Newly adopted doeling! pix p 2

[freemotion]

I just got in from milking and putting everything away, and Ginger had a third bowl with 2 oz of milk....well, 3 oz, but she left a bit. So 6 oz today, too. When I left, she was standing in the tray I made under the hay rack to catch the leafy bits and was happily eating from the hay rack. I had been pulling handfuls out for her everytime I went in. She was SO cute standing there in the tray.

The tray, btw, was a complete waste of time. With Ginger standing in it and when Mya has the stall, she puts her front feet in it to reach the best bits, and then no one will eat hay that someone's feet have stepped on. Hmmph. Live and learn. But the best leafy bits can then go to the confined turkeys, and Ginger has fun with it, so it stays. I gotta remember to bring my camera out and try to get a picture of that.

She now WANTS me to stroke her face and scratch her head, and gets the dreamy-eyed look and almost falls alseep standing up. Just two days ago she would run and fight if I put my hand near her face after the bottle-feeding trauma. How quickly she forgives....

 

[Blackbird]

I'm so glad she's eating good now!

If she is part Nubian and part Boer her ears should be hanging down anyway. Both Boers and Nubians have the 'flop' ears, although Nubian's are more pendulous and usually longer. The person who sold her to you either doesn't know their breeds, got mixed up, or lied.

At that age our bottle babies usually drink a pop bottle full twice a day.
What kind of milk did you say you're feeding her?
You can gradually wean her on to Mya's milk if you want, I'm sure she'd drink Mya's too.

 

[freemotion]

Thanks for the info, every bit helps. Not Nubian/Boer? Look at her picture carefully, please, and tell me what you think she might be. I don't really care too much, I just wanted a hybrid. But I would like to know...or guess.

Is your pop bottle a modern 24 ounce bottle? 48 ounces a day????? So she is UP TO 1/8th of what she should be drinking????? I should be happy with the progress, but I want perfection....is that too much to ask?

She is getting Mya's milk. Her mama probably gave chocolate milk or something more exotic.....French vanilla latte.....I don't want to give her powdered milk, it is so bad for people, it is bad for my critters! And I can't imagine she would refuse fresh REAL milk and gobble up powdered crappp.

Hmmm, it is midnight and I just want to run out there and give her a big ol' smoochie! Right on her cute little fuzzy lips!

 

[Blackbird]

Sorry Free! I should have looked at when she was born again.
Right now with our one week babies they are getting about 1/4th a pop bottle (12 oz at most but rarely, unless we have a big eater) four times a day.

At three months goats should have about 32 oz twice a day. This is just what has been working for us.

I'd say she is nubian/saanen or boer/saanen. There might be other mixes too of course.

I know some people feed Vit D whole milk instead of powder mixes or goats milk.

Edited because I said twice instead of four.

 

[freemotion]

An update: Ginger took in close to 2 quarts of milk today!!! That was a sudden and big jump. I discovered that if I add some chopped fresh grass, clover, and dandelion leaves, I can get the goody level up and she will "eat" the milk in the process. She got a pint each at four feedings today, I left the last bowl with her and it was half empty when she left it for her hay.

She was much more active and spunky tonight. When I let her out after work, instead of making a beeline for the grass in the pasture, she went into the other goats' stall to jump on and off a plastic block in there that is higher than anything in her stall. I actually picked her up to bring her outside to play, as the sun was almost down. She didn't act so starving, either.

Whew!

eta: She is seven weeks old today!

 

[freemotion]

Today's update. She almost finished three bowls today, and her behavior is so different. She is not such a voracious eater (pasture), and she is much more playful and intereactive. Not so focused on/obsessed with food. Now that she is getting proper nutrition, that is. Just two days ago she would run to the pasture when let out and eat, baa'ing the whole time she was stuffing her face. Sometimes she would go out there alone, if the big girls were done grazing and went back in to chew cuds.

DH saw her make a play for Mya's udder today....Mya wasn't amused, but didn't bonk her. Just tilted her head at her, and Ginger skedaddled. It would be WAY cool if Mya adopted her, even at this late stage. I'd sure let her nurse and catch up.

 

[big brown horse]

Yea!

 

[Carolyn]

glad she is doing better--yes she has to have something else in her, I am thinking with the coloring--maybe Saanan--I agree if she was Nubian/ Boer cross, she shouldn't have airplane ears. Watch how quickly you introduce new foods--so you don't throw their system into shock. Carolyn

 

[freemotion]

That's why I put grass and such in the milk, she came to me used to pasture. I reduced the amount of grain to a teaspoon from a tablespoon, just a taste. So her diet now is fresh green growing pasture, alfalfa hay, and molasses-flavored milk. I've reduced the molasses a smidge.

Whew, goats!

Today, she gets to feel a collar on her neck during snuggle-time.

Saanen, huh? Her parents both looked very Boer and Boer/Nubian. Wonder who had the other genes....actually, probably daddy. He wasn't as stocky as I'd expected for a Boer.

Life is full of surprises! Hmmm, what shall I breed her to? Oberhalsi/Nigerian/Toggenberg mix?