# Anyone else have this problem...?



## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

So. Many. Goats.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Hahahahaha! Not quite to your degree, but my herd more than doubled this past kidding season and now I FEEL like I have SO MANY GOATS. Especially when the kids are loose. Even more so when 5 of them are in my vegetable garden!!!!!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

That is a lot of goats!


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## SerenitySquare (Jun 28, 2014)

I love the little nest boxes may have to do something like that with my ND kids


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Great pics. I really like the uniformity that your herd displays.


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## Trickyroo (Sep 26, 2012)

Wow :shock::stars:


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## lilaalil (Sep 5, 2014)

Cute! So many look so similar, it looks like some kind of goat army invasion! 

I do have that problem, and I only have 7 so far. My family thinks I am nuts to even have 7, and they haven't even started having babies yet.


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

They look similar to the untrained eye 

And my family thinks I'm crazy because 15 are supposed to be bred :laugh:


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## 4-HGoatGirl (Jul 5, 2013)

I can take some of them off your hands. *wink, wink* 

I am relieved to see another Pygmy breeder is struggling with the black goats only gene! I have gray/caramel does and a black buck. Every kid is black! I would kill for a caramel kid! How does your family not complain? Everyone in my house says seven is too many, but I say we get rid of one super bucky kid and keep the two other new kids. Well, if I had it my way, I'd keep all my goats! :: So good to see a large Pygmy herd! Are they for pets, milk, meat, etc?


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

I raise them for pets and for showing. And I don't struggle with the agouti/black gene per se, I simply prefer it over the others - caramels can be tricky to show, since they develop slower and some molt oddly, but I do love the coloring. I believe being caramel is also a recessive gene. I'm breeding for caramels later this year, so hopefully a few will be born ^_^


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

janecb said:


> I raise them for pets and for showing. And I don't struggle with the agouti/black gene per se, I simply prefer it over the others - caramels can be tricky to show, since they develop slower and some molt oddly, but I do love the coloring. I believe being caramel is also a recessive gene. I'm breeding for caramels later this year, so hopefully a few will be born ^_^


Caramels really develop slower?? I've never heard that one before... All my caramels are a lot bigger than my agoutis  maybe I just have slow growing agoutis


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

On a side note, you can definitely tell your herd is mostly whirlwind lines 

Try owning 50 Pygmies  I don't keep mine all together like that anymore (I try not to keep more than 5 to a pen) since we had that positive goat. It's easier to retest 5 than 50


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

Around here, caramels develop slower, since most show caramels come from Whirlwind lines... although all Whirlwind lines develop slower. AND the majority of my herd comes from from Whirlwind lines. (I think ALL of them do... oops). Hence all of my little bitty adolescents... I'm still working on that.

In the picture with the nest boxes, the doe on the left is 3 months younger than the doe on the right, but she grew way faster. AND she was a triplet. She's kinda a freak in my herd. 

And holy cow, 50 of them?! I see what you mean by separating them for testing. It's probably easier to deal with them in groups of 5, too; mine get obnoxious at feeding time, and its very difficult to beat back 27 goats trying to get through the gate to the hay :laugh:


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

janecb said:


> Around here, caramels develop slower, since most show caramels come from Whirlwind lines... although all Whirlwind lines develop slower. AND the majority of my herd comes from from Whirlwind lines. (I think ALL of them do... oops). Hence all of my little bitty adolescents... I'm still working on that.
> 
> In the picture with the nest boxes, the doe on the left is 3 months younger than the doe on the right, but she grew way faster. AND she was a triplet. She's kinda a freak in my herd.
> 
> And holy cow, 50 of them?! I see what you mean by separating them for testing. It's probably easier to deal with them in groups of 5, too; mine get obnoxious at feeding time, and its very difficult to beat back 27 goats trying to get through the gate to the hay :laugh:


Lol Ya I have a lot  maybe I can get a caramel kid out of Amaretto out there to you someday  he's HUGE for his age, everyone's always like "what the heck are you feeding that thing?!?" I mean he's the same size as the 2 year olds and he's only 13 months old


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

Oh my god, thats huge! 

My biggest doe definitely brushes on the height limit, but my boys are both pretty small. It took my caramel buck years to develop, although his mom was the biggest doe I've ever seen. My problem is with wethers... we get 'mega-wethers' around here. They just don't stop growing :lol:


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

One of my full Whirlwind does is still just a little bigger than my wether, Toby. He's only 9 months old, and she's coming up on 3 years. Itty bitty Whirlwind lines in action :laugh:


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

It's funny seeing Amaretto in the line up cause he's always bigger than the one in front of him


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

You should just go ahead and bring Margarita to Convention with you 

What do you feed to get them so big? I've been messing with what I feed, but I haven't been able to put much weight on them, and all of my adolescents go through a weird skinny phase.


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

Really? I have a hard time keeping weight off mine  I feed
-Purina Show Chow Impulse
-Purina Noble Goat
-Purina Goat Chow
-Calf Mana
-Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
-Healthy Coat

And if I want them to gain weight I use either Purina Power Fuel or Rice Bran


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

I only have trouble keeping weight off of one of my goats, a buck who gets fat by looking at food :lol: Trying to get him to lose any weight has been a problem... I even tried the 'if he's busy breeding he'll lose weight' strategy. (It didn't work.)

My feed mix is pretty similar, although I don't give Healthy Coat, or Purina Impulse. I give Sunglo Show Goat, Manna Pro Goat Balancer, and use beet pulp for fattening them up (in addition to the other feeds). I'm thinking that maybe the adolescents just have a funky skinny phase, and there's nothing else to it, because some of the older does are quite... rotund... on the exact same feed.


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

janecb said:


> I only have trouble keeping weight off of one of my goats, a buck who gets fat by looking at food :lol: Trying to get him to lose any weight has been a problem... I even tried the 'if he's busy breeding he'll lose weight' strategy. (It didn't work.)
> 
> My feed mix is pretty similar, although I don't give Healthy Coat, or Purina Impulse. I give Sunglo Show Goat, Manna Pro Goat Balancer, and use beet pulp for fattening them up (in addition to the other feeds). I'm thinking that maybe the adolescents just have a funky skinny phase, and there's nothing else to it, because some of the older does are quite... rotund... on the exact same feed.


Interesting... I don't own a single goat who won't get fat if I tried  my goats just like to eat


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

I wish I could trade you... my problem isn't that they don't LIKE to eat - grain time is the most exciting time of day for them, and I've had friends receive serious injuries from the horde of goats just seeing a bucket in their hands- it's just some won't put weight on, no matter how much I up their feed.


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## bbpygmy (Apr 14, 2014)

janecb said:


> I wish I could trade you... my problem isn't that they don't LIKE to eat - grain time is the most exciting time of day for them, and I've had friends receive serious injuries from the horde of goats just seeing a bucket in their hands- it's just some won't put weight on, no matter how much I up their feed.


Hm, maybe try adding something else to the grain?? Or maybe increasing the amount?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I haven't read through this thread but have you had a good fecal done to include coccidia?


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

I'll try twice a day from here until Convention, and during the fall show season. Irritating little buggers... the donkey might be getting in the way, although the dog usually keeps him away from the grain while the goats are eating. I'll have to sit out there and watch to see what the problem - if any - is.


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