Some information please
I acquired a young male goat at a farm market. He was very small, thin and sickly. I had to bottle feed him, and I have learned a lot as I go. He is now a very healthy, very loved and spoiled little goat, who adores his momma. (me) Anyhow, I felt really bad about him being alone outside while we weren't home, so I went to the same farm market and acquired a young female. She was pathetic looking, ears all chewed up, dirty, and hooves in very bad shape. I always choose the ones that seem to need me the most. She is not at all like my other goat, Little Dude. She is very fearfull of me, and doesn't seem to like to be touched at all. I've only had her a week, and she has taken to Dude, and he seems much more content to be outside with her, rather than alone. I have been going out and brushing him and feeding them, and only approaching her periodically. Will she come around eventually? Dude runs to me as soon as I open the back door! I'm hoping she will soon take to me also. She seems to have settled down a lot, and even nuzzels my dog now, just like Dude does, he loves my dog, she has been his buddy since he arrived. These will be my only two goats, and I don't plan to breed them, just keep them as pets. I have had Little Dude about 3 months now, the vet told me he was only a week old when I first got him. My new goat, is a female, and doesn't look as old as Dude as she is smaller, but she seemed much more mature than him.(typical, the girls always are!) He has finally learned to drink his water from a bucket, ( I was still giving him a bottle sometimes, he is my baby!)
I am having him nuetered this September, the vet suggested waiting, will this be a problem. She doesn't seem old enough, but what do I know. Can someone please give me some info that I will understand, not being a commercial goat person. I don't even know what type of goats these are. They seem to look alike, although Dude is exeptionally handsome and well groomed. They both have the Nubian floppy ears, but don't seem like they are getting very big, most likely a mix I guess.
Any info will be appriciated!! Thanks!!!
Try giving her lots of attention and care and give her a treat of bread, raisins, or grain mixed with molasses. I have not had much experience with goats like her because most of my pet goats were born with me there. But we did get one not-so-friendly nanny goat that got better over time. About the castrating, billys can breed at 6months they may mount and stuff but they can only inseminate at 6months....my 2 pet wethers,,,(they r only a little over 3 months) were banded at a young age i cant remember what age.....im not sure about how old the nanny has to be...about how much do they weigh? and what color are their eyes?,...i was just wondering because nigerian dwarf goat are small but not as small as pygmies....and some nigerian dwarf goats have blue eyes but they can have other colored eyes.hope this helps ~rachel~
rere
Our billy was bottlefed and i sometimes give him a bottle filled with water cause he looks so cute sucking it!!!....(he's about a year old....)im such a sucker for cuties!
THANKS!
I still like giving my Little Dude a bottle of water too! He loves it! The little nanny seems to be getting better already. She's at least not trying to pull away so much while I pet her, and she seems to like to be brushed. She still won't eat from my hand though, but she will get close enough to see what I have and take it once I put it down.
The vet had told me to wait to castrate Dude since males could get kidney stones that could be fatal. He said to let the urethra grow till he was about 6 months old. That means he won't get fixed until September. I hope it's not too late!
Right now, my boy is about 30-35 lbs, and the girl is about 25 lbs. I think. Dude was only about 10lbs when I got him. I really hope he doesn't get too big, but I'll love him anyway!
Thanks for the info, and any more will be appreciated!
Deb
rerere
Your vet is probably right about the castration. The only reason we castrated ours at a young age was because we banded them...Little Dude sounds really cute! My guess is that they are going to be about the size of my goats. Mine aren't what you call huge...they all have some nigerian dwarf goat in them, and some boer...they're very cute mixes!! My wether, Pirate is probably about 30lbs and he is 3months old (his brother is a little bit bigger, he took after his daddy! )...his mother, is probably 70-80lbs...but she's a little over a year, she might still grow. ~rachel~
more questions
Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you the color of their eyes. Little Dudes are gray and Elbies are brown. Dude is a real pretty buff color and his fur is much smoother, softer, and silkier than El's. I don't know if that's because he's been brushed and kept very clean for a goat. (I actually had him sleeping in our old dog crate in the dining room for the first month or so I had him!) She is brown and white and her fur is semi course feeling, but I haven't bathed her and she has definately not been kept up with like Dude. I doubt many goats have!
