# young goats with hay bellies?



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

How long are you supposed to feed young goats grower feed? I have two bucklings that have huge bellies. Maybe hay bellies due to just eating primarily hay. They are about 8 months old and still pretty small for their breed. Alpine/nubian and nubian. They should be at full size around a year right? Can I fix the hay bellies? Is it bad for them?


----------



## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

How much do they weigh? How much are you feeding?


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

Id say 40-50 lbs. Hay free choice. Nursed till 12 weeks or so. Little grain from around 3-5 months. Then just hay and pasture. Raspberry leaves and vegetables here and there.


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

mimzidoat said:


> How long are you supposed to feed young goats grower feed? I have two bucklings that have huge bellies. Maybe hay bellies due to just eating primarily hay. They are about 8 months old and still pretty small for their breed. Alpine/nubian and nubian. They should be at full size around a year right? Can I fix the hay bellies? Is it bad for them?


Alpine and Nubian are standard sized goats, so don't reach full size until about 2 years of age. How long did they get the grower pellets and how much? Could be just good rumen function. Maybe post pictures for better reference?


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

little guys in pics. alpine is mom of the white one. brown Nubian was a bottle baby. not sure who parents are.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

They look pretty rough. Not sure if its maybe just a winter coat or if they are wormy? Would account for big bellies and slow growth. Getting the right loose minerals?

Looking at the second kid, was there something done to his horns? If not they are WAY small for his age. Which again, suggest worms or lack of something in their diet.


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

Nothing has been done to his horns. It has been a while since I've wormed them. I guess I was under the impression that wormy made them thin out not get big bellies. I'll deworm them tomorrow. Thoughts of what else I can try?


----------



## audrey (Jul 17, 2012)

Are you feeding just regular grass hay, or orchard or alfalfa? Goats don't do well on regular grass hay. If they were mine, I would deworm them and start graining them on a regular basis. Worms do make animals have a gutty look, if they are to the point that they are thin, their worm load is immensely high.


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

Primarily grass hay and browse. Alfalfa every so often but primarily for the prego ladies. Thought it was bad for bucks due to high calcium content.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

The calcium in alfalfa isnt an issue if you follow the 2:1 ratio. Here are a few blubs from various sources.

 *Factors Contributing to Urinary Calculi*


Feeding a high concentrate/low roughage diet
Improper Calcium: Phosphorus Ratio
High magnesium or ammonia phosphate content diet
Forages high in oxalates
Feeding forage grown from silicate rich soils
High or improper mineral content in drinking water
Frequent illness or urinary tract infections
Inadequate water supply
 *Preventatives*


Maintain proper Ca ratio
Feed a diet that includes roughage
Feed frequent small portions of concentrates
Avoid feeds with milo
Keep clean fresh water available
Feed a concentrate with ammonia chloride added (0.5-1.5%)
Have loose salt and minerals available (3-4% salt)
Delay castration till the urethra matures



Urinary Calculi is the formation of crystals or stones in the urinary tract which block the elimination of urine from the body. (These are commonly referred to as Kidney Stones in humans.) Most often these crystals are formed due to a metabolic imbalance in the body caused by feeding too much grain to bucks and wethers. This is most commonly found in show wethers, or bucks being given large amounts of a high-concentrate feed along with low amounts of roughage or hay.

A large part of this problem is the early castration of bucks/wethers. When bucks are wethered at an early age, they lose the hormones needed to fully develop their urinary tract, basically once the testosterone is gone the urinary tract quits growing. If your wether was castrated early though there is still hope that he will be fine, with some due diligence on your part. 
First things first, if you have wethers or even bucks making sure their diet is high in roughage and low in grain is imperative. Some breeds or bloodlines are more prone to urinary calculi just as some humans are more susceptible to having kidney stones. If you must feed a concentrate feed to your wethers or bucks:


make sure it is a forage based product (NOTE: Feeding corn only is not acceptable. Corn contains high amounts of phosphorus which will throw off the calcium phosphorus ratio.)
Contains Ammonium Chloride
The feed is a supplement to good quality hay
The water source is clean, and fresh

All feed products are required to provide a feed tag on the bag. These ingredients are listed from highest concentration to lowest concentration in the bag of feed. So the first product on the list should say something like alfalfa, roughage source, etc. If the bag of feeds first ingredient is grain products, that is the product that is of high concentration in the bag. You may have an issue finding a roughage based feed at your local feed store so the next best thing to look for is Ammonium Chloride.

NOTE: You must be careful when feeding Ammonium Chloride to any does in the pasture, especially milk animals. When does are lactating the ammonium chloride will not allow for the uptake of calcium and in later years does bones will become brittle if being fed a ration containing ammonium chloride.

There are several different types of crystals or stones but the one most prevalent with home based breeders is struvite crystals. Struvite (STRU-Vite) crystals are formed when the calcium phosphorus ratio is off in the diet, and feeding low amount s of hay. In the winter, when goats don't drink as much water, this can compound the problem


----------



## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

Grass hay is fine for goats. I have been feeding grass hay for 30+ years of goat raising. We can't get anything but late cut grass hay up in my area. 

I fully believe in giving growing goats grain and using a cocci prevention plan.

To me, those kids look like they need to be checked/fecaled for worm load and worm type. Once you find out what type of worm(s) they have, get the proper medication for those worms. I would be feeding them some sort of grain and a bit of alfalfa if you have it. Most hays and plain grains are high in phosphorus, low in calcium and need to be balanced out. Alfalfa hay or pellets do that very well.


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

audrey said:


> Goats don't do well on regular grass hay.


Define "regular" grass hay. Open, short bred does, and adult non-breeding bucks do just fine on grass hay.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

There are indeed a lot of different kinds of grass hay. Some are actually not to bad.


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

I dewormed both w valbazen last weekend. Is once enough or should I do it again 10 days after?


----------



## mimzidoat (Jan 26, 2013)

I'm giving them sweetlix minerals too free choice now instead of every so often. Hopefully that will help. Is sweetlix ok or do you think they need anything else?


----------



## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

I use Sweetlix too


----------



## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

Should always do a fecal float to make sure they even need it. People obey user it and the worms become ammune to the dewormed and you waste money if the don't need it. I would look a copier bolus for them. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Goat Forum mobile app


----------

