Slow growing boer doelings*update*

[20kidsonhill]

They are looking Good RPC. As far as breeding them next June, I am sure you are headed in the right direction. Kids normally grow better in the winter. Weigh them monthly and track their weight gain, IF it falls off really bad, you may wish to question it and do fecals. Really keep a good eye on them in spring when it starts to warm up.

They look really nice. Congrats.

 

[RPC]

Thank you all I feel alot better about these girls. I am still not sure/used to how goats grow. I was raised with cattle and pigs so the goats are still new to me. It has been almost 2 years that we have had them and still have alot to learn. This will be our third kidding season and I can not wait for more babies.

 

[RPC]

Well it has been one month to the day since I first weighed them. So with the help of my sister we weighed them again the same way using the bathroom scale. I am pretty happy with them and at least they are all growing. Cashmere is now 95 pounds, Valentine is 71, and Hope who is 2 months younger is 65 pounds. Which means Valentine gained 14 pounds this month, Hope gained 15 and little piggy Cashmere gained 22 pounds. I think this will be the last time we weight them with the bathroom scale because I don't know if I can keep picking up Cashmere, I think 95 pounds is about my limit.

 

[Roll farms]

I'm pretty disappointed, myself.

I weighed Moonie today. She's only gained 6# in the last month, and I am dumping the food to her. Her fecals are ok, eyelids look good, and she eats. She must just be the slow-growing-est goat in the world. OR, she knows Oct 31 is her cutoff breeding date and she's NOT going to make it on purpose.

6 mos, 56#. :/

 

[RPC]

Ok so that makes her an April kid. Well Hope was born March 26th and is 65 pounds so Moonie is still 11 pounds less. 6 months is still kind of young so maybe just give her time. at 6 months Hope was only 50 pounds.

 

[20kidsonhill]

growth rate in meat animals can be very very genetic. No matter who we breed this one doe of ours too, we get slow growing kids from her. She herself was a slow grower. the only reason we have kept her is even though the kids are in the lighter weight classes they do show well, with a correct structure and smooth shoulders. But you would go broke if you had an entire herd of commercial animals from her.
On the positive side, she also doesn't eat much, and as an adult, she is a very easy keeper. I would say she weans as high a percentage of her body weight as some of the bigger does do that are eating 2 or 3 times the amount that she is. I never have to worm her, her feet are in good shape, she always has twins. So maybe if you take into account that the kids take a couple more months to reach 80lbs for market, maybe her other positive traits make up for it. The kids don't eat as much as some of my other kids do either, so it isn't like I am feeding them as much and they aren't growing. They just like taking their time.