What to do and how to treat a goat if it eats poorly and gives little milk and the reasons
Breeding goats can bring not only joy to the novice breeder, but also difficult situations. It happens that after giving birth or during lactation, the goat suddenly loses its appetite and does not give milk as much as it should. There may be several reasons for such a pathological condition of an animal. Consider what to do if the goat does not eat well and does not produce enough milk.
The main reasons and rules of treatment
Loss of appetite and insufficient milk production in a goat can be associated with diseases of the udder, diseases of other organs or mistakes on the part of the breeder - improper feeding or maintenance. Quite often several reasons at once can be combined or one can be a consequence of another.
Udder diseases
Childbirth is stressful for any animal, and the process does not always go without consequences. A common problem that can happen to goats after giving birth is udder swelling. The edema is not life-threatening for the animal, but anyway, the animal needs help, as edema can lead to a more serious problem - mastitis. To get the udder back to normal sooner, you need to lubricate it with honey, the Troxevasin preparation, and wrap it with a heated towel before milking.
If the udder is not soft, but sore and hard, it is most likely mastitis. The disease itself does not cure, you can help the goat by giving antibiotics: "Streptomycin", "Cefazolin", "Benzylpenicillin". Do not use ointments and vegetable oils, rub the udder with them.
Mastitis can be caused by improper milking, ingestion of microorganisms if hygiene is poor, or keeping the animal in a cold or dirty environment. Often the late start of the goat before childbirth leads to mastitis. In this case, the animal's body does not have time to recover and prepare for the next lactation.
Improper feeding - a high content of juicy roots, fresh grass, concentrates in a goat's diet, which are given to stimulate milk production, can also cause mastitis. Souring in the rumen, food causes the death of microflora, toxins irritate the udder parenchyma. Milk stagnates in it, inflammation occurs. To avoid this, do not give the goat a lot of juicy food and increase the proportion of coarse food. Give the herb only dried.
Other diseases
Endometritis is an inflammation of the uterus that develops as a result of delayed placenta. The cause of the disease is improper feeding of the goat during pregnancy, especially in the last months. The body of a ruminant animal requires fiber and carotene, which it can get from feed. And since usually the pregnancy occurs in winter-early spring, at this time there is not enough nutrients in food.
To replenish the goat body with dietary fiber and carotene, the animal needs to be given more hay, branches with leaves, concentrates, and to reduce the amount of root crops and silage.
Childbirth paresis or milk fever. This disease develops during the first days after childbirth, the cause is a sharp calcium deficiency. This element is spent on milk production and is taken in large quantities from bone tissue, therefore, goats with high milk yield most often suffer from paresis. Symptoms are a goat's refusal to feed, a drop in temperature, and a wobbly gait.
Treatment should be performed by a veterinarian. Due to the drop in temperature, the animal freezes, and it needs to be warmed - rubbed with hay bundles and covered with a blanket. An improper diet leads to another disease - atony of the proventriculus (cessation of their activity). Symptoms - lack of chewing gum and peristalsis, development of tympania. The goat should be treated with ruminator preparations, for example, tincture of hellebore or "Tympanon", and a hungry diet, give only hay and water.
Symptoms - refusal to eat, rapid weight loss. Ketosis occurs mainly in multiparous animals with high milk yield. Treat with a diet in which the amount of protein matches the energy capacity of the food. At the beginning of treatment, milk yield will be small, all milk must be given to the kid.
Improper feeding
Goats that give birth for the first time have little milk. This is normal for the first 1-2 days after delivery. To increase milk flow, the goat can be given a liquid mass of bran, water and a little sugar.
A goat can give little milk after a sharp change from one feed to another, with poor feeding, lack of protein, vitamins and minerals, feeding with low-quality feed. If she was milked well at first, but then stopped giving milk in the same volume, she needs to be fed with sunflower oil cake and other nutritious food - concentrates, good hay, dairy products.
Containment breach
Any pet should be kept in a warm, dry, spacious and bright room. In a cold, dirty, blown and dark goat's house, goats get sick, and if they stay healthy, they do not feel comfortable. Due to poor content, milk yield is reduced.
If you put the goat's house in order, clean it, insulate it; turn on the light in the evening and in the morning, change the bedding on time, take the goat outside for a walk every day, the animal's health will improve, and milk yield will increase.
Udder care during lactation is essential. Before milking, you need to wash it with warm water, and then massage it and smear the nipples with a special udder cream. It is better to keep the kids separately from the mother and bring them to her only for feeding.
When is a reduction in milk yield considered normal?
The amount of milk in a goat is gradually added up to 3-4 months after birth. Then it begins to decrease gradually as well. This is considered normal and the milk subsides so that the goat can prepare for the next lambing.
If the goat does not eat after lambing and gives little milk, such situations are often dangerous to her health and life. When such symptoms appear, you need to find out their cause and start treating the animal.
