Why does a goat eat poorly? Why does a goat eat poorly after lambing and give little milk? Poor appetite during pregnancy and after lambing

Goats are strong, hardy animals and are rarely exposed to various diseases. But sometimes the disease can still strike them. The first indicator of poor health is if the goat does not eat or drink. Knowledge about the symptoms and causes of existing diseases, methods of prevention and treatment will help to avoid severe consequences and deaths.

Timely prevention of the disease can prevent death goats

Closely monitoring the condition of your pet is the task of every farmer. It is important not to miss the first signs of the disease. The following indicators are considered normal for a healthy goat:

• body temperature 39 – 40 degrees;
• pulse - 70 - 80 beats per minute;
• number of breaths – 15 – 20 per minute.

Deviations from these figures should be cause for concern. In a sick animal, the pulse can increase to 100 beats, the number of breaths can increase to 85, and the body temperature can increase to 42 degrees. In addition, the goat grinds its teeth and its appearance changes. The coat looks disheveled, a rash appears on the skin, fatigue, lethargy, trembling are observed, and appetite worsens. All this indicates that the animal is unhealthy. If the goat doesn't eat or drink, what should I do? The answer is simple. It is urgent to begin treatment, but first it is important to find out what the pet is sick with and what caused it.

Causes of poor appetite

Loss of appetite causes a number of reasons:

• malnutrition, lack of minerals and vitamins during pregnancy;
• bad conditions maintenance (dirty and cold floors, inappropriate postpartum hygiene);
• weakening immune system, hormonal and physiological changes;
• difficult lambing process;
• the presence of worms;
• disruptions in the digestive system, constipation after childbirth.

Types of diseases

Any disease is easier to prevent than to treat. But it’s impossible to predict everything. There are two main types of diseases: non-contagious and contagious.

Forewarned is forearmed

Non-contagious

The emergence of non-communicable diseases is mainly caused by poor living conditions and an incorrectly formulated diet. Let's name the most common ones.

1. Gastroenteritis. Discomfort and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Eating low-quality, moldy food and dirty water leads to this disease. Diet (at least two days) and compliance with all sanitary standards will help here. Next, you need to provide the animal with hay High Quality and concentrated feed.
2. Dyspepsia. Metabolic disorders and disorders of the digestive system. Typically for kids, 3-4 days of life. The reason is insufficient feeding of the mother in the third trimester of pregnancy, as a result of which the quality of colostrum suffers.
3. Vitamin deficiency. Lack of vitamins in the diet leads to this disease in young individuals. It is necessary to immediately review the menu of queens and young animals. Nutrition should be as balanced as possible and rich in healthy elements.
4. Colic. Gases accumulate and appear severe pain in a stomach. The animal eats little, stops chewing, sweating increases, and constipation often appears. What to do? An enema of chamomile decoction (a pinch of herb per 0.5 liter), which must be given every 3 to 4 hours, will help. It is advisable to wrap the belly with a warm cloth and give the goat a medicinal infusion (chamomile 250 g, Glauber's salt 15 g, flax seed 25 g and gentian root 10 g).
5. Tympanitis. Eating large amounts of legumes and cabbage leaves leads to gas accumulation in the rumen and intestines. It's important to act quickly here. Give your pet a drink of ammonia solution (1 tsp of ammonia per 0.5 liter of liquid). Then pour plenty of cool water over the stomach and rub it with a hard cloth.
6. Udder inflammation. There are many reasons: colds, overfeeding, drafts and dampness in the stall. Treatment involves a strict diet and milking every two hours. But first you need to massage the udder and rub camphor oil into the sore spot.
7. Hoof inflammation. If the goat moves little, limps, and is in a lying position most of the time, then you should think about removing the excess hoof horn. Fill the wound with a disinfectant solution.

To avoid these diseases, following elementary rules content and balanced diet, rich useful substances.

Infectious diseases threaten not only animals, but also humans

Contagious

Contagious goat diseases are also dangerous to human health. There are two subspecies in this group.