I do have another question though. Her ears are very scarred up and even have some holes going through them! It looks as if she has been chewed on by other goats, or something. Could this be it, or does she have another problem? I also noticed that her hooves are very over grown compared with Dude's and she seems like she must be younger, I mean she's smaller and has no horns. Which leads to another question, will she get horns. I had Dude de-budded, but unfortunately one started growing back, so I took him back to the vet where he did it again, (charging me again) and now the other one is growing back! It's not growing like a typical horn though, more like a finger nail. It feels loose too. Could I just use the hoof trimmers to snip it off? I hate to pay for it again. I haven't used my hoof trimmers yet and am sorta apprehensive. I know it's going to be a lot tougher than trimming the dogs toenails!! I know I need to get El's done, it looks like it's effecting her walk and stance. I'll just get her to the vet and let him show me how, that would be the safest for us all. She needs to go anyway.
Thanks again, and if you have time, any and all advice is appreciated!!
By the way, how many goats do you have, and how long have you had them? I'm really enjoying them, they're like a habit now and I'm tempted to get another, although my husband would kill me, we'd all be on the auction block next week!
Thanks again!
Deb
P.S.
So, I'm guessing these goats may not get much bigger than say, a large German Sheppard? (please say yes!)
happy 4th!
I started out with a black and white, (with some gray shading) nigerian dwarf-nubian and who knows what else goat 4 years ago. (Paddy) She was sickly and had lice and some other problems. We got her healthy and bred her when she was 2. She had 2 brown does, one (Bo Peep, otherwise known as Bop) was more dun, and the other (Tinkerbelle) was more reddish. They had black masks and black spots under their top coat. Then the same guy that we had bred Paddy to called and said he had bought a pregnant boer goat and that she had not accepted the baby so he had bottle fed him. Now his other billy was beating up on him (typical boy) and he wanted him to go to a good home. So he gave the little red guy with a white splotch to us. So we bred paddy, tinkerbelle, bop and another goat that we had gotten named cindy to him. (they were a year old by now) All of them had twins so we had 8 babies. We plan to sell a few. So we will have 6 goats.
It sounds like Little Dude may have some nigerian dwarf in him (not sure though) we have one doe with grey eyes, two blue, and one with odd greenish eyes. The rest have brown eyes.
Elbies ears may have been chewed, or hung in the fence. I'm not really sure...you'll probably never know it probably has something to do with her previous home.
About the horn growth....it sounds like a scur which occurs when its not burned enough. It occurs in guys more. From what ive read, it sounds like if you cut it, it will bleed alot. and it will grow back because a goats horns are like a growth from their skull. From what i hear some grow so long that they sometimes curl around and grow into the skull, or they break off and bleed alot. I'm not sure what to tell you there!!
Elbie could be hornless we have two.....(if you ever breed her, dont breed her to a hornless goat, this could cause some genetic problems in her kids!)
Elbie might just have coarser hair naturally. We have some weird hair ranging from oily, soft, coarse, and so on.
We do trim their hooves..we had to teach ourselves from books....luckly we didnt harm them or anything like that! When we got harley, his walk was being affected because his hooves were messed up.....
