Embu Veterinary Consultancy

GOAT PREGNANCY

A Guide On Goat🐐 Pregnancy.

Gestation length in goats is 145–155 days
(average 150 days) and can be affected by
breed, litter weight, environment, and parity.
Generally, first-kidding does have one or two
kids, and in subsequent kiddings, triplets and
quadruplets are not uncommon.

What does a pregnant goat need?

Feeding should consist of medium quality
hay, good pasture, and free choice goat
mineral – they don't need grain at this stage if
they're not being milked. Since we were
milking, ours got grain twice daily but we
slowly decreased this to a very small portion
once daily as we dried them off (quit
milking).

What do goats need when pregnant?

A ration can be balanced using
Bermuda grass hay and 20 percent
range cubes to meet the requirements
by feeding 1.5 pounds of range cubes
and 3.0 pounds of Bermuda grass hay.
This illustrates the high level of
nutrition that is needed, especially in
the last three weeks of pregnancy.

How do you take care of a pregnant
goat?

Care of pregnant goat

1 Keep pregnant animals
separated from others.

2 Provide adequate nutrition,
easily digestible and laxative
diet.

3 Do not allow them to fight with
each other.

4 Do not allow them to mix with
recently aborted animals.

What do you give a goat before kidding?

Giving each doe a CDT (2 cc) & BoSe
(2 cc) shot at 4 weeks prior to kidding,
and deworming (to combat the buildup
of internal parasites that usually occurs
just prior to kidding) them when they
move into their individual stalls a week
before their expected freshening date.

How can you tell a goat is pregnant?

1 Appetite goes up, milk
production goes down. The
appetite of a pregnant doe
gradually increases.
2 The doe's belly tightens.
3 The doe's personality changes.

4 The buck's personality
changes.
5 The doe's barrel swells.
6 The doe's shape changes.
7 The doe snores.

What do you need to help a goat give
birth?

1) Put the doe in her clean stall,
bedded with straw (not hay) and get
your supplies. 2) Sit with the doe and
watch her to judge how things are
going and progressing. 3) Get a feed
bag ready for your garbage bag.
Comfort and emotionally support the
doe in her labor.

MAIZE SILAGE

How much maize silage should you feed a dairy cow?

Maize silage

Farmers are increasingly using maize silage as a source of feed for dairy cows in Kenya. Maize silage has important nutrients that can help the cow increase milk production and also ensure that milk production is maintained during the dry season. Higher milk production means higher income for farmer.

How much should you feed a dairy cow?

· If you are going to do a good job of feeding your cow, then you should have an estimate of the cow’s weight.

· The easiest way to get a cow’s weight is using a weighing band, which you can buy in the nearest agrovet.

· A cow in milk will eat 2 % of their body weight as forage dry matter and good quality silage is approximately one-third dry matter, so 2% x 3 is 6% of their body weight each day.

· Therefore, a cow of 500 kg should eat 30 Kgs of silage (6% * 500 = 30 kg).

· With a balanced ration composed of good maize silage (30 kg) and dairy meal/concentrates (5 kg) representing in total 15 kg of dry matter, a cow that is well managed can produce at least 20 litres of milk per day.

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NOW AVAILABLE!!

FACT SHEET 2, FEEDING MAIZE SILAGE TO DAIRY COWS ( e-copies), Kindly pay ksh 100 via mpesa Till Number 664444 and text your email to 0724512194, Indicate F2

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