Only a veterinarian should treat infectious diseases!

Poor appetite during pregnancy and after lambing

When a goat gives birth, it loses a lot of strength. During pregnancy, she gives the fetus the necessary useful elements and thereby weakens your immunity. It is in the first months after lambing that infectious diseases associated with inflammation of the uterus or udder occur. If help is not provided in time, problems will arise. chronic form and in the future cause infertility and decreased milk yield.

If the infection is not eliminated, it can become chronic, which will reduce milk yield and threaten infertility

It is worth paying attention to diseases such as mastitis and paresis.

Mastitis

It mainly appears when the goat has given birth, during lactation, and is an inflammation of part of the udder. It is caused by pathological microorganisms that can develop freely, since the animal’s protective reaction after lambing is significantly reduced. Less commonly, the causes are previous infections, inflammation of other organs, and endometritis. Injuries to the nipples and incorrect milking technique also lead to mastitis.

The disease is extremely difficult, the animal suffers severe pain. Milk obtained during this period is not suitable for consumption. The owner suffers losses. Treatment should be started as quickly as possible.

To begin with, the places where the nodules can be felt are determined different sizes. Therapy is aimed at restoring blood circulation in the udder. This is achieved through massage. This must be done several times a day, after thoroughly rinsing the udder with warm water and wiping it dry. soft cloth. After which a special cream is applied.

Inflammation is relieved with antibiotics. Most effective intramuscular injection medicines.

Paresis

In the first month after lambing, a very dangerous and complex disease is often observed - postpartum paresis. The animal's body is gradually paralyzed: first the limbs, then the intestines and then the heart. As a result, the goat dies.

The main cause of the disease is a sharp decrease in the level of calcium and glucose in the blood.

One of the signs of paresis is foot dragging

This is due to malfunctions of the parathyroid gland.

The difficulty of paresis is that the initial signs are quite harmless. Wasting time can lead to bad consequences. It is important to pay attention to several symptoms.

1. Steps become unsteady and uncertain, and one leg may drag.
2. The goat is in a lying position most of the time, it is difficult for her to get up, rear end doesn't rise at all.
3. Movement occurs on the knees; the front legs also “do not obey.”
4. The whole body is shaking.

My appetite is still good, but it’s hard to stand. The disease continues to progress, increasingly constraining the muscles.

1. Then the appetite disappears, the goat stops chewing, and then doesn’t eat anything at all.
2. At the last stage, the animal does not react to anything, but only lies with its head extended.

If any symptom appears, you should urgently call a doctor. Before his arrival, it is necessary to inject intramuscularly 20 ml of calcium gluconate (10 ml into each leg) and 2 ml of Tetravit (a solution with vitamin D). You can't milk a goat, you have to with help apple cider vinegar or any warming ointment, rub your back and legs. Then cover with something warm.

The veterinarian uses 30 ml of calcium chloride intravenously for treatment. To increase blood pressure, 1 ml of Cordiamine is injected.

After this, the goat should rise within 30 minutes. If not, repeat the course. The doctor schedules treatment for the next days.

Compliance with all instructions will help your pet survive

The likelihood of a goat getting sick after the birth of its offspring is much higher than that of other individuals. During these months, care for your pet should be maximum. By following generally accepted recommendations for caring for a goat after giving birth, you can avoid many diseases and digestive problems. What should be done?

1. Provide high-quality and comfortable living conditions for the pregnant female.
2. Avoid drafts, hypothermia and overheating.
3. To feed a pregnant goat, use boiled vegetables; it is better to exclude turnips. The female should not starve, but she should not be overfed either.
4. Enrich the menu with everything important vitamins and useful substances, give warm and clean water.
5. After lambing, start feeding hay in limited quantities, first check its quality and the presence of various foreign bodies which lead to gastric injury.
6. To normalize feeding after childbirth, food should be excluded on the first day, only water. On the second day, it is worth offering the animal wormwood and silage. Next, introduce easily digestible food. Immediately after giving birth, it is recommended that the female eat a piece rye bread with butter or bran mash with sugar.
7. Retained placenta can also cause loss of appetite.

