# Putting weight on a picky eater!



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I had posted in Caprine Care a while back about our buck who got severely sick <goat polio> from a feed change. My husband used to buy and feed the grain, so he didn't notice the change...

So anyway, he lost a LOT of weight, he'll probably never walk normally, probably always have a limp/some weakness in the hind left 

We switched back to feed mill grain so we never have the issue of the feed store changing feed on us when they can't get the regular stuff in.

BUT, our buck doesn't like the feed. It's medicated 15% and what most meat goat raisers in the area use & recommend. 
He doesn't like the crum part, and wastes it, and it's quite a bit he wastes, which has me concerned.

We can only get him to eat about 2lbs a day. Right now his feeder is a black feed trough from TSC, and I give him enough that it nearly fills it up. He gets fed 2x a day but prefers to eat grain in the evening/overnight.

I won't use anything like wheat germ oil because I think he'll just waste it. We did give him alfalfa hay <it was GOOD hay too>, but he wasted quite a bit, and I just don't have $9.00 a bale right now. He always has grass hay, we have 3 different kinds that we mix together <rolled grass hay, clover and a clover mix>.

He does not like alfalfa pellets, absolutely protests the stuff.

I plan on adding a little BOSS next week, since I plan on getting it for the girls.

I just don't know what else to try without wasting a bunch of $$ if he doesn't like it. 
I thought about maybe getting him a goat protein block? I think they are 24% for about $7-10.

He seems to be gaining some, and i know it won't happen overnight. But under all the wild hair, his rump is bony and he looks pretty narrow  I am so sad this happened to him. He looked great <looked pregnant!> until he got sick from that grain.

BTW, we wormed 2x with ivermectin inj. a week apart, last time was a week and a half ago. I plan to have a fecal done just to rule out any underlying problems there and ease my mind, but may not be able to get it done until next Monday.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Hmm...I don't have this problem with my goats luckily. What if you tried like a warm molasses water and kind of softened his grain/crumbles? You could actually mix the molasses and water in a spray bottle and spray it down a bit. Might sweeten it for him and maybe that will help. Or maybe just take a bit of sweetfeed and mix it with the crumbles? Otherwise, maybe he's just not hungry enough. I might even just leave only the stuff he doesn't like out for him and just leave him be for a day or two and see if he'll start eating on it. :shrug:

Maybe even have his teeth been checked, might be good just to make sure his teeth aren't bothering him. Hope he picks up weight for ya and starts eating up his feed!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Kylee, he's such a weird goat, I don't think we'll keep him much longer because of this. If you mix anything in with it he will still work hard to leave the crumbs. When we bought him we used this kind of grain and he did the same thing, when we switched to the non medicated sweet feed he ate every bite. But after the ordeal we had with him getting so sick, we switched back to the feed mill grain and this is the only goat feed they mix. 
I tried to talk my husband into maybe trying feed from Southern states just for him, but they want $14 a bag, and we pay $8 for basically the same thing... My husband refuses to have to buy 2 different kinds of feed, and I am kinda the same way, the only time I've ever done it was for a couple of 4-H goats for my kids <and saw no difference so don't plan to do that again this year>.

It's frustrating. Our last buck ate everything he was offered, never complained, and this guy just irritates me so much when it comes to eating. Hard to even get him to eat the minerals!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

That is frustrating. I think if he were mine, he would be sold. As expensive as feed is now, I wouldn't be able to put up with one wasting it.  :doh:


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## pennyspasture (Dec 22, 2011)

What about top dressing his grain with Cocosoya or something like it. I am not sure about the use in goats, but I used this product on a horse that I bought from someone and the horse was really, really, really thin. I never had a problem getting him to eat his grain, but the Cocosoya was great for helping to get him to put on weight and great for his skin, hooves and hair as well. But, like I said this was for a horse and just a thought.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

As I said in your other thread, I feed about 2lbs of grain a day to all of my goats. Which is crazy, I know... but 2lbs is also all I can get some of my goats to eat. For awhile I was trying to get my young show does to eat more than that, but that was about all they would eat. Just thought I would throw that out there first of all.

The other thing I was wondering is, who does your buck eat with? Does he eat by himself? Goats will eat more if there is some competition for feed. A very smart goat lady from another group recommended to get a heavy pregnant doe to eat better, to put her in with some young does and the older doe would follow her instinct to be the top of the pecking order and thus be first in the chow line. That made sense to me, though I have yet to try it. I wonder if you have some young wethers or bucklings to put him in with.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks everyone I appreciate it. I think he still has an underlying issue, and I think we'll get a vet involved. He was walking a little more off on his hind end than he has in a week or two. We gave him B1 as a precaution. He acts fine otherwise. I'll toss this over in the Caprine care too.

If 2lbs is all he wants a day that is fine. He has twin boys in the pen with him. I was locking them in the back of the shelter so the twins ate together and this buck by himself. He's not very interested in his breakfast most days, so now I feed the boys with him in the mornings, and he isn't very competitive, and I don't want the twins getting much more than their intended ration. If there is a lot of 'crumbs' left I only give 1 cup of feed in the feed trough for all 3. But in the evenings I put about 5 cups <2lbs> in the feeder after I lock the twins in for the night. He also gets plenty of hay, and looks like he eats the hay pretty well.

I plan on selling him if we can get him going good again. I won't sell him until I know he's going to be fine.


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

Have you tried Calf manna? Our new buck wasn't eating well when we got him here and I mixed in some calf manna with his pellets which seemed to get him more interested in the food because it smells really good... although then he might just pick out the yummy parts? Out guy is really strange about eating too. Sometimes he doesn't want to eat and I just move his feed to a different location and he eats it :shrug: 
I can't imagine he would want to eat a whole lot if he isn't feeling 100% yet. Poor little guy  Sorry you had to go through all this :hug:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Maggie I appreciate it! I haven't tried it yet, but I had planned on picking up animax - I think that's the name it's the same thing just a generic that I can buy by the lb. at a local feed store. Our goats loved it last spring when I mixed it in their feed. With the expenses this week I won't have the extra $$ for it until next week. I do think he'd pick out the yummy parts, since he does that now, but at least he'd be getting more nutrition if he does like the animax pellets. 

The vet thinks he could possibly have another worm issue that ivermectin didn't take care of, could have damage from the goat polio that will always affect him, or need something else like vitamin supplements. I made an appointment to take him in tomorrow, because he might be able to pick up on something that I am not picking up on. I'll take in some poo for a fecal too, just in case he does have something going on that the ivermectin didn't take care of, I just wonder if when he was so sick, the stress of not being able to get around when he was really down, could have caused a worm load. Instinct is telling me to get that fecal done.

He does seem better today, just has that more noticable limp in that one leg on the hind end. He acts normal, well normal for him, he's been playing and harrassing the twin boys that are in with him, running around the pen playing, eating hay, he MIGHT have actually checked out the minerals I sprinkled across their feeder as I saw him over near it when I came in. I can see his pen from the house and watch outside all the time.


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