RIP Nigel. I put him down today. Had lost over 50 pounds, I couldn’t get any weight on him, had developed a weird stiff legged gait, then got some huge abcess on his chest, which I drained but couldn’t get to heal and his gait got worse. I felt terrible for the little guy when giving penicillin as his muscle mass was totally down to nothing. Poor guy was a shadow of his self.
Too bad as I’ve just drawn a sweet tag and will need him
Sorry to hear that.
When we first started raising goats, an old man who'd done it for years told me to expect a 10% death rate if we were doing everything right. I thought he was off his rocker at the time...but time has proven to me he was correct. Some years more, some less. Of course we're doing it hands off, raised on pasture/forage, and for production with a herd rather than limited numbers with more oversight like you. With breeding, birthing, age, herd competition, predation (mainly dogs), parasites, and any type of sickness all in the mix, the 10% is really close.
