How to Take Care of Boer Goats

How to Take Care of Boer Goats

• 1

  Check the jaw of your Boer kid as soon as it is born, and make sure that the upper and lower jaw are properly aligned. A kid that has a jaw that is improperly aligned will have a difficult time chewing and will not gain weight properly.

• 2

  Set up a regular schedule to worm and inoculate your Boer goats. Most vaccinations are give annually and you should worm you goat every six to ten weeks. An oral wormer will rid your kid of any internal worms that will compromise its nutritional intake. Each year your Boer goat needs to be vaccinated to prevent enterotoxemia, tetanus, caseous lymphadentitis, sore mouth, and rabies.

• 3

  Check your Boer's hooves every time you worm the goat. You are looking to make sure that the hoof isn’t overgrown. When a goat’s hoof gets to long the goat can have a difficult time walking and if the condition goes on long enough the goat will become increasingly lame. Because a goat is a foraging animal it will stop eating when it feet hurt. A foot condition that commonly affects goat’s hooves is called thrush. Thrush is a type of yeast infection that makes the hoof sore. It is easily identified by the strong scent that wafts from the hoof when it is cleaned. Thrush is easily treated with regular applications of a medication called Kopertox.

• 4

  Provide your Boer goat with water. Check the water daily and make sure that the water is clean, even worse then the algae that can grow at the bottom of the water tank is the occasional bird that will fall in and drown while trying to get a drink.

• 5

  Keep an eye on the grass in the pasture where you keep your Boer goats. If you notice that your goat pasture is not producing enough grass to keep your goats properly fed then you will have to use hay to make up for the lack of grass.