Is she too young to breed?

[meme]

Thanks! She is such a sweet girl too!

We feed them a large leaf of alfalfa 2X a day with about a half leaf of orchard grass hay that usually lasts them into the next morning. We also feed her two cups of noble goat grain every evening, but I will probably start increasing that. I also think adding alfalfa pellets might not be a bad idea since I am not a huge fan of all the soy in grain. Also, they have free access to manna pro minerals and baking soda. We also mix in some ammonium chloride for our wether. They are up to date on their CDT and we recently wormed Heidi and Shasta twice based on recomendation from our goat vet and club leader. They love finding food out in the pasture during the warmer months, but their isn't much left right now, plus they are scared of the rain. Is there anything else we could be doing?

I was feeling her spine this morning, and there is definitely some fat cover there. It isn't easy to feel individual vertebrae or anything. I noticed that when they all eat a lot, Shasta's and Rachel's rumens get huge, but Heidi's really doesn't. The one time she looked "normal" was when she got into the chicken food and we thought she was getting bloat! It's really strange, but then again, Rachel and Shasta are nubians, which tend to be stockier.

 

[Southern by choice]

It all sounds great!

I am curious to what the goats were wormed for and with what. Running your own fecals is priceless when you own goats, but if you don't have a microscope it can be expensive to have stools run at the vets. The one thing I'm wondering about is what kind of parasites were seen. Some people use the eye color as their only source of identifying parasite load, it's called FAMACHA. FAMACHA should NEVER be the only way to see if an animal has a parasite load because it is really only effective for the baberpole worm. If a goat is eating healty food and has good care and your still seeing a weight issue, that says HMMM, let me see what else is going on. If she has liver flukes she will remain thin and slowly lose condition, but her eyes may still be nice and pink. The wormers are different for different parasites. How long ago was she wormed and was there a follow up fecal?

She really doesn't look all that thin to me in the pics. JMO
The somewhat "hollow" area by the hip bones could be just her structure. I've seen quite a few dairy/dairy mixes that have that same structure but are very healthy.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

I agree. It could also be that she had an empty rumen. From the pictures and what you are saying about her spine and how you can't feel individual vertebrae, I think she should be fine. She looks good to me, she is old enough and weighs enough.

 

[meme]

We did take the pictures right before her dinner time, so she probably does look a little thinner than usual. I think I might just wait to breed her until she is older though. There isn't any rush and I only want what's best for her. Plus, we can only go through so much milk so fast!

We did have a fecal done on her a few months before when she had a minor case of cocci. She didn't have enough of a load for meds, but it was kind of expensive. We didn't ask them about worm eggs though. Our vet recommended Decomex (I think it was) because she said it works well for her goats and the worms aren't resistant to it yet. She lives right down the street from us, so I imagine the type of worm would probably be the same. Her eyelids were lighter before worming, and have now darkened up quite a bit. We gave her almost 2 CCs roughly 3 weeks apart to keep a new cycle from starting over again. I know we should have gotten a fecal done, but I just assumed the meds would be fine this time. I was definitely planning on a fecal before I worm again. Maybe I should just have one done now just to make sure nothing survived. Thanks for all of the help!

 

[quiltnchik]

I'm not seeing where she's too thin. Dairy breeds tend to appear "thinner" to us, but a good dairy doe puts everything in the bucket. Just look at Jersey/Holstein/Guernsey cows; they appear "thin." I think our society is hung up on thinking that a "fat" animal equals a "healthy" animal, which is not at all the case.

 

[Southern by choice]

x2!

 

[quiltnchik]

Rachel and Shasta are nubians, which tend to be stockier.

I've noticed the opposite with my Nubians. My oldest doe - age 4 - has a "belly" but is sunken in around her pelvic area and always has been. She's extremely "dairy" and a fantastic producer - she just puts everything she has in the bucket

 

[meme]

I'm not seeing where she's too thin. Dairy breeds tend to appear "thinner" to us, but a good dairy doe puts everything in the bucket. Just look at Jersey/Holstein/Guernsey cows; they appear "thin." I think our society is hung up on thinking that a "fat" animal equals a "healthy" animal, which is not at all the case.

That can be so true. It seems like every dog, cat, horse, you name it I see these days is overweight to obese, and their owners think nothing of it. I want my animals to be healthy. Not too thin and not too chunky!

Also, I noticed that a lot of young Alpines are smaller than other breeds that are similar in age. And not just with Heidi! However, when they get older it really does seem to change a lot. I guess it depends a lot on the individual too.