# Pregnant Doe too fat?



## wookiee

Hi all,
I have a (hopefully) pregnant doe who would be just at 2 months now. This will be her second kidding at 3 years old and her first kidding resulted in Quadruplets, 3 buckings and a doeling. I am very concerned about her being overweight or the kids being too big since she is more than likely carrying multiples (she herself was a triplet).

Does she look too fat in these pictures? She's recently been expanding sideways, but I can clearly feel her ribs and withers. Things get more "soft" over her hips and around her tail. Since it is still early in her pregnancy and her sideways expansion is bilateral, I am thinking it's not just because of the kids. I do not want her overweight, but I do worry about her getting enough to eat as she enters the second half of her pregnancy. Right now she is on free choice hay, minerals, baking soda, kelp, and yeast. I give her 1/4 lb pellets (organic dairy) twice a day and 1/4 lb of an even mix of whole oats, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, and sunflower seeds twice a day.

She also has had a zinc deficiency which resulted in scaly skin and scabs over her eyes and ears. That is clearing up, but her coat is still a little gross. I intend to copper bolus both goats in the next week, just waiting on my order from Jeffers. The second doe is six months old and not expanding sideways. :wink:

Thanks for your opinions!


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## Guest

I think she looks GREAT! If you are concerned about her being overweight you could switch her to a lower protein/higher fiber grain, Less than %14-16 protein. At this stage in pregnancy too much protein can cause higher birth weight, however you want to make sure she is getting enough calcium (and the grain contains the phosphorus she needs to absorb that calcium). So you dont want to take her off of grain but you may want to look at the percentage of protein on your dairy grain.


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## sweetgoats

I think she looks really good also.

What did you do for her Zinc Def? 

Is she able to get a good mineral with Copper? That will help her, along with some BOSS.


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## wookiee

Thanks for your responses. Her dairy pellet is from Green Mountain Feeds and it's a 16% protein. http://greenmountainfeeds.com/pages/feeds.aspx?PageView=Shared#HighEnergry16%

The mineral I am using is Sweetlix Meat Maker. They don't seem to like it very much, even if I keep it stirred and fresh. I've noticed the "bronzing" on my black-ish doe so thought they might be copper deficient. No fish tails or anything. I did call the breeder where I bought them and she recommended bolusing.

I looked up the Zinc deficiency in my Goat Medicine book and she had the classic symptoms: dandruff over body but white scabs around eyes and ears. Since there is zinc in the mineral, I just waited two weeks after I got her to see if she ate more mineral and her skin improved somewhat, but not really much better.

I started top dressing her feed with zinc I bought at Vitamin Shoppe, ground up. Her skin dramatically improved in two weeks of that. I then discontinued top dressing to see if the mineral was enough to maintain her skin and she started regressing. The Goat Medicine book said that some individuals may not absorb zinc (possibly genetic) or they may be deficient from a too high calcium diet which prevents absorption.

I am experimenting with different forms of zinc to see what is absorbed better. I would hate to keep top dressing her feed for the rest of her life, or go through the same with any of her offspring, but there's worse things in life. I haven't found too much information about Zinc deficiencies, and I was going to start a new thread on it, once I had a little more anecdotal evidence to share.


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## Sweet Gum Minis

I have a doe who's always a huge blimp while pregnant but she's not 'fat' she's just wide and full of babies. LOL If you feed them a good ration without over feeding then I think your fine. Your doe does not look fat at all.


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## wookiee

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am so nervous for her. This will be my first kidding and I am already in love with my doe and don't want to endanger her in any way. A lot of the pictures I see online are of does after freshening with full udders and "sunken" or defined flanks. It doesn't appear that my doe has much definition in her flank area, but she does have a winter coat so that's probably not a fair comparison. I just thought at two months, I wouldn't see any development from the kids, but I guess her body can be changing to get ready. And I do tend to be the type of over analyze and obsess!


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## Sweet Gum Minis

Well you have to remember that after a doe kids she loses a lot of the weight she was carrying so she tends to look sunk due to the weight of her belly, and two when she's putting her all into producing milk, it draws on her and she doesn't pack back on the weight. You should look at juniors or other pregnant does to get an idea of how they look. Here's some photos of my preggers girls....
http://www.sweetgumminis.com/page3.htm


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## myfainters

I think your doe looks good. Some does just carry large.... my doe Patches puts on a huge belly early on in her pregnancies... but she stays in perfect condition after kidding and during lactation. I never have to boost her feed which is nice. :- ) 
Here is her pic. she is due mid MARCH!!! LOL

Jess
Faint-Hearted Ranch
http://www.faintheartedranch.net


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## wookiee

Thanks so much for the pictures of pregnant does. That helps to train my eye a lot. And holy cow, Fainters! That's some serious sideways expansion! My doe is also due mid march and she's not near that size.

Thanks again everyone, I am sleeping easier tonight!


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## myfainters

wookiee said:


> Thanks so much for the pictures of pregnant does. That helps to train my eye a lot. And holy cow, Fainters! That's some serious sideways expansion! My doe is also due mid march and she's not near that size.
> 
> Thanks again everyone, I am sleeping easier tonight!


LOL... yeah she's usually bigger at 2 months prego than her sister is at delivery! :ROFL: She must need it though because she goes right back down to a normal size after delivery. :scratch:

Jess
Faint-Hearted Ranch
www.faintheartedranch.net


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## RunAround

No, I would say your does are a good weight. It's not a good time to judge a goat's weight when pregnant from how far their sides stick out. You check weight by how much fat is covering their ribs.

An example would be this doe:









Wide? Yes!! But fat? No. I actually had to feed this doe up after she kidded. She kidded with quints about a month after this picture.


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## myfainters

OH MY!!!! I feel sorry for that poor girl. Imagine trying to lay down being prego with quints????? YIKES!!

Jess
Faint-Hearted Ranch
www.faintheartedranch.net


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## AlaskaBoers

holey moley Runaround....thats a BIG doe. did she have a safe birth


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## RunAround

The first kid out was stillborn, but the rest were healthy and happy. She ended up dieing a month or so after kidding from gangrene mastitis. But I just wanted to show that during pregnancy a doe can be wide, but is not considered fat.


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## RowdyKidz

That is a WIDE doe Ashley! :shocked:


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