OK, ratty Angora now looks skinny....

My poor Whitey, now he looks thin. I can feel his ribs if I run my hands down his sides. Do I need to keep giving them hay (no grain, he is a wether as is Smoky)? Should I do a feed-wormer thing? His gums and lids are pink and he is acting perfectly normal.

I fed mine hay and gave them wormer every three months. The pellet form. Even in the summer they ate hay. They got sweet feed when they stole it from the horses and biscuits and hubby was feeding goat feed from the coop mainly during the winter. I had one that did not gain weight no matterwhat and he was weathered. He was always on the skinny side to me. I tied him out be the back door for a while and fed him table scrapes (veggie and bread) He still did not gain that much. Sometimes t is the goat. If youworm them and feed them hay and maybe a little goat food and he doesnt gain weight then I would worry a little.

He was a fat little thing this winter. I am worried that the pasture is somehow not sustaining them, though it is HUGE. The weather has been so stupid and cold, I do not think any of their tasty morsels have come out yet. Well, until he turns away from the hay in favor of his field, he'll get hay. Thank you!

That is what I would do. I do not have goats any more as they cleaned my pasture and cabbages and broccoli and anything else they could get a hold of. It has rained so much here we have to put hay out for the horses along with their grain. The grass is sunk down in the mud so we put them in the yard in an electric fence (free lawnmowers and fertilizer) and they seem to like it more.

Worming goats just for the heck of it isn't the best way to do it. If they don't have a high worm load, don't worm them. It's also a good idea to rotate worm meds so they don't build a tolerance to the one you're using.

I would take a fecal sample to a vet- it only costs about $10 or so. Then, I'd get a microscope and learn to do my own fecals.

The pelleted wormer isn't what I would use. Get some paste Ivermectin and try that.

And finally, get some alfalfa pellets or grain and give him a little- not much. I'd give him some cider vinegar in his water. It helps prevent urinary calculi.

Oh and what type of minerals do you feed them? Does it have enough copper??

Rats, I need to get to SS to get a block. I'll have to see if he has one specifically for goats. Maybe a trip to TSC.