Is she pregnant?

[Goat Whisperer]

Yes, I might have some chubby girls (and boys ) but I still think for a Saanen she is thin.

I don't want to start an argument or make the OP feel bad OR give any of the readers the wrong idea. @Goatgirl47 takes good care of her animals! She is welcome to PM me about it if she wants to know what I'm looking at.

 

[babsbag]

@Goat Whisperer I am giving you a hard time. The first time I saw your goats you and @Southern by choice tried to convince me that they were skinny. NOT!!!!

My does that are raising kids right now are pretty thin so my view is skewed.

 

[Goatgirl47]

Sage isn't as thick as I would like her to be, but I am afraid to feed her more because - if she is pregnant - I don't want her kid(s) to be huge. Right now she is getting a mixture of organic grain/alfalfa pellets/goat pellets twice per day. Her and most of the other goats eat together out of a long trough, and I think she gets around 2 cups per day. So not very much, but she is the bossiest goat (but still not the herd queen, LOL) so maybe she gets more. I can't stand having thin goats (my Alpine doe is very underweight and after getting the results back from the vets regarding the fecal sample we took in, she doesn't even have worms, so I upped her feed rations and am hoping for the best), I always feel really bad. I worry about them constantly when they are skinny or thin. Could I up her (Sage's) feed without the risk of having an over-sized kid?

Here are a few more pictures from the last week or so. The last picture is of the fencing the previous owner had between her bucks and does.

The breeder we got them (Sage, Verity and Cap) from said that she had two other bucks at that time, not including Cap (the buckling in the center of this picture). Her other two bucks were a Lamancha and a Nigerian Dwarf.

 

[babsbag]

Do they get hay too?

 

[Goatgirl47]

Yes, they have hay almost all of the time.

 

[babsbag]

My does eat only alfalfa when they are bred, no grain at all. But I would be comfortable giving her a little extra if you think she is bred. She is far from being fat and I don't think the size of her kid would be impacted. If/when she has the kid you are going to have to up the grain to keep her in milk, at least 4-5 cups a day of 16% feed. You might try getting her out of the herd and feeding her a supplement, like Calf Manna. Just a little extra to help her out if she is bred. You might try that with your thin Alpine doe too.

 

[goatgurl]

kind of agree, i'd bump up their feed some too. on one level you have to remember that these are dairy goats and not meat type so you expect some angulation but they do look a bit thin. another thing to remember is that at this time of year although the grass is lush and green it is also mostly water so they aren't getting much nutrition out of it. do they have free choice minerals in front of them? I've found that my girls need more copper than others so not only do they have free choice minerals but get copper bloused once or twice a year depending on their condition. being a young doe she will thicken up as she gets older. give her time. and remember that kids grow approx. 60% of their size in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. my girls have the run of 60 acres plus they get grain daily and have free choice hay in front of them. they are by no means fat nor do they carry extra flesh. years ago when I showed my goats I did keep them a little "plumper" but now that we all stay home they are just kept in "good" dairy shape. and yes @Goat Whisperer we all know that your skinny little niges Aren't and we love you anyway

 

[Goatgirl47]

Below are some pictures of Sage taken yesterday evening. She is scruffy and wet because it started raining softly when her and the other goats were in their electric pasture without any shelter. We got them out after they had braved the storm for about ten minutes though.

Yesterday I found a bag of beet pulp in the barn, so I am slowly adding that to their diets as well. Also, I have another question regarding Sage. For the past few months she's been having a lot of nasal mucus. It is thick and white. Is this something to worry about? She likes to rub it onto our clothes or the other goats' fur, which is a little gross.

Here is Sage's dirty face after she finished her meal.

Sorry, the picture quality was not at it's greatest last night!

 

[Goatgirl47]

The below pictures were taken the day before yesterday.