I would say yeah not much bigger if they are about the size of mine. We have a small blue heeler-collie dog the goats weigh more than her and of course are taller, but a german shepard, i would think they arent...most of the dogs out here where i live (VA) are beagles!!(hunting clubs)....... I really love my goats,,,,my favorite thing is having the little babies...they are born at about 2 lbs and are so cute...... and the way the mothers are such a natural at taking care of them well hope some of this helps!!!~rach~
oh yeah
I'm not sure if you worm your goats or not, but save yourself some grief. We wormed with just a pelleted wormer and the goats built up a resistence to it. Being so rainy here in va the bot flies and other parasites were awful. We had no idea the goats got sick. but while i was on vacation, paddy, (my favorite baby) got suddenly sick. (thats how it happens they just get suddenly sick with no warning) The people who were watching them tried everything. Then she died. The others got suddenly sick too. They were taken to the vet, she gave them iron shots and said that we needed to alternate wormers since they had built a resistence to the wormers. Then we got back. We did everything we could but it was to late for bop she died 2 days later. The vet said she had a bacterial infection too. The mosquitos are really bad and here in Va alot of people are losing goats due to worms and bacterial infections. Literally in our fields, there is standing water. She (the vet said that the water gives the different parasites a good place to lay, then the goats eat the grass and get them in their system. Then they suddenly get sick, and they die. SHe recommends alternating Ivromec and safeguard or some other wormer. just warning you so you dont go through the same thing. I had the hardest time getting over it But ive learned alot. ~hope this helps~rachel
worming
Thanks so much!!! Up here in PA we've had lots of rain too and I've noticed how bad the mosquitoes and flies are. I'll definately get some different wormer tomorrow, thank goodness I'm not working! I'm a St. Park Ranger and this weekend is definately the busiest of the summer.
L. Dude was only wormed once since I've had him at the vet. It probably wasn't so important, as he has only been outside 24 hrs a day since we got Elbie. He didn't even eat grass, we fed him fruit and goat chow and, even then he spent most of his time on the back porch. Now we have moved them to the back yard with a make-shift shelter and if all goes well, they should be in their new 16x16 ft. corral tonight! I hate them being tethered and I know how dangerous it is...I am out there at least every 1/2 hour checking on them and trying to make sure there is nothing for them to get hung up on, but some how they manage to find something or each other!
I noticed that El has a little cough, not hacking but just this little cough sometimes. Dude had that when I first got him but his was worse. He sounded like he had a smokers cough! He also had diarrhea really bad and was given antibiotics from the vet. Then it cleared up, do you thnk there is any connection? I am definatley taking Elbie to him tomorrow. I'll get her the works! I better put in some overtime!! hahaha!
While I'm there I'll have him do her hooves, since they are really bad and then I'll have a better idea how to do them myself. I've read up on it, but just like anything I try reseaching myself, there's always different ways and views on the best way. Seeing it done will really help. Since Dudes don't seem that bad, and her's will be done then, I'll just make sure I keep up with them.
Your babies sound adorable and I'm so sorry about Paddycakes and Bo-Peep! I don't know what I'd do if Dude suddenly got sick and I lost him! Even though he is definately not the same tiny, needy, litte baby I brought home, he will always be my Litte Dude. As for Elbie...she's coming along. She will come over and eat leaves out of my hand now but still tries to stay out of reach. Once I get her and start petting or brushing her though, she seems to like it.
I am just hoping that we don't have any babies. Although I know how adorable they would be, my husband would kill me! And Dude is really starting to act onery! He reminds me of my 15 year old boy!
Well I gotta go get ready for work, I'll happy when this weekend is over! Hope your holiday was great, and thanks again!
Deb
re
sounds like they have a good place to live .....goats always find some way to get tangled up or hung!i remember when i got paddy her horns were to big to burn so we just left them. Then she started getting her horns stuck in the fence! So we took a stick and taped it to her horns... that solved that problem!
Diarrhea can mean a lot of things. The two major ones are worms or overeating. If they have it just make sure they dont get dehydrated.. you can get electrolyte pastes to squirt in their mouths, or you can use regular pedialyte if the goat takes a bottle!(the kid that was in my kitchen got that treatment!) When you take her to the vet he'll probably check elbies cough....she might have a cold, but he'll probably check for worms just to make sure because they sometimes get in their lungs...i doubt thats her problem though. It sounds like elbie is getting friendlier Harley our billy can get an attitude quick to! He doesnt butt hard but if hes mad at you he'll put his head on your leg and push. Yeah if you have babies they build up real fast and you want to keep them all!!!! ~ i miss paddy and bop but i still have tinky its been hard on her because goats are herd animals and they were her mom and sister!!! well i got to go ~rachel~
Oh happy day!! The new pen is finished! My husband actually finished a project within a weekend!
