# Weather has no muscle!



## Amandanicole

This question has probably been asked before, but I have a 4 1/2 month old wether that weighs about 55 lbs, he is tall, and skinny. He has almost no muscle capacity, we walk/run him a mile-mile 1/2 every night,and he gets about 2 lbs of feed twice a day, we have tried him on champion drive, but he won't eat it. Does anyone have any suggestions on something I can do? My state fair is in October, but we go to small shows a few times every month, our first show was last Saturday and he got last in his weight class.any help will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance, 
Amanda


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## Amandanicole




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## Goatzrule

Have you tried black oil sunflower seeds, they are meant to help put on weight for all types of animals.


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## caprine crazy

Put his feed up high so he has to stand on his back legs to eat his food. Also do short bursts of exercise with them. Work them like you were training for 100 meter race. I know someone who uses a whip and cracks it. It scares the goat and it runs real fast for a short distance. I don't agree with that bc it scares the goat. You could try having the goat pull something.


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## loggyacreslivestock

Sometimes it is just genetics. However, if you want to put weight on, you will need to lessen the amount of exercising he is getting. He may be burning off everything he is eating. Then once you get him to the weight you want, exercise a ton. I used to exercise from day one, but only placed mid class. This year, I waited till one month prior to our fair date and then started exercising like crazy- walked and ran them for at least one hour twice a day or until they panted a lot. We showed two days ago and got 2 second places, a fourth and 2 sixths...

With feed- make sure you are feeding high protein, but also enough fat. The BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds have fat). Mine get all they can eat in 15 minutes.

Worm them well. Clean water daily- if you wouldn't eat or drink out of their pan, they shouldn't either.


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## Amandanicole

Thanks y'all for all the help! We already have them standing on the center blocks to eat, and we feed them a feed that has 18% protein in it with a mixture of corn and sun flower seeds. His dam was shown 2 years ago and she was always small, only weighed 45 lbs at state at 7 months old, but she got 2 place in her weight class.


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## Amandanicole

This is our doe that is slightly over weight, all she gets is 1lb od 18% protein feed 2 a day






(the doe in front is her, the doe in the back is the weathers mom)


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## HoosierShadow

Have you checked him to make sure he doesn't have worms? Maybe do a fecal just to be sure there isn't something there preventing him from putting on more weight.

I'm no pro, but I'd think maybe exercising him every other day would be better so his body has a chance to heal and add on the muscle. I'd feed him a few times a day.

Chances are, if his mom wasn't very big, he could be taking after her. He may not get a lot of muscle, but you can try to build on what potential he does have  
Does he eat alone, or does he eat with another goat?

If he's not a big eater...
What we've found that can really get one of my kids wethers to eat is feeding some in a feeder with others AFTER offering them their grain individually. The little guy gets in there and competes for the feed.

You could possibly look into a top dressing oil. I know I've had Coco Soya <for horses> recommended by one of the posters on here.


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## OakHollowRanch

I would worm him and start doing short bursts of sprinting and walking in between. Jogging for a long time just burns all their mass. We also hold our wethers' front hooves and "dance" with them to build rear muscles. I was originally going to raise their feed, but read it can make their muscles stale and break down the back end.


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## Amandanicole

We've wormed him with a cocktail of cydectin, and safe guard plus. His eye lids have great coloration! We haven't tried "dancing" yet, going to start it tomorrow, 

Thanks,
Amanda!


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## Amandanicole

Coco soya.? Hmm haven't heard of that before, might have to give that a try. He doesn't eat alone , he eats with our 2 older goats, but we feed them more than what they can eat so there are always leftovers for him to eat when they are done.


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## Dani-1995

I agree with the above. Also cocosoya is wonderful... mine love it so much that they will drink it straight. 

I definitely think you should stop running him for 2 weeks. Put food and fat to him. Do not give him anything that says anything about lean muscle, finishing or keeping freshness... that basically means it keeps them lean and he needs some cover so he can turn it into muscle.


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## Dani-1995

Also calf manna is good for growing wethers. Just keep a watch on calcium to phosphorus ratio. I don't think calf manna has ammonium chloride so you have to be careful. 

Generally I don't run wethers until they are fill out some (I see ribs on him so he's too green and doesn't have enough fat to run). I run for 2 months. short burst are key. I do walk/run for 15 minutes or until breathing heavy.


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## Amandanicole

I have heard about calf manna, but I haven't tried it yet.we aren't able to just let him get fat, because we go to small jackpot shows around my state between the months of July-November, my state fair is in October, but my county fair is in November, I actually am going to a jackpot show Saturday, so I'll post on here how he did.


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## HoosierShadow

I'm so glad Dani chimed in! 

If he were here, I'd try the coco Soya, if you have a tractor supply company store near you I know they sell it. We've not tried it but sure will if we need it.

