think she ate at least 2 or maybe 3 lbs per day at her max. She got a tad thin, so I started adding wheat bran, which helped slowly. I would let her stay on the stand until she finished what was in her bucket.

I haven't fed a mini goat....so it's going to be hard to adjust. I'd start at at least a lb per day though.

 

[savingdogs]

Uh-oh....I changed the title.

One of my kids is officially ADR. In technical veterinary clinic language, that means "Ain't doin' right."

I noticed yesterday he had a little diarrhea smudge on his bottom (twice). He seemed a little less spirited than his sister.

Today.........after I spent four hours spinning and throwing up, I go out to check everyone.

The same little guy is rather listless. He gets up and moves around but keeps going back to sleep. He wakes up and stuff, but keeps going back to resting. Sister is so cute, sleeping by him and resting her head on him. I can tell both the doeling and Ginger are concerned about him.

I have "Lamb and Kid paste" which I gave him, and some "Nutridrench"....I think both of these are just supplements.

The listlessness and diarrhea reminds me of coccidiosis in dogs....anyone have ideas for me?


HAAAALLLLLPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dace]

No advice here....just hugs

I hope your little guy perks up!

 

[savingdogs]

He is still just sleeping in the sun. We are having a beautiful warm day so he is dozing.