# How to get cud from a goat....



## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

...or NOT! 
They all came running when they saw I had some alfalfa pellets. They were hoping for animal crackers but oh well food is food. Then they laid all around their big dirt pit and some started chewing cud. I was armed with a plastic spoon and a disposable cup to toss the cud into. I must get cud from an adult goat. Not the easier kid goats, so off I go. 

First goat, I try to stick the spoon into her mouth so she swallows the cud and moves away annoyed.
Second goat I try to open her mouth and get cud this causes her to swallow and move away. 
Third goat has a huge wad of it so I try to squeeze her cheeks to make her expell it. She swallows and moves away! 
Fourth goat (now I am getting annoyed) I try the sneak attack, I come up from behind her and I sit on her and try to get the cud out. She swallows and moves away!!
Fifth goat is chewing with her mouth open so I sit along side her and I try to time it. I will stick the spoon into her mouth when it is open. She swallows and moves away!!!
Sixth goat was a bottle baby and is very calm so I figure I can kind of safely stick my fingers in her mouth and not get bit by those razor sharp teeth. Ha she wants to suck on my finger so she SWALLOWS, but does not move away. 

By now I am getting really annoyed, this should not be this hard. I also think about why I am concentrating on the girls who are not cooperating, try a wether, it might be better. So I sit down next to my big Nubian boy who looks like he has the mumps when chewing cud and he *not once *brought up any! But I did get a nice bite from a red harvester any for my troubles. :flame:
I figure I must be doing something wrong. So I try to get cud from a 4 month old bottle baby. She happens to be the one who bit me and cut up my finger when I tried to get a piece of foil out of her mouth. She lets me open her mouth and I stick the spoon in and get watery nasty green liquid with some pieces of greenery it in and the other bottle baby wants to know what I am doing and he hits my arm and the half a teaspoon of cud I manged to get landed on my legs and feet. Oh does it smell icky and it does not come off no matter how many times you wash! I can still smell it. I think my sandals are trash :Bawling:

So round one goes to the goats and round 2 is coming up as soon as my daughter can help me. I hope it goes better this time.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Might I ask WHY you need the cud? Seems like a lot of trouble...


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

I walk over to the sand pit where they are dusting themselves, reach down to pet Birdy or Shoofly or Bab's and pounce. You put a choke hold half nelson around them so they can't swallow that cud and you stick your hand into the check and retrieve the whole cud.

Now this part gets dicey because supposedly cud has only anerobic....dies when in oxygen? properties  so although if you go to Texas A&M and purchase cud from their cud cow, and they put it into a jar and tell you to use it for a week...if you don't immediatly use this cud from your goat folks will say it is worthless. Well I take it into the house, add water and put it into the blender to slurry up. There is no way you can pack cud down a does throat you want the jucies. I use this juice for the whole day and steal cud if I need more.

So YMMV with this information and I certainly don't have a study to back it up  LOL!!! Vicki


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

My Goat, cud transplant is lifesaving in goats. Remember probiotics or yogurt only have one bacteria in them (acidopholus) found in the hundreds of bacteria, millions of colonies in rumen bacteria. After surgery, after any bloat treatments, after acidosis or to help cure it, listerosis where they loose facial nerves so they can't cud and can't swallow, the normal bacteria from a cud transplant can be the only help you can give your doe. Vicki


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Ahhhh I see. I just have never had to do a cud transplant, lol, and didn't understand the need. Sounds difficult - I hope I never have to try to nab a cud...


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

I have a dumb question. If the idea is to replace a lost cud, won't the goat you just took the cud from then not have a cud?


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

They only throw up a small amount of the rumen contents, which is quickly replaced by another cud if you steal it. The rumen is really large in adult animals...put your arms together like you are hugging somebody, it is that big  It is filled with bacteria and grass clippings, well it looks like that. No way could you steal it all. Vicki


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## Starsmom (Nov 7, 2004)

I have done it many times and do it the same way Vicki does. Sneak attack. I grab the doe, put her in an head lock and pry the mouth open and reach in and grab the cud and immediately give it to the needy goat. It really does help and is truly a life saver. If you have never done it, don't wait until you need to do it to learn. Practice now so when you need to do it it will be a piece of cake.


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## sunnygrl (Sep 27, 2006)

i learned that you can also use a plastic pipe shoved between their teeth to keep them from biting you....

6e- i think the concept is that the healthy goat has those bacteria in an abundance while the ill goat needs them... so it's not so much as a cud transplant as a bacteria transplant...

i would think the sick goat would have a cud just not a bacteria healthy one


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

I just had a really sick one about 6 months ago- my doe Cayenne got a WHOLE BAG of corn pulled into her nightime shelter :grit:

I took her to the vet the next am, and they tubed her (put a flexible clear tube down her throat) and drained out massive amounts of half-chewed corn bits.

Well, 2 days later, it was obvious they didn't get nearly enough out; she had bad scours and wouldn't eat. Back to the vet. He tested the Ph of her rumen and it was the same as hydrochloric acid!!!! He couldn't believe she was still alive! He tubed her again, and pumped in the goat-version of tums, and alot of it. The, he looked me dead in the eye and said "bring me your healthiest adult goat!"

I ran the trailer home, loaded up my 3-yr old bottle baby, and brought her to the clinic. They stood them in stanchions side by side, and did a "transfonation": they tubed out healthy rumen juice from my healthy goat, and pumped it into my acid-stomach one!!!!!

Cayenne, who was on death's door, was back to her old self and her poops were normal within 3 days!

Had I known to "steal cud" on day ONE after the corn fiasco, I mightn't had a $110.00 vet bill.....


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I will never drink a smoothie at Vickie's house.:nono:


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Thanks for the answers!! I was curious. Haven't had to do that yet.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Rose said:


> I will never drink a smoothie at Vickie's house.:nono:


You beat me to it! :banana02:


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

Wouldn't it be easier to save the cud from a goat you were butchering by freezing it quickly. If you say its anaerobic then you quickly get it into a jar and pump out all the air using your vacuum packer.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

Well the sneak attack with head lock works. They get surprised yell and you grab some. Thanks for telling me how, it was really getting to me. I am happy to say that he is feeling better and while gross and a bit difficult, grabbing cud is helpful.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

How do you determine if a goat needs a cud transfer? Sneak attacks, headlocks.must remember just in case.

Rose you can drink a smoothie at my house, I almost woke up the neighborhood ROFL!!


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

jill.costello said:


> I just had a really sick one about 6 months ago- my doe Cayenne got a WHOLE BAG of corn pulled into her nightime shelter :grit:
> 
> I took her to the vet the next am, and they tubed her (put a flexible clear tube down her throat) and drained out massive amounts of half-chewed corn bits.
> 
> ...


Jill, I like your vet! :rock:


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