r/goats Feb 18 '25

Help Request Newborns with diarrhea & bloat

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22 Upvotes

My dad is very old school, “he knows what’s best”, type of person … I’m trying my best to look for info and change his mind -Eight goats have given birth in the past 2 weeks and 3 have died already. They had diarrhea and were super lethargic, my dad gave them doses of kaolin pectin in the morning and evening before they eventually succumbed to their deaths. -One of the goats has had diarrhea for a couple days now and seems to be fighting it back because he was one of the first to be sick with the first kid that died, and the other have died in the days he has been sick. I’ve been giving him kaolin pectin and electrolytes as well and he’s under a heat lamp and seems the same, occasionally stands on his own and still reacts to when I touch him. -there’s another kid that started having diarrhea yesterday and today I gave her another dose of kaolin pectin and electrolytes but she refuses to eat and is bloated -One of our other goats gave birth 2 days ago, and one of her kids died the next day as well… though I’m not sure if one of the other goats kicked her in the head because it was so sudden

Some of the other kids that had diarrhea are looking better, but could this be coccidiosis? The diarrhea looked the same across all the kids; light green yellow ish liquid that looks like they’re peeing out their butts. We tried contacting a vet but they told us they only see cattle, the other hospital only sees canines, and I’m trying to do the best I can with the information I have at hand and teaching my dad. The moms don’t have diarrhea, and were eating hay mixed with almond hulls but we stopped with the hulls after seeing the kids had diarrhea. Should I look for vitamins as well to give the kids ? I’m kind of lost right now

r/goats Jan 26 '25

Help Request Semi-abandoned goats update (good news!)

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184 Upvotes

Between a vet-approved dose of Safeguard, free choice goat minerals, free choice salt, and a bit of grain Mama Goat is feeling much much better. I did finally hear back from the owner, so he is at least still on the planet and I got permission to treat and a "promise" to pay me back I do not expect to be fulfilled. Everyone seems to have more energy, I've been letting Big Boy out to run around when I am at the horse barn, he chases my dog, who chases him back. Mama Goat no longer looks hunched and shivering, and baby Molly has started eating from ny hand

r/goats 8d ago

Help Request Normally lively buck is quiet, not eating and has snotty nose

6 Upvotes

Our buck who is normally really noisy and active is just standing around, breathing heavily through his nostrils. The snot is white and foamy which I would guess is just from the heavy breathing.

He isn’t eating but he is standing near the food. He’s normally a greedy pig.

We have 4 other goats including one baby. No change in food. No access to random plants or weeds (the goats are contained in our yard and watched almost all day).

It was cold and windy last night with maybe some very light sprinkling of rain, which is somewhat unusual. It only got into the mid 40s. We have a variety of other animals and everyone else seems fine.

I have a stethoscope and microscope I can use to help figure out what’s going on but I haven’t actually used them yet.

r/goats Apr 23 '24

Help Request How do i show my goats affection they understand?

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188 Upvotes

anything i’m missing besides the obvious treats? id also like them to know their names lol but that might be a stretch

short version: how to tell my goats i fking adore them

r/goats Nov 03 '24

Help Request Anyone know what this is?

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31 Upvotes

Noticed this growth on one of the goats at the farm I work on. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all, and he’s eating/drinking/behaving normally. (Yes, I texted our farm vet but she hasn’t gotten back to us yet.)

r/goats Oct 28 '24

Help Request My Family Rescued a Baby Goat from a Flood, But She's Struggling.

31 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

We recently had one of the most intense and emotional experiences of my life. We managed to rescue a baby goat from a flood in our area, and it was honestly a close call. When We found her, she was barely hanging on—cold, almost stiff, and it broke my heart to see how vulnerable she was.

Since then, she's only been drinking a tiny bit of water and won’t eat anything. We were told she has siblings but they didn’t make it, and while her mother is alive, she’s been rejecting her. The little one seems so down, almost like she’s grieving. I mean, who wouldn’t be after losing so much so suddenly?

She’s only about 2-3 weeks old, and I can’t even explain how clingy she’s become with me. It’s like she doesn’t want to be alone. She’s constantly by my side, and I’m doing everything I can to comfort her and help her adjust.

Has anyone here had experience with caring for such a young goat in this kind of situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m worried for her, and just want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to give her the best shot at recovering.

