# Can't get ND buckling to put on weight...



## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Chief has the loose skin expected with dairy goats but he seems a bit bony to me...He had a rough couple weeks being treated for coccidia 4 months ago , his appetite is good he's on 18% goat feed and free choice mixed grass hay....he is the only one that seems bony to me...he is now 7 1/2 months old and my nigi/pygmy doeling weighs more than he does and she is 4 1/2 months old. I don't want him to be fat...just filled in a little more...any suggestions?


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## fritzie (Oct 6, 2007)

i have two bucks in the same pen. one is real fat & the other one feels bony. they get the same things to eat & the same amount. some bucks just don't put weight on during breeding season.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Liz there is this product I use called fastrack, you can find information on it on my website. The gel form of it might be an option for Chief since it gets into his system faster.


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## alyssa_romine (Oct 5, 2007)

that would work...I use sunflower seeds in my feed for added protein and fat mine are all healthy.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Thanks Stacey...I'll check it out. BTW...I weighed the two kids tonite and Angel is 28 lbs and Chief is 20 lbs...it just seems to me that he should weigh more at 7 months of age.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

cocci does stunt their growth for a little while so that could be part of it. You have to think of how long it took for him to actually get healthy and then start being able to put on weight. It takes time for their bodies to catch up, then you add in the rutt season and that only makes the weight gain that much harder to attain.

Can't hurt though to aid him in this process- that is what I would do.


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## PACE (Oct 8, 2007)

In my experience different goats grow at different rates, and have different body types. Shanti, for example, has always been bigger than Pace (his brother) and is nice and plump. Pace was a slow grower. He weighed 25 pounds at 9 months old. He was never bony, just small, and is now just 40ish pounds at a year and a few months. But he did start growing during the summer and is catching up with Shanti. Melino is growing up, but is a bony boy at 6 months. He is an Alpine, not a Nigerian, but he is fed more than them (1 cup Caprine Challenger 2x/day) and has free chioce hay and minerals. His hips show and he is lean and just never as plump and rounded as them. It's just how he is. I'd say give him time. Coccidia I assume will have made a bit of an impact, but I have no experience with it.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I know that nigi's and pygmies have way different bodies and that it is a desired characteristic for a nigi to have looseness in their hides as opposed to being tight like a pygmy can be but I'll tell ya...Chief reminds me of a puppy needing to grow into his skin!! And the fact that he's in rut makes him even funnier...he looks like he's ALWAYS having a bad hair day! So maybe after these raging hormones leave his system he'll fill out more....the little devil even does the tongue flapping up MY arm when I put his grain in his pan!


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## jBlaze (Oct 9, 2007)

*similar*

I have two young bucks. One is around 7 months and looks fine, the other is penned with him gets fed same, but still gets a bottle twice a day, and is about 4 months is bony too. I have treated him for cocci a couple of times, wormed with the ivermectin sub-q. I have heard of hte cocci doing permanent damage, and wonder if that may be part of the problem. He never got debilitated with the cocci, just unthrifty. He is tall enough, just bony, and he does not have that loose skin he should. I wish I understood cocci more. Let us know how your guy does, I would like to compare mine to that and learn more.  How long did yours get milk?
Thanks.


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## moonspinner (Oct 5, 2007)

There are bucks who you just can't keep weight on during rut. So it may be a combo of the cocci overload and then going into rut. I assume no worm problem and/or lice?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Nope...no worms or lice and he still got a bottle of milk every day for about a month after I bought him...he was 2 1/2 months old when I brought him home...after the month of daily bottles ...fresh right out of the tap....he got one every other day and now he still gets one occasionally. The problem with the coccidosis was treated and caught before he would have gotten worse and the vet did say that it does cause problems with the intestine being damaged to the point of not being able to absorb all the neccessary nutrition. He and the rest have been wormed with Ivomectin and theres been no issues with worms. So I am leaning towards the fact that having had the cocci...it has caused him to be stunted...which is ok as long as he's not starving...just need to make sure he's getting all he needs.


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## Bona Fide (Oct 9, 2007)

On GW a few months ago I posted b/c my buckling was SO fat it was almost disgusting and I thought I was harming him b/c he was so round, but after the girls started coming in heat, Ransom got back down to about where he should be minus a few lbs I wanted him to keep. Now that most everyone has been bred (well I hope anyway) and no one has been back in heat he's putting the weight back on and I'd just as soon have fatties for winter. The LM buck looked amazing, but he's been running himself stupid - if I try to catch him he starts screaming and runs like I'm a cougar coming after him (yes, he's afraid I'll take him from the girls as last time he was caught he was put in the barn for almost 2 weeks) but I keep free choice mineral, good browse, grain, BOSS, alfalfa cubes (mostly for the girls) and hay and they're at worst all maintaining. The girls look great and my FIL does look obese compared to mine but mine are dairy and his aren't...it still takes time to adjust to it all.
They'll take stages and growth spurts (just like my 2 y/o son who one day is a little pudger like his mom then the next day looks like a bean pole)... if all else is now going well with him - I'd say you're doing fine. He's also young still yet so he could've gotten thrown back between rut (I'm assuming it'd be one of his firsts) and the cocci - it takes awhile to get back in the swing -  they all look great to me - good job.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Thank you for complimenting my kids...like I had said...I do worry that he's not getting enough, but he does get fed by himself so I am hoping he does pick up.


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