Summary

What to do if the goat does not eat or drink? It is important to first make a correct diagnosis, and this can only be done by a veterinarian. The owner can independently monitor external signs; perhaps the animal has swallowed something or been injured. If nothing is found, then all that remains is to wait for the doctor’s instructions and then begin treatment. Time often plays important role, quickly provided assistance contributes to the animal’s recovery.

By appearance a goat can determine if everything is okay with it. There are times when a goat refuses to eat and becomes capricious. This behavior may indicate that the animal is sick. Also bad feeling Happens to animals if the living conditions are unfavorable. Every farmer should periodically inspect animals. What to do if the goat does not eat and for a long time refuses food? In this case, it is necessary to establish the cause of loss of appetite as soon as possible.

The main reason for loss of appetite is the presence of illness. The room where goats are kept must be kept in order, with thick bedding and fresh air. The presence of these factors prevents the development of bacteria and animals are less likely to get sick. When the indoor air is stale and filled with ammonia gases, goats become lethargic and their appetite worsens. If it’s cold in the barn, the females will freeze their udders.

• Pregnancy and lambing period. At this time, the animal spends all its energy on the future baby and often has no energy left for food.
• A goat may not eat if it has postpartum constipation. This blockage occurs due to a malfunction of the hormonal and digestive system.
• Lack of vitamins and nutrients

Fresh indoor air

Animals need to be cared for at any time of the year. To keep animals active and not sick, you should let them out for a walk. In the cold season, the duration of the walk is reduced so that the animals do not catch a cold. It is necessary to ventilate the room for 5-10 minutes every day. If the goat is not allowed outside, it will not receive the vitamin D that the sun provides. Without vitamin D, metabolism is disrupted and appetite decreases.

Proper nutrition

When a goat doesn’t have cud, it doesn’t drink or chew anything, we pay attention to its diet. Perhaps there is not enough calcium or phosphorus in the diet. If there is a lack of vitamins, then young animals begin to develop rickets. Adult animals with improper nutrition can develop osteoporosis and osteomalacia. To prevent these diseases, which lead to loss of appetite, we give plenty of green food, and winter period quality hay.

If the hay is old or contains droppings, then the goat will not eat such raw materials and will remain hungry. Many farmers make the mistake of thinking that if a goat left hay or grain, it means it is not hungry, but in fact, the animal can refuse inappropriate food until it becomes completely thin. We feed in such a way that the animal’s body receives everything from food essential minerals and vitamins, then your health and well-being will be excellent. The goat will thank its owners with high milk yields and excellent appetite. We also include branches from a cherry or other tree in the diet. For an animal, this is a nutritional necessity, not a whim. When a goat eats branches, digestive system grow beneficial bacteria, which help digest food and absorb it.

Please note that if your goat is often sick, it is recommended to give it a course of vitamins.

Restoring appetite

What to do if your goat has no appetite? First, we call a veterinarian; only a qualified specialist will correctly diagnose and prescribe treatment. If the animal is depressed, there is no chewing or belching, then you need to look at external signs. Perhaps she was injured or swallowed something, because of this she does not drink or eat. If you don’t notice anything special outwardly, all you have to do is wait for a prescription from a veterinarian, who will take tests and see if the animal has internal inflammation or other infections. Often when high temperature body, more than 38-40 degrees, the animal refuses to eat. Temperature increases also occur in hot weather and high humidity.

During treatment, we gradually restore strength and appetite. First, we give the goat his favorite treat to interest him and encourage him to continue eating. Drinking water must be room temperature and always clean. Food should not be rotten or have foreign odors. The health, mood and volume of milk production depends on how you treat the animal.

Today, for some reason, our sheep have weak offspring. Even the young and strong uteri They brought only one lamb each, and they grow slowly, frolic little, lie down more, and eat very poorly. Maybe they are sick, but with what?
L. Kovalchuk, Rostov region.