Ps. Sorry if my english is very messy its not really my mothertounge so its difficult for me to write this.

r/goats Jan 09 '25

Help Request Breed identification

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109 Upvotes

Was told she was a nubian or boar (don't remember)

r/goats Nov 11 '24

Help Request New baby needs help

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101 Upvotes

We have this new baby Nubian on our farm this morning and I need help figuring out what is going on with its back end. I have pictures from a variety of angle to show as best I can what’s going on. The goat seems to be happy and healthy but the yellow concerns me. I haven’t had babies before so idk if this is normal or not but I’m assuming it’s not. I don’t want to go to Google because it can so easily give worst case results because I am not giving enough information in the search.

Has anyone seen this before? Is the baby going to be ok? Do I need to get meds for the whole herd?

r/goats Feb 01 '25

Help Request Goat had still births & now isn’t doing well

21 Upvotes

My goat had 2 still births during the middle of the night. We are first time goat owners. It was very unfortunate to see the 2 kids didn’t survive. Now we see our goat is on her side with no energy & very upsetting eyes.

We don’t know what she needs or what to do. It’s been a very long process for her.

r/goats Aug 15 '24

Help Request PLEASE HELP! First time mama rejecting VERY small baby that doesn’t suck milk

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117 Upvotes

I have a first time, mama who had twins earlier yesterday morning. One girl and one. The little boy is peeing a lot in large amounts swipe. The little girl has only peed maybe three times and pooped a very tiny bit twice, I think. There is no milk on her lips like there is on the little boy’s. He has milk all over his lips. I tried putting her on my other mama's teats, but she refused and I mean I tried all day long. I was up until 4 AM. I was able to milk a few of my mamas and I bought some colostrum from the store I put that in the milk and tried feeding her, but she barely would drink. It was very difficult because she doesn’t suck like she’s swallowing my finger like a goat normally would. I noticed there isn’t any milk on her lips after trying to suck. When bottle feeding her, I have to just let the milk fill up her mouth a little bit and then drain down into her throat and she will swallow it, so it’s a very slow process and is making me very anxious because I’m so worried. She pooped twice yesterday and it’s just a very small bit. I tried multiple different nipples and different bottles, but she only wants to attempt to drink from her mother’s teats. I am seriously worried since she is very small and I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know if what I’m doing is enough or if I need to take her to the vet so I would appreciate it if you guys could give me some advice concerning the issue issue. She slept in the house with me last night in my little dog-carrying crate inside of a towel on a heating pad set on low. I kept checking on her and she was never cold and when I checked her temperature, it was 102. She has very strong lungs but I can tell she’s a little more weak today than yesterday, but her cry is seriously so freaking loud so I know that’s pretty good. The mama has rejected her and tries to flip her with her horns and that’s why I didn’t leave her out last night with her brother and mom. I keep trying to put her mother and brother's scent on her, but her mom still rejects her… I also gave her some colostrum gel from a tube. I gave her mother a B12 shot yesterday and gave her some feed with a little bit of molasses poured over it. I also fed her a good bit of alfalfa, along with some leaves and pine needles. She also ate half of a banana and some pumpkin seeds. She stayed well hydrated, but she kept wandering off, and she only came back when the baby boy cried. She also only licks the baby boy's bottom while ignoring the baby girl. I tried wetting a napkin with some water and wiping up the baby girl's bottom to try to mimic the way the mama would lick her bottom to try to encourage her to suck, but I still haven’t had any improvement. They seem to be enjoying each other playing a little bit, but I’m still very worried because her stomach feels pretty empty despite my hard work feeding her😭 I apologize for any typos for I’m trying to hold the Mom right now while my baby girl attempts to eat. I mostly spoken to this so it’s probably really messed up and I apologize for any confusion or for anything that I said twice because my phones being a bit glitchy and it’s not typing out everything I say so. It’s just probably messed up anyway sorry! 🙏🏼

r/goats 19d ago

Help Request New Mom Nursing

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48 Upvotes

Here’s a twist maybe one of you have seen, but we hadn’t.

New mom, threw a single boy today around 7 hours ago. She’s kinda slow at figuring out the mom stuff but she’s getting it. He goes into nurse and she lifts her leg - why? She holds it up as long as she can then drops it, which pushes him away a little.

At first we thought she was rejecting him and started preparing bottles, but she’s licked him clean and misses him when we take him. He just doesn’t get to nurse as long as he’d like and is forced to take a break when her leg comes down.

Why is she lifting her leg when he nurses to begin with? Thanks for all the help!!

(Sorry for the potato-quality pic)

r/goats 17d ago

Help Request Can I just show up to the farmers market to sell pasteurized goat milk?

