Very thin doe with new baby, Help!

[horseymama2]

Good Afternoon,
I am a horse person, and new to goats, horses aren't rumnents, so things are different. I just got a new nanny with a day old baby, and she is skin and bones. Poor thing! I got her from family, long story, but she is pure bred alpine and very sweet 3yr old. I just need to nurse her back to health. With horses you don't want to increase feed to quickly. You start with just hay, then slowly add concentrates later. How quickly can I put feed to this doe? I mix my own grain/feed a combination of rabbit pellets and oats with added vitamins (red cell) and molasses, it has 14% protien. I also feed free choice hay and they have a nice pasture once the grass comes in this spring. I want to worm her, I am sure she is wormy. This sweet little doe was low goat in the large herd she came from. I only have two other goats, and do things differently here, so she should bounce back pretty quickly. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Southern by choice]

Go slowly like you would with horses. oFFER A GOOD HAY 24/7. oops caps lock on- if she isn't use to it too much alfalfa can make her have the scours. Orchard or orchard alfalfa is good. Next I would slowly start her on a good dairy goat feed breaking the feedings into 3 x a day maybe 2 cups per feeding and work up from there. Loose minerals. Check her FAMACHA and get a fecal done so you can target the type worms.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

X2 to what Southern said. Good luck and kudos to you for “rescuing” her and her kid!

The kid can start nibbling on feed and hay at 2 weeks. This will help take some of the nutritional stress off Mom. A creep-type gate or opening that the kid can get through but Mom can’t is ideal. Same idea applies though. Start slow, though the kid should tolerate increasing a little faster than the Mom since it’s growing.

 

[horseymama2]

Thanks for the info. I had never heard of FAMACHA. Considering her weight and dull coat, I am going to worm her just to be safe. I will go slow with the concentrates. She was getting nothing where she was. I want to worm her so she isn't contaminating my pasture with parasites. My place is clean because it had never been pasture before. I want to keep it as clean as possible.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Thanks for the info. I had never heard of FAMACHA. Considering her weight and dull coat, I am going to worm her just to be safe. I will go slow with the concentrates. She was getting nothing where she was. I want to worm her so she isn't contaminating my pasture with parasites. My place is clean because it had never been pasture before. I want to keep it as clean as possible.

She could have stomach worms and/or coccidia. The treatments are completely different. You could keep her in a smaller area, away from the pasture for now if you don’t want it contaminated.

FAMACHA is something you can find with a simple google search. You are looking at the color of the mucous membranes to see how anemic the goat is essentially.

 

[Southern by choice]

You also need to be careful with deworming too aggressively if she is very underweight. Super thin- high wormload- aggressive deworming can kill a goat.
I would check with your vet but redcell is probably not a bad idea you just have to give less because you can overdose the selenium.
Finding out her Eggs Per Gram Count and tyoe of parasites is the smart move. Deworming without knowing the load in the longrun ends up causing resistance because different dewormers work differently you need to know when to repeat and how often. Some dewormers stun, some kill, some are a glucose inhibitor and dosage is going to vary as well. Some require several days in a row but are gentler.

 

[babsbag]

Calf Manna is a good additive to help them gain weight, just be sure to feed the amount suggested on the bad, and it isn't much.

 

[horseymama2]

How long does it take the milk to come in? The baby was born on Thursday the 8th. She has no udder at t his point. I can express a little milk, but I am concerned she doesn't have enough milk for the baby. I gave the baby a few oz of saved colostrum to supplement this morning because he nursed but still seems hungry. She has freshened a few times before and generally gives more than a gallon a day. Her udder right now is the same size as my yearling who has never freshened. Honestly she is in such poor shape I don't know if she has the reserves to produce milk. I have a few gallons in the freezer from when I was drying off my other doe last summer, so I can easily supplement him until it comes in. Thanks everyone.

 

[Pamela]

Once she is healthy and her parasite load is managed, her milk could come in. I had a doe last year who developed bottle jaw shortly after kidding triplets (2survived). Once we got on top of the worm load she filled up her udder nicely.

 

[horseymama2]

Just a quick update.... Her milk came in today! She is starting to look a tad bit better, the baby is growing and she is settling in nicely. I didn't lock them in a stall tonight. I think they are ready to be on their own. I have two sheds for 3 goats, so I am sure she can find a warm place to sleep. That makes life easier for me!