Figuring out our new goat...help needed!

[ByFaithFarm]

So, we bought a goat over the weekend that doesn’t quite seem to be what she was reported to be. She’s much bigger than we expected-but we are very much newbies, so that’s likely our fault. She also has a broken off horn and a scrappy single one-was reported to us ahead of time as “dehorned.” She definitely needs a hoof trim, which we will attempt as soon as she settles in a bit more. She seems to be healthy otherwise, even if a bit thin.

Biggest question-she had a baby in Jan, and was not kept in milk after it was sold. However, I feel her udder looks like it has something filling it. She has been in with a buck, but was not assumed bred.

About what size/shape should an udder be in at this stage post baby? Or would it more likely be a possible new pregnancy?

Thanks for any suggestions/theories!

 

[chickens really]

Can you post pictures of the goat with all your concern? I'm sure someone will help you.

 

[ByFaithFarm]

 

[ByFaithFarm]

She is a standard Lamancha/Boer cross

 

[chickens really]

I don't know if she appears pregnant at all? Were her kids still possibly nursing from her? Her horns look like a scur on her head from a bad dehorning attempt.
Hopefully someone else replies. Had she been wormed before or since you bought her? Depending on the condition of her hooves it might take 3 different hoof trimming to get her hooves properly without causing injuries.

 

[chickens really]

@Jaime

 

[Jaime]

She looks a bit malnourished, What is her current diet? My first fresheners usually start to develop a little udder pouch like your's after a couple months along in the pregnancy, But it could possibly be her drying up still. If she was housed with a buck then there's definitely a chance she could be bred. Could you ask the previous owner how long/when she was kept with a buck?

 

[ByFaithFarm]

I felt she looked a little malnourished as well. As this is still a learning curve for us, we likely didn’t ask as many questions as we should. The info I have is that she is 3 yrs old, gave a gallon of milk daily last year (which was the last time she was milked), and had a kid in Jan 2020, which was sold and she was allowed to just dry up.

She was on very ample grass pasture with a mixed herd of goats (I feel like this includes the Sannen buck that she was reported to have been in with.).

We have her semi-quarantined, as she settles in, but have been feeding foraged branches - sweetgum and pine, free choice alfalfa and sweet feed in small amounts. Soon she will be out on rotated forage throughout our very wooded acres. With the alfalfa and feed given at night.

How’s that sound for a feeding regime?