Malli wrote:Do they need their hooves clipped or anything?
Do the mothers or milking goats need supplements moreso then Alfalfa or Timothy?
Thanks for your response I think I'd like to have a couple goats one day, and maintenance price or lack there of is what will help convince him
Yes, i remembered later i forgot to put that in. They do need their hooves clipped, quite frequently, i've read every 4 weeks, it is more like every 6 with mine, but i got a pair of shears at a local farm store, and it is something you can do yourself (unlike with horses) I built a milking stand so i could do things like hoof trimming, clipping, shots, etc but if you had another person to help hold it, it should be okay too.
I don't really give too many extra supplements, the moms get grain, I add a little molasses for extra energy (with all those babies, they need it) they get Tums as treats (a source of calcium, b/c i was told to beware of them coming down with milk fever, so it was kind of preventative, but now i have a large container still, and they do like them alot) Alfalfa is supposed to be really high in calcium - the problem is getting it right now, no one has done second cutting yet, so I am using the alfalfa cubes in addition to their timothy hay. If you are milking the goats, they also need grain, I think several people said a couple cups a day for their nigerian dwarf does (once the babies are weaned) Right now both of mine with babies are getting more like 4 cups a day, and Bailey gets 2 cups. The one thing i did supplement with was vit E/Selenium gel while they were pregnant. Our area is deficient in selenium, and i gave them the supplement 4 weeks prior to delivery and again 2 weeks prior, and then all the babies got a dose when they were a day old. The deficiency causes white muscle disease in the babies. I also had to supplement with copper a couple months ago, b/c the mineral mix i was using was too low - you can see it in the black goats when their coat starts turning brownish, I ended up using this copper bolus made for cattle and just splitting the dose up for the 3 does. I found a better mineral mix now, and shouldn't have any more problems.