Most likely, your sheep's diet is lacking calcium or phosphorus, or you are keeping them in damp, dark conditions. Both lead to rickets in young animals, and in adult animals they cause bone diseases - osteoporosis and osteomalacia. To avoid this, during the grazing period animals should receive plenty of complete green food, and in winter - good hay, silage, and concentrates.

It is necessary to feed with root crops, especially carrots, chalk, ground eggshell, wood ash (ash, elm, aspen, beech). Give them also bone meal and vitamin D supplements. B sunny days even late autumn and in winter, be sure to take him for a walk. By the way, sheep and goats really need sodium, which is very little in plant foods. Therefore, everyone, especially young animals, needs to be given every day table salt. Before insemination, young animals require 5-8 g per day per head, suckling animals - 12-16 g, and pregnant queens - 8-10 g.

We recently lost three sheep and two goats. We brought them from the pasture - they were healthy. At night we gave them some cut grass and some hay. They ate well. And in the morning they were found dead. We can't understand why this happened?
L. Vedrenko, Saratov region.

Your animals died from tympany (bloating and inflammation of the intestines). This disease occurs in goats and sheep from eating large amounts of juicy or dew-covered grass, as well as grass wet after rain. Especially from clover and alfalfa, sprouted ears, spoiled hay, rotten root crops, juicy beet leaves, cabbage. To avoid misfortune, animals should not be allowed to graze on succulent grass on an empty stomach. Do not turn them out to pasture hungry or immediately after rain or heavy dew. Pre-feed with hay. By the way, feeding grass that has been lying in a heap and warmed up, mixed with hay or straw, is simply unacceptable. And you did it! Also, you should not give them rotten, moldy or frozen food or give them water that is not running. In general, it is not recommended to give them anything to drink after heavy feeding.

About a month ago, a very young goat suddenly began to lose weight, began to choke, then she developed convulsions, diarrhea, and very soon she died. What is the cause of this trouble? We called the veterinarian, but he could not find an explanation. We are very worried that the same fate may befall our other goats.
The Lyubimov couple, Novosibirsk region.

The symptoms you report often develop in goats and sheep when there is a lack of carotene - provitamin A and vitamin E - in their diet. To provide these and other beneficial substances, animals need complete food(green, hay, haylage, concentrates, feed yeast, good-quality silage, grass meal, as well as carrots, pine, spruce or cedar needles). Give them periodically fish fat, dry stabilized concentrates or administer vitamins A and D intramuscularly.

My kids gnaw at wooden feeders, lick the ground, and eat their own fur. Why is this happening to them? How to rid them of bad habits?
O. Bazlyarova, Volgograd region.

Your kids don't have bad habits, and the so-called bezoar disease. It occurs in animals, especially young animals, due to a lack of microelements in the feed. From densely felted wool, plant fibers, rags and dirt eaten by animals, stones are formed in their intestines, which often cause intestinal obstruction, and the animal dies.

To prevent bezoar disease, goats and sheep need to be fed special mineral briquettes. To prepare them, take ground chalk (100 kg), table salt (8-10 kg), iron sulfate (50 g) and chemically pure cobalt chloride (20 g). All this is stirred in water until it becomes pasty. Then briquettes or balls are molded from the resulting mass - whichever is more convenient for you. Store them in a dry, dark place. Before feeding the animals, the briquette (or ball) is crushed, mixed (up to 30% by volume) with phosphorus fertilizer (this is feed precipitate, defluorinated phosphate, etc.) and laid out in feeders.

V. Gavrilova, veterinarian

I don’t even know if it’s worth talking about all the benefits of keeping goats? Do I need to mention the benefits? goat milk and meat? But I think we can remember this again. What if someone else doesn’t know what this animal is and the products it provides.

