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Feed and Water.
Make sure that your goat has clean,
fresh water at all times. Animals need a
constant water source to remain healthy
and fresh looking.
There are many different brands of feed
on the market. We feed our meat goat
wethers a medicated, pelleted feed made
specifically for show goats. The
pelleted feed has everything needed for
the goat in a balanced ration. The
medicated feed should contain Deccox,
which is a preventative for Coccidiosis,
as well as ammonium chloride, which is a
preventative for urinary calculi.
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Kelp.
Kelp is a supplement that should be
given free choice to wethers and bucks.
This helps prevent urinary calculi.
Urinary calculi is one of the number one
causes of death among bucks and wethers.
The higher percentage of protein content
that is found in the show feeds can make
your meat goat wether more susceptible
to forming crystals in the urinary
tract. This is a necessity on our list!
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Hay.
You should feed your meat goat wether
about one handful of hay daily. You do
not want to feed hay free choice, but
make sure they get hay daily. This is
very important in keeping their rumen
working, but should not cause them to
have a hay belly. On the other hand, a
doe can have free choice hay. For this
reason, you may not want to feed your
does and wethers together.
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Worming.
Make sure your goat is wormed when
needed. Signs of worms include no weight
gain, dull hair coat, and/or weakness in
animal. A sure way to check if your
animal needs wormed is to look at the
color of the inside eyelid area. If the
area is white or pale pink, you need to
worm your goat. This area should be
rosey pink in color. For a list of
wormers, we always refer to a website
www.fiascofarm.com. Click on Goat Care,
Health and Husbandry. Scroll down until
you see topics in alphabetical order; go
to Worms & Wormers. This site will tell
you the name of the wormer and what it
will control, as well as the dosage
information for goats. The only wormer
that is formulated for goats is
Safeguard or Panacur. The other wormers
are cattle wormers and do not have
dosages on the label for goats. This
website is a favorite of ours to
reference dosages of medication and
wormers.
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Hoof Trimming.
Your goats hooves should be trimmed
about every 4-6 weeks. To prepare for an
upcoming show, trim them one week before
the show. This way, if the goat is sore
at all from the trimming, he has time to
recover before the show. You do not want
your meat goat wether lifting his hoof
or hobbling in the show ring!
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Exercise.
Exercise your wether daily. The goal is
to produce a meat goat wether that has
lean muscle. This can be achieved by
exercising your wether daily.
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Hair Clipping.
Your wether
should be clipped all over at Ό. It is
customary to leave the hair on the
bottom part of legs, as shown above.
Clip your wether one week to a few days
before your upcoming show. This way the
hair will have a chance to grow a little
before show day. This allows the wether
to have a fresh appearance, and not a
just clipped look. Also, after clipping,
limit the amount of direct sunlight the
wether has, as they will sunburn if left
out in the sun during the day.
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