# How much should a ND weigh at 4 months?



## dixiegirl3179

Hey all!

I bought 4 registered nigerian dwarfs in February. I bottle fed 3 of them and one went back to her mother because she wasn't taking the bottle well. Anyway, they are all approximately the same age. There are 3 doelings and 1 buckling. They are 4-4.5 months old now. I am concerned about the growth of one of the doelings. I weighed them all about a week and a half ago. The oldest doe who was 4 months old at the time weighed 29lbs. The buck who was about 3.5 months at the time weighed 26lbs, another doeling who was about a week behind the buckling was 23lbs and the 4th little doeling who is 2 days older than the previous doeling only weighed 16lbs. It's hard to see because she has a thick, wavy coat, but she feels a bit bony. They were given cocci prevention when they were younger and I went ahead and gave them another 5 day course just in case. I also wormed them all with equimax. I'm not sure how big they should be at this age. The larger 3 seem fine to me, but I'm worried about little lovey. She eats when I feed and the others don't seem to be kicking her off the feeder (we use the long goat feeder from tractor supply). I've been giving them coastal hay, but recently bought a bale of T&A to get some more nutrition into them. Any suggetions? The little doeling was one of triplets but so was the next bigger doeling who is 2 days younger. Any suggestion?


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## Skyz84

I have a dam raised wether that is about to be 12 weeks old. He is currently 29lbs. He was weaned & banded at 8 weeks old and 24lbs.

I have a bottle raised buckling who is 15lbs at 12 weeks. (My 3 week old, dam raised kids are catching up to him in size!)


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## liz

I have a 12 week old doeling who was one of quads, raised by mom and given a bottle 2x a day for the first 6 weeks, then mama and creep feed from then on...she's getting mama's milk thru the day and is now at 26lbs


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## dixiegirl3179

Yikes...then it looks like they all might be a little on the small side. I'll have to weight them again as the weights are from 1 1/2 weeks ago or so, but currently the oldest is 20 weeks and she was 29lbs. That is the one who wa dam raised. The buckling is 18 weeks and the other 2 doelings are 17 weeks. I'm still learning about proper goat care even though I've had goats for a couple of years now. I tried googling sizes and have found so many different numbers that it's confusing. I just read a thread from January on here that said someone's 9 month old weighed 40lbs, so I figured the 3 heavier babies sounded about right. I thought about supplementing with calf manna but they won't eat pellets. I had to search for a feed that was all grain. I've been giving them horse feed but I need to find something higher in protein. Sigh...one day I'll get it right.


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## Dandilyun

Wow....I have 2 that are almost 11 weeks....um....they are both 11.1 lbs, and were 10.3 when I got them on the 21st of May, so I thought they were doing well? They feel okay, happy, fat on the sides and tummy, can feel ribs on top, but I don't think they are bony? Nothing sticking out, not obvious, playful, run around, always want to eat, but always have hay available, plus oats. They don't feel any different than when I got them as far as boniness, and I feel they were healthy when I got them. I weigh them by weighing me, then me with the goat and subtracting. It may not be exact, but at least I see a gain. Liz, your's is more than double mine. Not sure if I should be concerned, or if they are stunted....hmmmm. We ARE talking Nigerian Dwarfs here, right?


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## Skyz84

I think all goats grow differently depending on genetics, quality of food, kind of food, environment, quality of browes etc.

Mine are Nigerians. My 12 weeks old who is currently 29lbs is also 17.5" tall. (His sire is 21" tall and his dam is 22" tall.) His brother and 1/2 sister were just as big when they left at 9 weeks old. Actually the girl was a few lbs bigger but she was a single.

All of my goats have access to free choice browse 24/7 on 6 acres of land.

Mom's were allowed free choice Alfalfa the last 4 weeks of pregnancy and while they were nursing. I give moms grain once daily starting 2 weeks prior to delivery. This goes up to 2 times daily when we start weaning the kids and milking twice daily. 

Mine were left with mom until 2 weeks old. At 2 weeks we separated them for 12 hours at night so we could milk mom in the morning. Kids were offered free choice alfalfa & free choice grain when they were away from mom. (They really didn't start eating noticeable amounts until around 4 weeks.) By 6 weeks we cut back the grain to smaller portions because they really started eating it well. At 7 weeks we started separating them from mom a few extra hours during the day to get them used to being away. By 8 weeks they were fully separated. 