First of all, I would like to mention unusual properties goat milk. It has a number of advantages over cow milk. For example, goat milk contains much more fat and protein. It is very quickly absorbed by the human body. This is especially important for older people, as well as those with liver disease and gallbladder. And naturally, this product is irreplaceable and very useful for children. Moreover, goat milk contains a lot of calcium salts, which prevents rickets in children. Because the goat eats a large number of variety of feeds, then her milk contains a lot nutrients. And this product can be consumed both raw and heat-treated. Butter, kefir, yogurt, cheese, feta cheese and other dairy products are made from goat milk. So you can use it in in different forms, the main thing is that it is present in your diet. Goat meat is not inferior to lamb in taste and nutrition.

If you decide to raise goats, or if this activity is already in your last place, then you may encounter the following problem. The goat got sick. This is exactly what we will talk about today in more detail. Let us explain what to do in this case. We will also discuss all measures to prevent goat diseases. And we’ll tell you as much as possible about each of them.

How to tell if a goat is sick

These animals are very hardy by nature and rarely get sick. But sometimes there are such cases, and you need to know how to act in a given situation. It is also important to be able to distinguish a healthy goat from a sick one.

Signs of a healthy animal:

• A body temperature of 39-40 degrees is considered normal;
• Pulse rate averages 70-80 beats per minute;
• The number of breaths is 15-20 / min.

Naturally, all these indicators change in a sick goat. So, for example, the pulse increases to 100 beats in one minute. The animal's body temperature instantly rises to 42 degrees. And the number of breathing movements increases to 85. It also changes general state animal. The coat becomes unsightly, disheveled, and there may be redness on the skin. Lethargy, fatigue, and loss of appetite appear. Sometimes you can notice the animal trembling. Very often, a goat reduces the level of milk production, or even does not produce milk at all. All this suggests that the animal is sick and needs to be treated urgently. But, before getting to this point, you need to figure out what the goat is sick with. To do this you need to familiarize yourself with various types diseases of these animals.

The goat, in essence, good care and proper feeding will not hurt. Most often this happens with discharged animals. But, of course, it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat an advanced form. But anything can happen in life, and you need to know everything about existing diseases to know how to help an animal in need, and how to protect it from possible illness.

Firstly, it is worth considering the fact that all diseases can be divided into two groups. These are contagious and non-contagious. From the first group there are even diseases that can harm a person.

Non-communicable diseases

Most often, these diseases appear due to proper feeding and keeping an animal, or from irresponsible attitude. To avoid possible diseases, goats must be kept in special rooms, which must be promptly cleaned and disinfected. Naturally, in autumn you need to take the issue of feeding the animal seriously. The diet should be varied and properly balanced. If you follow these simple requirements, then most likely you will never encounter possible diseases animal.

But let's return to non-communicable diseases. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the mucous membrane gastric tract and intestines. This disease occurs due to feeding the animal moldy food and poor contaminated drinking. How to treat? Most often, a two-day diet helps, as well as clean good water. At the end of the diet, you need to feed high-quality hay and concentrated feed.

Dyspepsia is an acute disorder of digestion and metabolism. Most often it occurs in small goats of three days of age. Most often, the cause is poor-quality feeding of the female during the last third of pregnancy, and as a result, this affects the quality of colostrum.

Avitaminosis. This disease occurs due to insufficient amounts of vitamins in the feed. Most often found in young animals. How can you tell if an animal is suffering from this disease? The kid grows poorly, sometimes even showing rickets and signs nervous disorders. What to do and how to treat? Everything is simple here. Adequate feeding of queens and young animals is urgently required.

Inflammation of the udder occurs from a cold or overfeeding the animal. Also, if the room where the goat is located is damp or there are drafts, this disease can also appear. How to treat? You need to follow a strict diet and milk the animal every two hours. It’s good to have a massage first. And after milking, carefully rub camphor oil into the sore part.

