One of my does who as a FF had triplets in early spring is 8 weeks pregnant and already showing a lot! I'm concerned that she is going to have quads or quints since she is as big as she was at 4 months last time but she's only 2 months pregnant! My question is, I know she shouldn't have much grain (she is already dried off) and I have cut her back to very little, but would you still continue to give her some grain since she is very likely carrying so many kids? I worry she won't get enough calories and have toxemia problems later on. She is slender and in good condition overall.
Second question, I'm going out of town for thanksgiving and have someone coming to stay at my farm so in the interest of simplicity, I have stopped milking my senior doe who has been lactating for 5 months and has a doeling still on her. For her, should I stop or cut way back on her grain since I'm not milking her? Her doeling is getting pretty fat and I'd like her to cut down on her lactation if possible. Would that be too hard on her to be in milk and not have grain? Should I only give her a little like I'm giving my pregnant doe?
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Okay that does it for me! No more grain for her! I have a good quality hay "forage" mix (http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/products/forages/alfalfa-hay-forage-...) that has 15% protein and they get some of that everyday plus regular hay that they don't like much, and timothy grass pellets which they also eat well. Certainly makes feeding time simpler if none of them get grain over these next few months. Thanks for both of your responses!
On the toxemia question ... I've had three sets of quints and quite a few quads, and (knock on wood) no problems with toxemia. I'm not sure there is always something you can do to prevent toxemia. I've heard people say that when their goat got toxemia, her appetite diminished. I've always just made sure that my does had really good quality hay during pregnancy. You don't want really big quints either. That's what happened with my doe Coco that wound up with a ruptured uterus. Her quints averaged 3 pounds each! Her belly was only a few inches off the ground. The kids were so big and tangled up in there that I couldn't get them untangled after the first one. There was so little room to work. I took her to the vet hospital, and they managed to pull the last four kids. In retrospect, it's not really surprising that her uterus ruptured.
I always say just watch the goats. If they start losing weight, then they need a few more calories.
I don't grain my does during pregnancy. I have really good quality hay, and they just don't need it. Even with multiples. Graining during pregnancy, (especially at the start) only feeds the babies, and can make them larger than they need to be.
If your senior doe isn't producing a ton of milk, I would just stop graining her, and let her doeling take care of what milk she has left while you're gone.