My youngest daughter's wether is a leaner goat, he's actually starting to put the weight on a bit better now. He has little cover, and what he has is all muscle.
He gets fed 2x a day, and sometimes at night we let the 2 wethers out with the young bucks, and they can eat grain pretty much through the night as they want since we fill the feeder up.

My kids walk their wethers on their hind legs. They pick up their front legs, and just walk around with them, they walk backwards, then they try to make the goat walk backwards, usually the goat will push kind of like in bracing, and it becomes a battle of the muscles. They do that 2-3x a week so they don't hurt the wethers legs by over doing it.
Lately especially when it's gotten hotter, as it cools off, one of us will graze the mama's up in the front yard, and 2 others take the 2 wethers and 2 bucks back into the back part of the woods, let them go and check things out/browse, then run them back to the barn. It's not too far, but enough they are getting a decent workout.
They have dog igloos to play on in their pen. 
If we were running the smaller wether every day, he'd probably have less cover/less muscling. He isn't a big eater, he probably eats 2 1/2lbs. of grain a day. We don't add anything to the wethers feed. Genetics - the smaller wether doesn't have a whole lot of muscling from his mom, she was a fast grower, but she's not a thick/meaty type of goat. So sometimes it's hard to build up a lot of muscle if genetics gets in the way. 

Definitely again, make sure your wether is wormed well and not fighting a worm issue, that will keep him from gaining muscle.


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## Amandanicole

If I can find a picture of his sire I'll post it, like I said I showed his dam 2 years ago and she did very well in her weight classes pulling 1st and 2nd place titles at almost every show. In the champion drive I was always told she was too young and too small compared to all the other goats, with her being born in late April and most of the other goats were born in January and at the latest February. So we had big plans that we were going to have her future kid born around the end of February, and that we will pull many grand champion titles, her 1 kid was this wether, and he was born on March 5 as a 12 lb big boy! We were so excited! He stayed pretty big and was gaining a little over 15 lbs a month, until we got him banded. After that he just wouldn't gain any weight. We did have a bottle fed wether die last year of urinary calculi, so we make sure this wether gets his ratio of the minerals and phosphorus. We just don't know what to do!


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## Amandanicole

this is his sire, whom was only a little over a year old at the time of breeding!


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## Dani-1995

Alot of the time when you stop working the they will look better. He needs cover or else he's always going to be that lean. Another thing to try with him is dyne... it's an egg based calorie supplement made for dogs but is safe for goats. (I had my ag agent look at it and ask nc state). Also, if he took banding hard he could have gotten an infection. We've had it happen and I can honestly say it will take a wether down faster than anything. 

I have a whole regimen I go through with every baby goat no matter if they need it or not. Give cdt whenever you normally would. I treat for coccidiosis, if we have signs or not, at 8 weeks and 12 weeks. At the same time I dose with Zimectrin gold horse dewormer at 8 weeks, cydectin at 10 weeks and again at 12 weeks. This makes sure everyone is growing and healthy at critical ages... weaning and banding


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## toth boer goats

I would get a fecal just in case, for worms and cocci. He is being fed good already.

Too much exercise as mentioned, will burn off what he eats. So baking off a bit may help.

Champion drive:
What I did was, just sprinkle a very small amount on what he likes, so he gets a taste for it or put some in his mouth periodically. 
I found at first, they do not like it, but after some time and very slowly increasing it, does eventually work.


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## Dani-1995

toth boer goats said:


> I would get a fecal just in case, for worms and cocci. He is being fed good already.
> 
> Too much exercise as mentioned, will burn off what he eats. So baking off a bit may help.
> 
> Champion drive:
> What I did was, just sprinkle a very small amount on what he likes, so he gets a taste for it or put some in his mouth periodically.
> I found at first, they do not like it, but after some time and very slowly increasing it, does eventually work.


I agree. Coccidia is a stealth killer. I stand by strict treatment regimen. It works for me and I find it to be worth it.


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## Amandanicole

Yes we give them the cdt shots at 2 1/2 months and 21 days later. Then we give the older ones annually


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## Amandanicole

UPDATE*****
Jasper is looking soooo much better! We bought some dyne( which is a fat supplement with lots of vitamins) and started giving it to him. He got so much energy! Before he was sleeping a lot and he barley moved around, now he is jumping on his goat roof and running everywhere! He is also starting to a lot better! He has filled out and has gained a lot of butt muscles and some muscle in his loin. He still has a lot of improving, but I have to keep in mind that he is only a little only 5 1/2 months old! Taking him to a show tomorrow, so I'll know how much he weighs. 3 weeks ago he weighed 58 lbs, hoping for about 68lbs tomorrow! I don't have any good pictures of him recent, but I do have a picture of him and his dam standing on the goat roof!