Colic is a disease characterized by abdominal pain. The reason for which is mainly the accumulation of gases. The goat does not eat well, stops chewing cud, it is noted heavy sweating, as well as fecal retention. How to treat? You need to do enemas every 3 hours. To do this, use chamomile decoction (a pinch per 0.5 l). You also need to make a healing infusion and feed it to the goat. You will need 250 g of chamomile, 15 g of Glauber's salt, 10 g of gentian root shoots and 25 g of flax seeds. Also, if possible, you need to wrap the goat's belly with a warm cloth.

Tympanitis - this disease occurs from the accumulation of gases in the rumen and intestines due to the fact that the animal has eaten a lot of succulent legumes, cabbage leaves. In this case, you need to act immediately. Initially, fill the animal with a solution of 1 tsp. ammonia per 0.5 liters of water. Next, you need to actively water the goat’s belly cold water, and rub with a rough cloth.

Inflammation of the hooves. If the animal is limping, doesn’t walk much, or tries to lie down more, then it will have to trim off the excess hoof horn and wash the hoof with a disinfectant solution.

Contagious diseases

Please note that these diseases should only be treated by a veterinarian!

From contagious infectious diseases the most dangerous are such as anthrax, brucellosis, smallpox, brodzot, infectious mastitis, hoof rot and others. The sources of these diseases are often sick animals that carry pathogens and excrete them in feces, urine, and milk. These diseases are spread by dogs, rats, mice, as well as insects and ticks.

Invasive diseases

Coenurosis (twirling). The causative agent is a coenurus, which has the appearance of a bubble and in some cases reaches the size of an egg. Infection occurs through dogs, in which mature larvae filled with eggs pass out in their feces and end up on the grass, food and water. A sick animal stops abruptly and makes circular movements. Refuses to feed, noted sudden loss weight.

Scabies is a skin disease. The causative agent is the scabies mite. Characteristic signs diseases: severe itching skin, the animal gnaws the affected area with its teeth, and hair often falls out. Prevention consists of destroying pathogens, cleaning and disinfecting the premises, and using anti-scab baths with hexochlorane emulsion.

These are the most common diseases of goats. Now you know their signs and ways to deal with them. But, still, any prevention is much better than the best and highest quality treatment. Let's talk about this next.

Prevention

Don't forget about disinfection. It is important, as is the cleanliness of the room. It needs to be done at least 4 times a year. This is the minimum amount. If you do it more often, it will not cause harm, but on the contrary, it will give you confidence in absolute cleanliness and the absence of bacteria.

The next important point in prevention is correct balanced diet animal. All feed must be of high quality. Water also plays an important role. She should be in the right quantity, and it is important to keep it clean. It is advisable that there is always water in the drinking bowl.

If you follow all these basic requirements for caring for an animal, then you will never have questions like, why is the goat sick? Or why is she eating poorly? And of course, you won’t think about why it doesn’t produce milk at all?

Goat milk yield has its periods. It's rise, peak and fall. This is a natural process, like, in fact, all processes occurring on Earth.

After lambing, the goat's milk production begins and milk production depends a lot on rational nutrition, frequency of milking, cleanliness in the goat barn. And this is not only dry bedding, but also good air ventilation. When the air is clean and cool, goats eat feed with special pleasure and are active. But if the air is filled with ammonia gases, goats become lethargic and lose their appetite.

Especially during the winter period, during the stable period, the flow of fresh air is important for goats. Every time I go to take care of my goats, even in severe frosts, I open all the doors for a few minutes, letting in clouds of frosty air. Regular daily exercise, feeding outside in the walking area, also not paying attention to the weather.

In cold weather, the time spent in the fresh air is shortened. One day, a goat breeder friend of mine complained that the goat was not eating very well and was very thin. She answered all my questions: I give, I feed, she has some left... Well, let’s go examine, examine the goat, how can you help without looking, since the owner says that she feeds well and even has everything left!?

They came, but it was scary to look at the goat, the skinny one seemed about to fall, and she had three suckling goats. Then I was confused, my heart sank, I stood there and thought about where to start, how to save a goat from death, and not raise the milk yield. The goat's owner complained that the goats didn't have enough milk. And the picture appears like this: due to severe January frosts, a goat with kids in a very dark flock and 3 weeks without a single walk. This means that vitamin D, which goats produce from the sun, receiving energy through their hairs skin hasn't received it for a long time.

