Deailing with a Weak Beor Goat Kid on Clear Creek Farms

Second Weak Kid

Monday morning, around 9, we got a call from a friend. He had a doe give birth Sunday night – a single 100% SA Boer– and he didn't think the doe was going to survive. The baby had been given "a little colostrum" and was underneath a heat lamp.

Ken made a quick trip, in 20 degree weather, to pick up the buckling who was put in a clothes basket with warm towels and brought home to our "kid nursery" – better known as a laundry room.

Fortunately one week earlier we had a doe with a single kid. The kid was only nursing on one side, so we milked the other teat and froze the colostrum. Every other day since, we had been milking one teat, so we had a supply of relatively fresh-frozen.

When Ken got the very, very weak baby home, he retrieved the colostrum from the barn freezer and heated it in a double boiler to body temperature. To this colostrum he added 2 teaspoons of Coloxtrx (a colostrums replacer for calves). We had learned from the father that they had only been able to get "about a thimble-full" of really thick colostrum from the doe.

The baby was too weak to take a bottle, so the colostrum was sucked into a 6cc syringe and slowly dribbled into the baby's mouth. After 18cc (3 syringes), it was break time – a time to give the baby a chance to absorb the nourishment. After 30 minutes, he was given, via syringe, 2cc GoatAde.

30 minutes later it was time for another 18cc of colostrum. (Ken tried again to get the baby to suck on a bottle, and the baby seemed willing but still too weak.) 45 minutes later he took another 12cc from the syringe. He again attempted to take the bottle, but there was no evidence he was sucking anything out. Approximately 30 minutes later he was again given 1cc GoatAde.

After 5 hours of Ken working with him, he finally took 2 ounces from a bottle. 2 hours later he took another 2 ounces, and 3 hours after that he took 3 ounces. Unlike most bottle babies we've raised, when we put this one to bed (in his clothes basket in the laundry room), he slept until I woke him up at 4 a.m. for another bottle – and even then he was more interested in sleep than eating (although I did manage to get him to take 2 ounces).

From time to time he forgets that he likes to take a bottle and refuses to nurse. In those instances, we discovered, if we will put a towel over his eyes he will actually go searching for the bottle. Of course, we may end up with a 300 pound buck who will only eat if his head is covered.

Since we were unsure if the dam had been vaccinated prior to kidding, we elected to give the little boy 2cc CD Antitoxin and 3cc Poly Serum. It is safe to give these medicines orally within the first 24 hours following birth. (We will continue to give him CD Antitoxin and Poly Serum every 2 weeks until he is old enough for his Covexin 8 vaccination at 3 months. Future treatments, though will be administered SQ.)

We also gave him a 1/4cc BoSe injection since he was born in a moderately selenium deficient area and had all the symptoms of white muscle disease. While he would try to stand, his legs simply would not hold him up. His front feet would turn under as if he were double jointed, and the back legs would quiver and shake until he would totally collapse – spread eagle.

After 48 hours, Napoleon stood on his own.

We have since learned that the BoSe does not always have enough Vitamin E to do the job. If a kid is born to a previously treated doe and still has weak muscles, we have found that puncturing a Vitamin E capsule (1,000 mg) and squirting it into the kid's mouth will produce positive results within 12 hours.

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