Buddy the "baby" goat is a 7/8s Boer and 1/8 Kiko goat so if he was a normal baby he would be around 200 lbs full grown but buddy didn't have a normal childhood. Buddy was born on the first morning of the snowstorm in February. His mother was a first-time mom and she had him in the snow and left him, she later had 2 more in the barn that she loved and nurtured but buddy was left forgotten in the snow outside. When the family found him about an hour later they took him inside and wrapped him in a heating pad and blankets they gave him milk (but he never got his colostrum) and took his temperature and thermometer just said low.
That is where we came in I emailed the farm in hopes of finding a bottle baby for my doe who had gone into premature labor losing both her babies. The man emailed back and said he had a special case and that normally he never sold bottle baby aged kids but that one of his does had rejected one of her kids and he didn't have the time to bottle feed this guy. We bought buddy for $50 with the intention of selling him after he was weaned. The only problem was our doe rejected him too, she could tell that there was something wrong with him even when we couldn't see it. So I took on the job of mothering buddy and until weaning he didn't seem like he had any of the common problems associated with kids that never got their colostrum.
After weaning we noticed that not only was he not growing but he was eating constantly and never seemed to be getting any more meat on his bones. He was thin to the bone everywhere except his extra big belly. He also kept getting sick, just one thing after another and we had 2 different vets out who couldn't tell us what was wrong with him but then the pieces fell into place and the state vet told us that most goats that never got colostrum don't see there 3rd month of life and that he was impressed that he was still doing as good as he was. We started looking into lots of different ways to help start his rumen upright, but nothing seemed to work and he hadn't gained a single pound in almost 2 months so we decided to give him the best life we could and hope for the best. After a few more months of nothing thinking, he was done growing and would have a shorter life he started to grow at an alarming rate!
Buddy was weighed on July 19th, 2019 and he weighed 35 pounds but when we weighed him on September 8th he was 50 pounds! that's a better rate of growth then your average market goat! Buddy is still growing and loving his life and we hope he lives a long one!
Update - 11/6/19 - Buddy has stayed right around 50 pounds but he has lost a lot of the fat around his belly and has started to make muscle on his shoulders and his butt. He has been in a cat collar his whole life and only recently did he upgrade to a small dog collar (I still kept the bell though)
Update - 1/1/20 - Buddy hit 75lbs! he is really growing like a normal goat should (although still slowly) and not like a Nigerian dwarf that is being overfed! he is so pleased with himself!!
That is where we came in I emailed the farm in hopes of finding a bottle baby for my doe who had gone into premature labor losing both her babies. The man emailed back and said he had a special case and that normally he never sold bottle baby aged kids but that one of his does had rejected one of her kids and he didn't have the time to bottle feed this guy. We bought buddy for $50 with the intention of selling him after he was weaned. The only problem was our doe rejected him too, she could tell that there was something wrong with him even when we couldn't see it. So I took on the job of mothering buddy and until weaning he didn't seem like he had any of the common problems associated with kids that never got their colostrum.
After weaning we noticed that not only was he not growing but he was eating constantly and never seemed to be getting any more meat on his bones. He was thin to the bone everywhere except his extra big belly. He also kept getting sick, just one thing after another and we had 2 different vets out who couldn't tell us what was wrong with him but then the pieces fell into place and the state vet told us that most goats that never got colostrum don't see there 3rd month of life and that he was impressed that he was still doing as good as he was. We started looking into lots of different ways to help start his rumen upright, but nothing seemed to work and he hadn't gained a single pound in almost 2 months so we decided to give him the best life we could and hope for the best. After a few more months of nothing thinking, he was done growing and would have a shorter life he started to grow at an alarming rate!
Buddy was weighed on July 19th, 2019 and he weighed 35 pounds but when we weighed him on September 8th he was 50 pounds! that's a better rate of growth then your average market goat! Buddy is still growing and loving his life and we hope he lives a long one!
Update - 11/6/19 - Buddy has stayed right around 50 pounds but he has lost a lot of the fat around his belly and has started to make muscle on his shoulders and his butt. He has been in a cat collar his whole life and only recently did he upgrade to a small dog collar (I still kept the bell though)
Update - 1/1/20 - Buddy hit 75lbs! he is really growing like a normal goat should (although still slowly) and not like a Nigerian dwarf that is being overfed! he is so pleased with himself!!