Metabolism, as a result, collapses and with a lack of this vitamin, the animal loses its appetite. fresh air the goat doesn't get it. I look further, the hay is black, and hay is the basis of the feed ration. Here the walking goat will wither away. In the feeder, which was a wooden box, there was enough of it, but it was from yesterday.

I tell the hostess that the hay is bad, so at least you need to give it as much as you can, but it’s better to urgently find a good one and buy a couple of rolls. And she told me, the hay is a complete feeder! And the unfortunate mistress has to say that the goat does not eat hay that smells of manure, and that it is important to give fresh hay at each feeding, preferably from the cold. The goat doesn’t even know brooms or twigs. I drag the barely walking goat out into the cold, the owner chirps: “Oh, he’s getting cold, oh, his udder is getting cold.” And so I say, she will stretch your legs. There has been a fir tree lying around in the paddock since New Year, I break its paws and give it to the goat, I see that it has shown interest and has started chewing sluggishly. I tell the hostess I’ll break off the cherry branches, don’t you mind? Yes, break, and watches everything that happens. The goat devoured cherry branches for her sweet soul. Well, I thought, all is not lost! He will live. The goat was given compound feed for one meal in a 500 gram plastic sour cream cup, poured into a basin and under the goat’s feet, and was not given fresh food; if trampled, the food smelled like a flock, it remained in the basin. Not eating means not hungry!

I thought how scary it is to be an animal, they do whatever they want to you, without bothering to stock up on knowledge about caring for animals. And they can’t say anything to anyone. That's how it happens! And they are still waiting for milk yield. Branches and brooms for goats are a great food necessity, not a whim. When the goat eats them digestive tract Bacteria grow rapidly, helping digestion and fermentation of food, and ultimately its absorption.

A prerequisite for good milk yield is the goat's access to clean, room-temperature water at any time of the day.
I’m not talking about the goat itself, but it’s probably worth paying attention to this too. The goat should be well formed in the womb, watered for up to 3-5 months with pure milk, without dilution with water. Such future queens will have fatty milk. You can read in the previous goat breeding article “”.

Also, a goat should be kept from early covering for up to a year. Not much, not little, without including in this article information on feeding gestational goats, it is important to follow in order to achieve good milk yield.

Good heredity goes without saying. These are high milk yields from the parent branches for several generations. By observing feeding and maintenance regimes, it is important to milk the goat well. At first, it is better to leave the number of milkings at four times, if possible. And so, having milked the goat and transferred it from hay in the spring to juicy green grass, we are starting to approach the peak of milk production.

This stage often occurs in the middle, sometimes at the end of June. Peak milk production does not last long, two to three weeks maximum. Then by July the grass becomes less juicy and milk yield decreases slightly. At the end of July, grazing goats often experience a massive rut and...

Although this period shifts from year to year and depends on many factors. Sometimes it stretches until October. I remember it was a year, the goats in the herd mostly covered almost all of them in May. That also happens. So the gestation imperceptibly increases every day, and the milk decreases. And in August, milk yields clearly drop. And from the moment the goat covers itself, we count 3 months and leave 2 months for the goat to rest. This means that by the end of the third month it is important to start the goat.

There is an opinion that one and a half months is enough with good care. But we are not dying of hunger, and we have several goats and they are covered in different time, so always with milk. And before lambing, our goats rest for two months and eat up. And the kids are born big.

Buyers of goats ask their owners how much milk a goat produces. And they get an answer about the peak period. But there are goats that accelerate slowly and quickly reduce milk. And there are goats, as I call them, stable ones. Here they are - good income on the farm, and they will feed their kids and give it to others. Enviable consistency and the absence of jumps in milk yield are valuable, as they greatly increase the total volume of milk during the lactation period.