I am selling my first goat in an hour. He is a weather and I was printing a goat info paper to send with him to his new home when I noticed that it said that weathers do not need sodium bi carb. Is this true? I thought all goats needed it free choice. I don't want to send him to his new home with wrong info.
Thanks
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I have never seen any scientific source say that vinegar will increase the acidity of the urine. Ammonium chloride is the only thing I've seen mentioned for avoiding or treating urinary stones.
If a goat consumes baking soda because their rumen is off, the baking soda is activated in the rumen and is neutralized by the stomach acids.
I wonder if this whole thing got started somewhere on the web by someone who had the idea that they were supposed to be putting baking soda on their goats' feed? In 11 years of having goats and being in online groups, I never heard anyone say anything about this until this year. The bottom line is that NO goat should be given baking soda daily because of the sodium content. It should only be available free choice, and if you have a goat that is consuming a lot every day, then you've got a problem with your feeding program.
I think I'm one of those people who said I'd read not to give baking soda to wethers and bucks. I still don't give my bucks baking soda even free choice, unless I know they got into something or were fed something that might throw the pH off. I don't have any idea if feeding it could actually reduce the acidity of the urine or not. However, if we give ACV and ammonium chloride to increase the acidity of the urine, why wouldn't the baking soda also decrease it? This is really just a question, because I'd like to understand all of this as best I can. Deborah makes a good point that they are unlikely to eat it unless they really need it anyway (as long as they have their loose minerals for the salt they'd probably otherwise try to get from the baking soda), so maybe it's a question that doesn't need an answer. But I like answers. LOL! Which reminds me, Deborah's new book should be waiting for me at the post office, so I'm off to check! :)
There is no reason to NOT allow them free access to baking soda for the reason Rachel said. If a goat is eating grain, they should have access to free choice baking soda. Since most people don't give wethers grain, they will probably never need it, but you never know, which is why free choice is a safe option.
We had a discussion on here months ago (maybe years ago) about whether it would cause kidney stones. I don't recall the reasoning behind that assumption, but there is no evidence that it would cause stones. For starters, the wethers would probably not be consuming it unless they were getting grain, which they should not be getting anyway, so their baking soda consumption should be next to nothing. If someone said that you should not top dress wether's feed with baking soda, then I'd say that's true of any goat. Baking soda should only be available free choice because it is high in sodium and if they consume too much of it, that would reduce their consumption of minerals, which could ultimately affect their health negatively.
I don't that's correct information.
I have read you shouldnt give it to wethers. ??
Baking soda is something that some breeders leave out free choice, and other's don't. I personally don't. I give it to my goats only when they seem to have bloat, which is next to never. I have never heard of NOT giving to wethers over does, so I think that information isn't solid. ANY goat can get bloat if the bacteria in their rumen gets off balance. Baking Soda helps with that. That's why some breeders offer it free choice, because they allow their goats to regulate their need for it.