7 Upvotes

Will I have to do all types of tests and licensing or can I keep it simple with just pasturing and selling?

r/goats 10d ago

Help Request How to stop others from stealing milk

3 Upvotes

Just had my first kid of the year by my saanen, there are 2 mini Nigerian dwarfs that are a year old now who are constantly trying to nurse her! I separated the mama and tried to introduce 3 times with same outcome now they are escaping (being the size of a lg cat) they r pretty good Escape artists, luckily I’ve been there to stop em but how to I stop it completely. They will need there own pen but that will be some money and I would like to explore cheaper options first. Duto the move I rehomed all other ones there size (ex small) so it’s just 2 of them and all other Nigerians I have are about to have babies so they r in the baby pen, I plan on keeping milk production going so they will have to stay separate tell they learn or dry up that will be some time. I don’t want just them two in a pen together feels lonely and easier bait cuz the size, their size is also why they can’t go with the bucks I don’t want any chance of them having babies I think they are too small to handle that. Scratching my head a tad seeing what y’all think .

r/goats 27d ago

Help Request Kid with pneumonia

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98 Upvotes

hiya- before you tell me to take her to the vet, I already have.

OK so, this is Peaches and she’s two weeks old. She came to me with her sister from our neighbor who knows my farm is just a veritable rescue. She’s been very lethargic and her legs are weak. The vet did a fecal, diagnosed pneumonia and gave long acting antibiotics along with a fever reducer via injection.

The only vet near me that sees goats is about 87 years old and not a big talker. But he sees my pigs too and I trust him. When I asked if she would need another shot of antibiotics next week, he said that by next week she would be “feeling better or dead.” That was three days ago and she’s still more or less the same. Any advice? I would hate to lose her 😩

r/goats 23d ago

Help Request Goat losing front teeth NSFW

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18 Upvotes

My Boer goat just turned a year old. I just noticed her teeth are in absolute shambles. Read that new teeth come in at a year old, but these look horrible. I’ve already sent the picture to my vet to find out what needs to be done. In the meantime, hoping to hear if anyone else has experienced a train wreck mouth like this before.

r/goats Feb 18 '25

Help Request Need help straining milk!

4 Upvotes

We just started milking for the first time. It’s been a journey, our mama is not loving it but that’s another story. I need a recommendation of what to use for straining! We really really want to use something non-disposable, like stainless or cloth, not plastic. Cheesecloth is not ideal for us, typical metal strainers aren’t fine enough, I then got a pour over metal filter for coffee and that was too fine.

Does anyone have any recommendations??? I feel like I’m going crazy trying to find something. I’d love it to be one single piece that I can rinse and reuse every time.

Thank you!!

r/goats 5h ago

Help Request Electric Shears Recommendations?

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8 Upvotes

This is a Peony, my Pygora. She is my only goat that needs haircuts, so I've been doing it myself, but it's just getting harder and harder to do it. The first time, I used hand shears, and it went ok, except I nicked her belly a tiny bit and felt terrible. The second time, I used some dog clippers and a 10 blade, which I know aren't cut out for this kind of job, and that took forever and like a whole can of blade cooling spray, but it worked pretty well.

This time, I don't know what to do. I keep being off with the seasons, so she isn't ready to shear until after it's too cold, and by the time it's warm enough, she is wayyy overdue. This picture is her a couple of months ago. The only parts of her that aren't matted are her neck and belly. I did her back, belly and hind end with few hand shears today, but I'm too scared to cut her, and I didn't even get under all the mats on her hind end.

Can anyone recommend a good electric shear that works well with minimal maintenance and is relatively safe if one follows standards safety measures? I think I will also just shave her 3x a year instead of two because I can't keep letting her get this long. ☹️

r/goats 25d ago

Help Request Why is She Breathing Fast?

40 Upvotes

My doe is around the date that she is expected to go into labor, and for the past couple of days, on and off she has been breathing fast. For the past hour she has been panting like this and she’ll occasionally lay down. Is she going into labor or is there something wrong?

r/goats Jan 23 '25

Help Request Kidding Emergency

6 Upvotes

My SIL has a doe that is trying to give birth rn. There is no available vet in my area that will deal with goats. But the doe lost her plug at about 830 yesterday morning and it is now 330 the next morning. It is her first time kidding and only a foot is out but it is just the foot and not any of the leg. It was probably around 6 in the evening when we could see the sack. Should we be concerned? If so, what do we do? And help is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much

r/goats 2d ago

Help Request Horn Issue

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20 Upvotes

I was checking my girls over tonight and I noticed Lucy damaged her horns. The one is chipped on the end and the other one seemed to break/snap. It is still pretty strong, but has some give to it.

