# Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic heavy



## TheMixedBag (Oct 16, 2010)

Azrael is pushing 4 months (Jan. 28 baby), and zoe is over 5 months now (Dec. 12), and I wanted opinions on their growth and development. Azrael struggled with coccidia and some kind of intestinal worm when he was a little over 2 months old, and that may have stunted his growth (along with being weaned a couple of weeks early), but I would put him at around 35-40lb, along with zoe. Personally I'm worried they're not growing quickly enough. I'm tempted to start graining them to bump their growth. I don't know if zoe is even going to be big enough to breed by the end of this year.

That brings me to my next question? Are either of them worth keeping kids from or would they just work better as terminal breeders? I think azrael has the conformation to be worth keeping does or even a buck from, but I don't know if zoe is even good enough to keep a doeling out of. She's got an underbite too, but it doesn't look quite as bad as when I got her.
The other kids are 13 week old saanen/cross kids for reference.

























http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq183/itasakukkun/Mobile%20Uploads/2012-05-
23_122036.jpg

















Diego is their sire.
http://m.stookeygoatfarm.com/The-Fellas--Bucks.html


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

*Re: Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic he*

I'm not familiar with what Kikos are supposed to look like, but those kids look healthy. That counts for something in my book. Without a scale, you could be way off of what they actually weigh. Anyway, goats are going to grow better if you put them on feed after they are weaned.


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## TheMixedBag (Oct 16, 2010)

*Re: Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic he*

They all have access to free choice alfalfa hay, just no grain. I've been feeding this way for a little over a year, and the dairy kids grow beautifully, it just seems these two aren't as fast growing. If it will help (if they really are on the small side) I'm more than happy to feed these two, I can get a20% castle feed, or a 16% dairy ration.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

*Re: Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic he*



TheMixedBag said:


> They all have access to free choice alfalfa hay, just no grain. I've been feeding this way for a little over a year, and the dairy kids grow beautifully, it just seems these two aren't as fast growing. If it will help (if they really are on the small side) I'm more than happy to feed these two, I can get a20% castle feed, or a 16% dairy ration.


That's right. You are on the no grain/feed program. It just depends on what you want to do with them. If they are just going to be commerical meat goats, you might consider selling them now. I'm sure every breed is different, but with Boers, people who raise goats without feed just flat out have smaller goats. I'm not saying that's all bad. Just the way it seems to be. If you do decide to feed them, consider a pelleted feed with rumensin. Especially if the price is close to the same. (Ask your feed person.) They will grow even better. JMO.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

*Re: Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic he*

I dont know much about kikos or what they should look like. ^^^^Not true about not feeding grain. I have boers and I just now started graining them. Before that my ADG on them was 0.78 on the high and 0.55 on the low. All my does are fat, not too fat, but healthy, and they get a small handful of grain at night just to bring them in. 
It sounds like you want to keep them (???) If you do then I would start to grain the doe, Im really not sure what a kiko should look like, but if your worried about her then start some grain.


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## TheMixedBag (Oct 16, 2010)

*Re: Opinions on these kikos-weight gains, confo, etc. pic he*

I definitely want to keep them, but I'm going to see if I can't just keep azrael. I'm not so worried about him, his ribs are almost unfeelable now, and I won't mind so much if he stays small so long as he's thick and meaty enough to cross onto boer does and still have big framed meaty kids. If I do have to sell, I'll make sure she's either grained or kept unbred until she's big enough.


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