Wednesday 12th June 2019

Goats and their poo!
Sorel and Coriander, though mainly Sorrel, have continued to give us cause for concern over their sloppy poo. Since we last mentioned them at the end of last month we have been trying to get them both to ‘firm up’ somewhat using such strategies as: restricted grazing (keeping them in at night), only feeding slow release feed, giving them pro-rumen to help the good bacteria in their stomachs and finally worming them again just in case any worm larva were causing an issue (which won’t of course show in a fecal egg count..)…. Ecah time we start to feel we might be making a difference, only for things to sort of go downhill again.
Relaxed at Home
In themselves the goats are fine and between them are feeding 5 kids (things are a bit inter changeable here..) so all things considered, they could look a lot worse. Graeme from Torch Vets came out today at our request and he declared them rather fit and healthy and, it has to be said, he saw some reasonable poo from them too. Sorel in fact produced her best poo ever last night (since all this began), although it was pretty rubbish again this morning.
We wonder if we have turned a corner – in a few days we will be having a move around and the goats will be given access to the 2 acre fields and all the browsing there. Browsing, as opposed to grazing may make a difference. Sorel is In fact an avid grazer and eats far more grass than any goat we have had. The rich grass of our spring so far, may be going through her a bit quicker than it ought to be!!
It’s a relief for Graeme to have seen them and said what he said. The kids are all doing really well too and so we (Jack) may find ourselves able to stop worrying quite so much!!!