They seem really happy, but I think Dude feels a little insecure without lead tangled around something! They have everything 2 little goats could possibly want now... I think. And to put the icing on the cake, Elbie just ate a treat out of my hand. It was a piece of granola bar, she almost didn't get any, Dude is quick when it comes to the treats!
Which leads me to my next question, Dude is really starting to bully Elbie. He's butting her pretty hard sometimes, especially when I feed them. He pushes her away from the food. I tried seperate bowls for them, but he just ran over and bullied her away from both. Even if I just go and get them some branches off of the maple tree and put them around on the ground he does the same thing. I am starting to think he is jealous of her because as soon as I get her to hold still and brush or pet her, he runs over and pushes his way in. Could that be it, he's actually jealous?! Is he acting like a typical pubecent boy, picking on the girl because he likes her, and he'll grow out of it, or, do you think this could turn out to be a serious problem?
Anyhow, thanks and take it easy. It's been a long day! I'll let you know how we make out at the vet.
Deb
=D
He is probably used to being the 'only baby'. He might also get better once he is castrated>......I remember Harley was like this to Paddy, because she got the most attention because she was the "herd queen" He probably won't hurt her to bad because he has no horns! And he will probably grow out of it. When bop and tinky were little, tinky used to lay in my lap all of the time. Bop would come over and knock her out. Then if Tinkerbelle layed anywhere else, Bop wanted that exact spot (see where her namesake came from?) She eventually grew out of it, and they always slept together. Well, hope everything goes good at the vet!!!
the vet
Elbie's vet trip went well. She's much older than I thought. He said she's about 1 yr. (she's so tiny! how long do goats grow?)She didn't have a fever and gave her an immune booster and all her other shots. He showed me how to trim her hooves and she was a really good girl. Dude will go next week for his horn and to be wormed.
I have to go to a training thing this week, won't be back till Saturday, I'll talk more to you then!
Deb
elbie
Harley is a little over a year and he is still growing, but elbie sounds very small! Did the vet weigh her? i know you said her weight before, but i was just curious! She may be stunted or have some pygmy or dwarf goat in her, but if shes really small more likely pygmy. I dont think its any hazard to her health, she probably will grow more, but it doesnt sound like shes going to get very big! well im glad the vet visit went well!!!!!~rachel ~
He said to let the urethra grow till he was about 6 months old. That means he won't get fixed until September. I hope it's not too late! 
and the way the mothers are such a natural at taking care of them well hope some of this helps!!!~rach~
The others got suddenly sick too. They were taken to the vet, she gave them iron shots and said that we needed to alternate wormers since they had built a resistence to the wormers. Then we got back. We did everything we could but it was to late for bop she died 2 days later. The vet said she had a bacterial infection too. The mosquitos are really bad and here in Va alot of people are losing goats due to worms and bacterial infections. Literally in our fields, there is standing water. She (the vet said that the water gives the different parasites a good place to lay, then the goats eat the grass and get them in their system. Then they suddenly get sick, and they die. SHe recommends alternating Ivromec and safeguard or some other wormer. just warning you so you dont go through the same thing. I had the hardest time getting over it
well i got to go ~rachel~
Even if I just go and get them some branches off of the maple tree and put them around on the ground he does the same thing. I am starting to think he is jealous of her because as soon as I get her to hold still and brush or pet her, he runs over and pushes his way in. Could that be it, he's actually jealous?! Is he acting like a typical pubecent boy, picking on the girl because he likes her, and he'll grow out of it, or, do you think this could turn out to be a serious problem? 
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