Tummies

When goats get stressed or their diet changes they can get an upset tummy. They might get a bloat, not eat or drink, or have diarrhea. Ours got the latter. There are a few things you can do...

• Make sure that they are drinking water. Sometimes the water tastes different and they won't really like it, but they need to drink so they don't get dehydrated. If they refuse the water try some Gatorade.
• Baking soda helps with bloats.
• Do not give them molasses(some is okay on sweet feed or something but not much). It is a laxative.
• Probiotics(like in yogurt) gets their bacteria going again. Sometimes food change and stress can kill the good digestive bacteria, so probiotics(which you can buy as a powder at a farm feed store) starts it all up again. Too much or giving it when not needed will actually have the opposite desired effect.
• Pepto Bismal is amazing for diarrhea. Just get a large syringe, slide it in the side of their mouth, and squirt it in. They don't really like it, but will swallow when it's in.

And that's the basics!

kk