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## vaughngoats

Wow. Maybe we should get some for my sons goat!! He has to beat him to get him to walk. Do u get it at the feed store where u get other goat feed


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## Amandanicole

We had to order it online


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## KW Farms

How did the show go?


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## Amandanicole

Not so good, he weighed 70lbs which is pretty good since he weighed 58 3 weeks ago. He was with the 70-85lbs goats, so he just looked so scrawny. he didn't place. But hopefully before my next show well get some more meat on him!


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## Amandanicole

He also didn't want to eat at the show, and we weighed in Friday and showed today, so by this afternoon, he looked really sunken in.


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## Amandanicole

heres a picture of him at the show today, as you can tell, he was really sunken in.


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## Goats Rock

Take your own water to the shows, sometimes they have yukky water at 
usually city water full of chlorine. If they won't drink, a lot of times,
they won't eat either! Good luck to you!


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## Amandanicole

We took our own water, he just didn't seem to want it. Before I took him into weight class I gave him a bottle of electrolytes


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## vaughngoats

We have giving ours white Gatorade before he shows. I think it's cherry something but they love it!! Sorry to hear u didn't place but that's a wide wgt class at u were at bottom. Better luck next time


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## crazygoatlady_inthemaking

I would look up this drench called Keep'N On. TRUST ME it will fill them out in one use! It recommends using a bottle per goat and we only use half for 2 goats an the filled out so well that they were filled out still the day after haha also you could use an egg drench which we just started using this year and you would not believe the difference it made! It gave them so much muscle and cover! I can post the recipe if you wanna try it out but i would definately try these two.


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## Amandanicole

this was his dam at about his age


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## hscottom87

I'd like to see the egg drench recipe


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## crazygoatlady_inthemaking

Goat drench:


30 eggs,

one 12 oz. can of condensed milk..

24 oz. of water

4 oz. honey

4 oz. mazzola corn oil

4 oz. decaf. chocolate flavored Ovaltine (if you are subject to drug test, be sure it is decaf. because of the caffeine) if you can't find decaf then use vanilla or strawberry flavor they will work fine.

Mix with blender, or mixer, hand ladle into storage containers. This will make about one gallon because of the raw egg, store in refigerator or ice chest with ice at the shows

Start about two weeks before show by giving them 10 oz. 2-3 times daily.

If you feed wet feed, then simply pour 10 oz. twice per day over their grain ration.

If they are under finished are really stale, you can feed 10 oz. 3-5 times day (24hrs.).

It will really bring back their top over the rack and loin. Goats that have a gut, I would recommend cutting their grain ration in half about week before show. Then give them 10 oz. of the egg recipe 3-5 times per day. In most cases they will lose their gut and their tops will handle fresh. Some lambs or goats may scour...if that happens...just back off on the amount of drench fed and give 36 cc of Pepto Bismol (12 cc syringe 3 times) they will dry up real quick. Some may bloat, again back off on the amount fed, dissolve 3-4 Alkaseltzer tablets in warm water, about 2 ounces, drench, they will be down in a matter of minutes. 


IMO if pour it over their feed becuase its less stressful than drenching them twice a day.


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## Amandanicole

He's very picky eater, he won't eat anything that has protein in it. Do you think he would eat feed with egg drenched over it, or should I try to drench him?


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## crazygoatlady_inthemaking

I would put it over the food. Our goats hated being drenched and at first they would only pick at the feed but they got hungry enough and loved it.


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## Amandanicole

update pictures of jasper!!!


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## Amandanicole

Sorry don't know how the picture of his mom at the bottom got on there


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## ksalvagno

He sure has grown!


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## crazygoatlady_inthemaking

He looks good!


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## Amandanicole

Thanks! I think he got jealous we were working more with our new goat instead of him, so he decided he wanted to show off by running and jumping on Everything! Which helped him get a appetite and build muscle


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## TWBMom

Good job on the goat. Sorry you didn't place I know mine get down when that happens. When ours look sunken in we try and give them a small handful if hay. It kind of puffs them out. Also try & keep them clipped so you can see what they look like. 


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## TWBMom

OMG just scrolled and saw new jasper pic he's looking great. Keep up the good work


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## Amandanicole

Thanks! He's done most of the work! He has gotten so much energy and has been jumping on everything!


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## TWBMom

You had to be there though. We have an alley with concrete walls that the manure spreader gets backed down into and my girls jump theirs up & down the shorter walls (it's sloped). The goats have fun though.




















This is the new crew, Taz (traditional not getting bathed), Scooter & Panda.

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## Amandanicole

So cute! I love the black headed!


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## Amandanicole

Here's another update of jasper! I show him at state next week! He probably weighs around 90lbs now!


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## chloes

What is keep'n on?


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## ksalvagno

Cute boy!


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## Amandanicole

Here's jasper now!


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