I gave Sulmet for a coccidia prevention at 3, 6 & 9 weeks of age. I don't know if we have a coccidia problem here but I've seen how it can stunt puppies and kittens. I didn't want to wait around to find out since the intestinal scarring can cause stunted growth due to poor digestion and nutritional mal-absorption.

I gave Ivomec at 7 weeks and again 10 days later.

Not sure if that helps any but that's what we did for our kids. I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe do a fecal to check for parasites. Other then that I think a lot of it has to do with genetics. Some are just slow growers! At least that is what I've convinced myself of with my little bottle baby. He is over 10lbs smaller! I worried a lot at 1st but he is very healthy, good body condition and all.


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## dixiegirl3179

I used the sulmet as well, but I only did it twice. I think my 3 larger babies are probably alright, but I need to figure out what is going on with the little one. I'll probably see if my friend who works at a vet clinic will run a fecal for me. My goat vet is mobile and very busy, so it will probably be easier to bring the sample to the clinic my friend works at than trying to track him down to meet up with him. I'm also going to find a grain that has a higher protein content. I'm currently feeding them the same thing I'm feeding the ponies and I don't think it's very high in protein. I'd supplement with calf manna, but they won't eat pellets. I had to change to a different sweet feed because the previous one had a lot of pellets in it so a lot was getting wasted.


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## Skyz84

Are they getting plenty of loose goat minerals? My kids start nibbling the minerals around 2 weeks and they really take to them around 4 weeks. Around here I think the growing kids eat more then the adults.


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## dixiegirl3179

Well the fecal was clear, no worms, no coccidia. I'll be focusing on nutriton. I'll continue feeding T&A hay and I'll get better grain. I'll also have to look into a supplement of some kind as well.


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## Dandilyun

Talked to my breeder, and she said to stop comparing my goats lol. Mine do NOT live on 6 acres, they live on half an acre, in the desert. But they do have plenty of hay, and waste most of it. It seems like good leafy stuff too. Going to get some barley today to add to the mix, they have their minerals free choice and just this past day started showing an interest. My breeder is pretty big on keeping it very simple for the first 6 months while the rumen develops. So, I will have to trust her instincts for now, since she's been doing this for a looong time, and I have been doing it for a little over two weeks  Still, it's interesting to see the differences.


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## dixiegirl3179

Little update.

The breeder had Lovey's twin sister still available at a reduced price, so I went and bought her. Height wise they are almost exactly the same size, but her sister is definitely heavier. Her sister is smaller than my closest in age doeling (2 days younger) as well. Also the other doelings that the breeder had left (all born in a 2-3 week span) were the same size as my others, so I feel better about it. The breeder told me they need 16 percent protein so I got some goat grain that is 16 percent. Lets hope this helps her fatten up a bit.


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## Sunny Daze

Every year I go through this...second guessing if everyones weights are what they should be. What I have learned is that it really depends so much on the individual goat. I have had dam raised kids born around the same time...one is huge the other is a little pip squeak! Then I have bottle kids where some seem to be slower on growing and others are larger than my dam raised kids!! Every time I think I have made rhyme or reason of it then a kid will totally defy my logic! Out of a group of yearlings I have, 2 were super tiny even from the get go. The whole group came with a bad cold from the breeder that was hard to kick so they were all somewhat behind on growth but just in the last several months one of the smallest has now shot up past most of the others. The other little one is still tiny, so I'll just have to wait and see on her. I brought a few of them to a show a couple weeks ago and was pleased to see they were about in the middle size wise in their age group. 

However if you feel the one doeling is bony and thin, and not just small and in good flesh, then you might have something going on there. It's good you got a fecal done. Does she get bullied away from the food?


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## dixiegirl3179

I haven't seen her get bullied away from the food. We have one of the long goat feeders from tractor supply and they all kinda line up and eat relatively peacefully. She doesn't have quite the appetite of the others however. She seems to be the first one to walk away from the trough most of the time.


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