My best Nubian milker has been limping for the past couple of weeks. I have checked the hoof for proper trim and that is fine.No sign of foot rot or laminitis.No visible punctures or cuts.There may be a tiny bit of swelling in the ankle.Hard to tell.There doesn't seem to be much soreness if any. This is a BIG girl.About 250 lbs according to the weight tape.She is 3 mos pregnant and getting bigger every day.This one usually has triplets or quads.Ann thinks she is just too heavy for those tiny legs but I believe it must be something else.Anyone see anything I missed here? BTW she is fat but not excessively so....just a big frame.

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), December 24, 2000

Answers

Maybe a sprain or something? I have had my girls do that and limp for quite a while. Even my old girls get a bit too frisky every now and then and join the kids at play. Front or back? I wouldn't worry to much if it were front and doesn't get any worse. The back end on the other hand could be a different sort of problem that can get worse as the pregnancy progresses. Had that once in an older doe...diane in michigan

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 24, 2000.

Agree with Diane, and since a weigh tape doesn't go up to 250, she is of the 200+ pound set that alot of our older does are. A huge reason to be breeding her to a buck with excellent feet and legs, to get them "tiny legs" off of her daughters and breeding for a larger bone, with nice short strong pasterns. It is in vogue right now for the large tall Nubian doe, but with this comes the longer boned, longer pasterned doe. A sprain in the foot will only be able to swell in the ankle, make sure you aren't seeing edema in the pastern/ankle http://hometown.aol.com/goatlist/hypocal.htm from a doe in the first stages of ketosis/hypocalceima, though 3 months is way to soon for this, keep this in the back of your mind because of her weight. Might want to think about more exercise and a decrease in her grain ration, or perhaps moving from alfalfa to grass hay. The babies are very tiny at this point, really only starting to grow at day 100, so other than uterus etc. don't be blaming any fat on baby weight yet! Does should not carry a roll behind their point of elbow! A sprain in the cannon bone only can swell in the knee. Look between the toes very well and make sure nothing is wedged up in their, and your sense of smell is the best thing to use for any hoof/foot rot. Might want to learn how to condition score your does, and fix any condition problem before the last 50 days of pregnancy, actually fixing any condition problems before breeding is the key. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 24, 2000.

Thanks for the answers.You are both probably right that it is a sprain. Diane....it is left front Vicki....good tip about sniffing the foot.We have sand here so have not had any foot rot problems.Certainly worth a sniff though. I didn't mean to give the impression here that the doe was rolling in fat.She is in what I consider to be excellent condition.Some extra weight but that will melt when she kids and begins producing milk again.BTW my weight tape goes to 215 but,as I am sure you know,a regular tape measure works just as well with a little math. You are dead on about my liking for tall,heavy goats.A definite personal preference.That's my one complaint about my Boers.They are all SHORT! Again,thanks and merry Christmas

-- JT Sessions (gone2seed@hotmail.com), December 25, 2000.

Just a quick question for all goat people. Keeping in mind that we are talking about HEALTHY animals here with a normal amount of weight on them. I have heard that it is a good idea to feed pregnant females a LITTLE on the light side up until the last 3 weeks and then feed them REALLY well. The theory is that this will produce a smaller baby for easier birthing. The additional food in the last few weeks ensures that the baby is strong and healthy. This shouldn't produce stunted babies. The people I know who follow this program have always had a high success rate. Very few problems. What do you guys think ? Monica.

-- Monica (zpepenovia@excite.com), December 28, 2000.

Monica, I would not make big changes in feed the last few weeks. I do start SLOWLY building up the feed level in the last few weeks to prepare them for coming into milk. I have found they increase a little faster that way and I have never had any toxemia type problems after kidding. I think some people might think I over feed in pregnancy, because I like my girls to put on some weight. I have nubians that tend to get a little chunky, but they milk so heavy that they start looking very "dairy" (or skinny in my book) within a couple months after kidding. They seem to kid without any big problems most of the time, so I keep doing what I am doing.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.