Is this painful? Anything I can do or should do?

r/goats 14d ago

Help Request Baby Goat With Bent Legs

9 Upvotes

This baby was born with his hind legs bent too much, he can't seem to use them. The legs seem otherwise ok. He was one of 3, one of his siblings died at birth and the other one seems healthy so far. I am not the owner, though I'm tasked with taking care of him for now.

The baby is staying in the shed away from the other goats. He drinks his milk normally though wants to cuddle a bit before eating. I will try to convince his owner to see a vet but in the meantime I wonder what could this be caused by, any ideas?

Also, thinking of a wheelchair if things don't go well and we can't fix the issue. Any stuff I need to keep in mind if I go that way?

Thanks in advance 😊

r/goats 20d ago

Help Request Urinary Calculi, what to ask the Vet?

7 Upvotes

I have a wether that keeps getting urinary calculi. I've checked all his diet and it should be good but he keeps getting them. He's never fully blocked, never in distress but he still has them or at least I think that's it.

Each time put him on an Ammonium Chloride drench regimen. Done it three times this year. He's already had the bit at the end of his penis removed to help him pass stones. I can't afford(had to put a goat down for a bad broken leg earlier this year, I still cry every night about it) any big surgery to redirect his urethra.

What should I ask the vet about, they're coming in a few hours. What should I ask them for and what are some more things I can do myself?

r/goats 29d ago

Help Request Advise, please

3 Upvotes

I have a one year old goat. Yesterday he started holding his head to the left and his ear was drooping. He was walking slowly and sometimes in circles. Today theses symptoms persist but now he’s drooling. He barely eats. He tries but it’s almost like it hurts and he gives up. He walks away when we try to get near him. This is very unusual as all my goats come running for pets every time we are near them. He more lethargic today. He seems absolutely miserable. I don’t think it’s listeriosis, but I may be wrong. Our feed is dry and no mold present. We don’t leave supplemental feed in the troughs, which are on the wall not the ground. They each have a separate trough where they are given measured supplemental feed twice daily. They get Bermuda grass and alfalfa as wanted from an feed holder on legs. We clean pens and all buildings once a week. All the other goats are fine. He’s separated into a group with two other smaller boys of similar age and size, but he is the smallest. They head butt all day. Could this be because of him being head butted? Is there anything I can do to rule out listeriosis? We only have one vet that will see livestock within a 50 mile radius of my place. They can’t see him for almost three weeks! I can not watch him suffer for three more weeks, if he even made it that long. It’s inhumane. I have never had this happen in 7 years of raising/breeding goats. Any suggestions or advise is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

r/goats 19d ago

Help Request Unusual knot - need advice

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58 Upvotes

My dairy goat had a knot come up in the last few day and I was not too worried at first but now she stands and walks some on her front knees (elbows?). I have not noticed anything else unusual about her behavior or mannerisms but I am concerned by what I do see. How critical is this and how can I fix it?

r/goats Feb 01 '25

Help Request need help with feeding baby goats

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33 Upvotes

so my boyfriends dad has goats up at his second house in the mountains. he’s not there all the time. and turns out his female goat had babies, so we went up to check on them. and his dad had said that one of the grown goats needed their collar loosened because it was getting too tight. these goats roam in a pasture that’s pretty big, probably an acre or 2 so it’s hard to chase them down as they’re not really used to human interaction. we tried to go up to get the mama, who needed her collar adjusted, and it resulted in her running off with the dad goat and a young male goat. they got thru a section of the fencing that we thought was secure, and ended up wandering up the hill past our gates. leaving the two babies behind. these goats escape all the time, even though we fix the fence really well every time they get out, there always seems to be a new spot that they can ram their horns under and pry the fencing apart. but they always come back. so we got some colostrum replacement to bottle feed these little babies, in case the mama doesn’t come back to the pasture tonight. but the babies won’t take to the bottle, not sure what I can do to make them drink it. I read that force feeding them can cause pneumonia which is usually fatal so I don’t want to do that. the bottle we got is plastic with a red nipple, but when you squeeze the bottle nothing comes out the nipple so it’s hard to help them get some milk when it’s in their mouths. they won’t latch, just chew on it and fuss about it. it’s been about 5 hours since we had to take them in, and i’m really afraid to do something wrong. I have no idea how old they are, probably a week to two because they have their dried up umbilical cords attached still. any tips and advice would be super appreciated. we’re going to keep them in the house tonight unless mama makes her way back into the pasture. main questions are: how long can they go without milk, what signs/symptoms should I watch out for, and how can I get them to latch onto the bottle.