Okay, I am at wits end with my two-year-old (and first born here). She is very overweight and has been on the same diet as the older does (her mom and half-sister a year younger). A month ago, I started withholding alfalfa pellets which I had been giving all of them morning and night. So all she is getting is grass hay and browse with browse not being much in my yard though I do give them blackberry clippings and fir boughs after a wind storm. She has never gotten grain except a tablespoon or so rarely for a treat but not for months. I have not even been giving any of them horse treats in recent months.
It has not made any noticeable difference in her weight. If anything, she is getting heavier. Now, instead of her normal activity, she seems to be laying down more. In fact, many times I find her laying in the corner of the kidding pen. If she were about to kid, I would delighted but she is not pregnant.
I have talked to a friend about boarding her where she would only get grass hay and could also be bred if her weight comes down. She has, what she calls, a "skinny pen" where she puts her does if they start putting on extra weight. I really don't want to send Ginger away, but I don't know what to do.
Do goats have anything like thyroid issues? She is heavy enough that getting a blood draw from her will be difficult - last year when she was not nearly so heavy, my goat person said she might injure her if she tried because of the extra fat; since it was a pregnancy draw, I said never mind. However, this seems more needed. Her being much less active in the last week or so has me very much more concerned - she is actually behaving like her mom does the last few days before kidding. She is heavier than in the photo I posted in August. I am seriously thinking of taking her for daily walks to see if that helps. It would delight the neighbors. It would not be bad for me either.
Should I take her to the vet?
My ears are open to all suggestions. I am very concerned about her.
Replies
As a side note, this week we visited a local breeder since we wanted to observe her doing the milk testing. Anyway, I notice that all her does (she milked 4) were eating noticeably less that what my does eat (I also have 4 in milk), but they all looked heavier than my does. We feed the same feed (since I buy the feed from her, she is a local distributor for the feed I use) and we also feed Chaffhaye as she does. However the main difference between her a us is that all her goats are in less than an acre area, which is subdivided into 4 pens, so the milkers do not have a big area to walk in. We have about 5 acres and the goats walk all the way to the back of the pasture to graze and then walk back to chew their cud and repeat this process several times a day so they do get quite a bit of exercise all day. Her doelings did not look heavy at all, but I would think that since they are young they still get more exercise than the older girls.
I do have a 8 year old doe that tends to get chunky if she gets a lot of grain, but I have also noticed that when everybody walks out to graze she sometimes stays behind. So I don't think she gets as much exercise as the rest.
Just a thought, fat and protein (in a diet) are the energy producers while carbs tend make the body conserve fat. Eating more protein and fat switches the body to burning fat as energy, would that be an option? Just thought I'd throw that out there. I've read some detailed research papers on it and just thought of it in regards to goats.
If there is no medical problem - a walk would be good. We have lots of banks and stumps, hill side -a goat heaven. I bought a new little girl and she was kind of a chunky little girl. The running up the banks and jumping on stumps with my babies has changed her whole build. She couldn't keep up with mine when she first came and now she leads the pack most of the time. We spend a couple of hours a day walking - good for all of us. Do you have jumping places in their pen? Things to get them up and going?
Yes, I blood test will let you know if there is a thyroid issue. One of our dogs has a thyroid issue and every year she has to have a blood test to make sure that the medication is working properly and if any changes need to be made.
Glenna, I posted a similar thread a couple of months ago and Deborah posted an article about thyroid issues in goats. Here is the thread: http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/forum/topics/my-4-month-old-doel...
I'm still having problems too with my girl who is almost 7 months old now. I'm wondering if a blood test would show whether there is a thyroid issue going on? My doeling has started cycling now so I'm going to start trying to breed her and hope she settles.