I was shocked to see this on my doeling. Her dam was born here and she is 5th generation on my farm. Her sire was also born here and he is 3rd generation.
No issues with teats from any that Ive bred. I have plenty of relatives and never an inkling that double teat would occur.
She has a full brother that is fine. Should he be wethered since his sister has it?
These are unregistered but her dam is one of my best milkers.
Thanks!!
Replies
good to know about that discount!! Their prices have kept me at bay unless there was no other option.
You could definitely start with a smaller selection of goats to get a baseline. I would test one or two with least obvious deficiencies and one or two with the most obvious from each paddock and/or different feeding protocols. It’s usually pretty obvious who to choose when you are hands on, like you are ;) This way you are more likely to get a good range, so you have a better understanding of where the entire herd falls in. Choose according to coat color fading/condition, overall body condition, and general thriftiness, and I would definitely do the parents of the kids with defects as well.
If you open a farm account with TVMDL, you get a pretty decent discount.
Given I need to test the entire herd, ill have to hold off until I reduce my herd a bit. I may have to do the culprits first and the others later. I just hope I can get thru this spring with no more teat issues! Thank you again!!
That's good that you're using the loose mineral because the block has next to nothing in it, and you'd have probably seen bigger problems sooner.
Basically you're just giving your goats oats, which are mostly carbs. BOSS is just added to goat feeds to increase butterfat, and alfalfa pellets are just alfalfa hay, which is good, but it's not grain.
I just realized I never told the end of our milk test story ... with the same goats and their daughters, we went from being unable to even earn a single one-day milk star to having 7 of our does make the AGS top ten list AFTER we got our nutritional problems figured out, which included switching to Purina Goat Feed and Sweetlix Meat Maker Goat Minerals.
I also just realized you said you would "get a blood sample sent off next week." You need to have the whole herd tested because their nutritional status is going to vary from goat to goat. And as Tammy said, it should be a complete mineral panel because you don't really know what's missing. It could wind up being more than just one mineral. Purina Goat Minerals don't have much zinc in them, and since most forage is deficient in zinc, that's a possibility too.
I think I remember that Kelp article.
Im giving loose mineral.
Here is an article I wrote about kelp, because people look at the long of nutrients and think, "Oh, this has SO many nutrients!" but the reality is that it is not ENOUGH of any individual nutrients to be helpful except for iodine.
https://thriftyhomesteader.com/kelp-friend-or-foe/
That's not a complete goat feed. I have worked with so many people who tried to do their own feed mix, and in my experience, there are always problems. I tried doing my own mix and even used Fertrell's mineral mix that is supposed to be added to feed because I wanted their diet to be totally organic, and that was a disaster. That was back in the day with all the teat defects and infertility and goats not getting pregnant, etc. We tried doing milk tests, and our goats couldn't produce enough to get a one-day star.
When you see those lists of nutrients in plants, you have to know what your goal is for all of the nutrients. Yes, all plant foods have LOTS of nutrients, but they are in quantities so small that they are not enough to create a complete diet unless you are seriously adding it all up and know what your goal is in terms of nutrient percentages and quantities.
If you are wondering how goats survived without our modern goat feeds, it is because 50 years ago dairy goats were not producing like our goats today. Look at pictures of milk goats 50 years ago, and their udders are tiny compared to today. Their production numbers were tiny compared to today. We've bred goats to produce more and more, and we've learned how to feed them to support that lactation. And 50 years ago people didn't care about extra teats and things like that.
I get quite a few emails from people in other countries where goats are native, and they don't have the type of feeds and minerals that we have, and their photos show skinny goats with tiny udders, and they often have textbook symptoms of various mineral deficiencies. But in those countries, they just butcher them if they're having a problem. An Irish missionary who used to be on here posted several years ago about a doe in her Nigerian village that was butchered in labor because she was having trouble.
Are you using the Purina loose goat minerals? Or is it the block?
GINGER K BRAUN said:
Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
its high in protien. I had a bunch of quads until I stopped feeding it. I googled nutrition and it has a lot of stuff goats need. They like them too. lol Makes for an expensive feed bill though. Bulk or small bags cost the same per pound.
What is the nutritional contribution of black eyed peas? I’ve never seen anyone include them in a feed mix, but being a southern girl, I am definitely intrigued?!?! LOL…
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