oh i'm sad for you. i lost a goat a few years ago but it was due to illness. he was the same way, like a big ole dog. so sorry for your loss. without a necropsy, there's really no way to tell. i would think you would have noticed any signs of injury or predation by dogs or coyotes. barring something like that, it's just very hard to say. did she look like she had struggled? it could easily have been a quick, natural death and hopefully it was. it's so tough to lose a pet, even something many would consider a farm animal. i have been watching stories of the pets left to fend for themselves after the hurricane. it's just plain heartbreaking. again, sorry for your loss. nina

Kids that aren't weaned yet eat a little grass and grain, but that doesn't mean their rumens digest it as well as adults; it takes until they're twelve weeks or so to have sufficient gut bacteria to manage it. For that reason, starter grains for calves and kids have a lot of powdered milk products in them, so they get sufficient protien they can digest. 1% fat cows milk isn't appropriate for a goat; the fat globules are too large to digest, and it isn't nearly nutritious enough because growing kids need lots of fat. Powdered milk replacer products are available for bottle feeding kids, and they always need fresh water available too. Milk that's too warm can kill off rumen bacteria and room temperature or cold is safer for a goat this age. If it wasn't vaccinated, the kid may have died from Clostridium perfringens (aka: enterotoxemia) which can cause sudden death.

Cristi...Thanks for the condolences. We were very shaken up over his loss. I just got him this summer. He was a magnificent animal with 11-ennobelments in his pedigree. All the big names (Top Gun, Ubora, Top Brass & Eggsfile) to name a few. I at least got one season of live coverage from him. I also have 68-straws for the future. YEAH! His son lost 5-enobelments from his dad's side...but picked up 2 from his mom's side...so he has 8-enobelments in his 3 generation pedigree. He weighed 11-lbs at birth and has his daddy's chest and legs (so far). I am pretty excited about him. Hopefully he continues to improve / get better over the next couple months. It would kill me to have to whether him for a fair project if he "falls off." We are fairly new. We have been raising our goats for 4 -5 yrs now...bouncing back and forth between Alpines / Boers. I finally made a decision last year to run with our boers...hence buying a nice buck last summer. The wife loves the boers...but her heart is with our Alpines. She has 2 FB Alpine does with one expecting kids in March. She is a great milker / mother. We also have a FB 3-yr old Alpine buck from Stawberry Fields Alpines. Last year they won the 3rd place "Best Herd Award" from the ADGA. So he has an excellent bloodline as well. Right now we have 3 FB Boer does (not counting the new baby girl born 26-Dec). We also have quite a few percentage does (50% - 88%) that we are using their buckling kids for Fair whethers. We are selling / keeping the doe kids (depends on their confirmation). So far...all are keepers. We have 12 kids on the ground right now. (See other post). We are basically just now getting serious... We have an Open Show comming up in April. This will be my first experience in the show ring (with goats). Everyone tells me that I have some really nice animals; especially 2 new bucklings born this year. Two of my FB does are extremely long with perfect markings. One is even 2-teated. We will see. I have several friends that do the "open show circuit." They say they have a lot of fun...even though it is hard to compete sometimes. There are farms / ranches that have some very, very nice animals and do this (raise goats) for a living. They sell replacement stock so the points won at these shows validates their stock...so they put a lot of time and expense into their animals. Once an animal acheives (I think) 80 pts and pass an inspection; the animal is enobeled. Southwinds (my dead buck) had 40+ points from his previous owner showing him as a yearling. For the average "goat guy" like me...it sounds like an upward battle...but I am going to give it a shot. If for nothing else but experience and knowledge we will learn from these people. Brian

Thanks again, Bill. You're right - the access could be a lot worse. The bad news is that, on the BG, the deck extends out in front of the engine, so there's not much space between the bottom of the carb bowl and the deck. It will have to wait for now - I have some hernia surgery coming up. But once I get that little condition fixed, maybe I can drop the deck to its lowest setting and get the nut out.