What to feed lactating does (and underweight buck)?

ThePhoebeFive

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I have two questions about feeding my goats:

1) We have two ND does and this is their first freshening. Their babies are 6 1/2 weeks old and we have been separating them overnight since they were 2 weeks. We are feeding the does 1 cup of grain, 1/2 cup alfalfa pellets, 1/4 cup corn, 1/4 cup BOSS. They have access to coastal hay, loose minerals, and baking soda all the time and go out into our small pasture for an hour or two every day (no more than that because the babies can't come with). We live on 2 acres and the pasture area is about 1 acre.
One doe is giving a cup every morning and the other is giving about 2/3 of a cup. I know that FFs give less milk, but I was expecting a little more than that. We are trying to do this as cheaply as possible, but if we aren't getting much milk because we aren't feeding enough of the right stuff, we need to change some things.
What and how much should we be feeding lactating, ND does?

2) Our breeding buck got pretty ribby during rut season. Per our vet's instruction, we were feeding him a half cup of grain every 2-3 days, but we have increased to a half cup every day. (The vet said to give him extra, but she didn't say how much.) We've been doing that for a few weeks and he still hasn't put much weight on. I did some poking around and some people say you can feed bucks BOSS and alfalfa pellets, but some say you can't. The grain has AC and I put apple cider vinegar in his water every day to prevent UC, but I'm guessing that only prevents to a certain extent.
I want help him get back his weight, but I don't want to accidentally give him UC feeding him the too much of the wrong stuff. What and how much should we be feeding him to get his weight back up?
 

ThePhoebeFive

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I can get pictures of the buck, but he has such a thick coat you can't tell he's skinny.
 

Youngfarmer2019

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Ive always used Mangel Beets with my underweight animals, that or beet shreds from Standlee (you can usually pick up the shreds from Tractor Supply)
 

canesisters

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Beet Pulp shreds - soaked to double their volume - have done wonders for underweight animals I've needed to put weight on. But I agree, worm him first.
 

ThePhoebeFive

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We had been using herbal dewormers once a week, but were noticing they didn't seem to be working so well. We talked to one of our goat mentors and they said herbal doesn't work this far south. They told us to switch to chemical and told us how they do it. We dewormed everybody with Moxidectin Feb 1st and then again the 1st of this month, so he should be up to date. 3mL both times, but just to really knock the worms out. From now on, we are deworming with 2mL every two months. (The person who told us lives here in SC and have been doing dairy goats for a living for 20 years now.) The issues we had been seeing were resolved a bit after deworming, weight loss aside.

I will definitely look into beet shreds.

Thank y'all!
 

ThePhoebeFive

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We had been using herbal dewormers once a week, but were noticing they didn't seem to be working so well. We talked to one of our goat mentors and they said herbal doesn't work this far south. They told us to switch to chemical and told us how they do it. We dewormed everybody with Moxidectin Feb 1st and then again the 1st of this month, so he should be up to date. 3mL both times, but just to really knock the worms out. From now on, we are deworming with 2mL every two months. (The person who told us lives here in SC and have been doing dairy goats for a living for 20 years now.) The issues we had been seeing were resolved a bit after deworming, weight loss aside.

I will definitely look into beet shreds.

Thank y'all!
How much beet shreds should I give him? (Obviously working him up to eating it.)
 

Mini Horses

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Does buck get hay? You've wormed and still needs weight....increase the feed!! As to does, size? Are kids nursing? Look, it takes WAY MORE energy to make milk than babies. NDs come in several sizes. If these are NOT from milk lines, you will not get good volume. You "may" be getting their limit.

Herbal dewormers help but only after you've killed any worms already there. Did you deworm kids? If not, do.

Appears you are taking milk for house in morning, letting kids have nursing all day. Right? Well, until you retrain the does to 2x day milking, you won't get volume you want.

My girls get more feed, give more milk but, full sized goats and heavy producers. I'd say close to 1# feed for 1# milk....plus hay, heavy on alfalfa. I use a 20% protein dairy pellet. Top dress with BOSS. And when pasture in, reduce some feed. For this I average 1.5-2.5 gal per day, per head. FF give less. There's no perfect answer, every animal differs.
 
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