# My goats have a hay belly...



## jaytori220 (Jul 23, 2008)

I have 2 young wethers that have had a hay belly since I bought them last month. One being more then the other but his conformation is also much different then the other. Him being very short backed and more compact. The other is longer and taller. They were being fed coastal bermuda hay and wouldnt touch it after a while so I switched them to really nice canadian T&A hay and they seem to like it better. Its about 20%alf and 80% timothy. They have it 24/7 in the shelter and get 1/4 cup goat pellet in AM. They have been wormed, eating and drinking normal. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of the pot bellies?


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

That's their rumen and it's good for them to have them...it means everything is working right


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## jaytori220 (Jul 23, 2008)

Minelson said:


> That's their rumen and it's good for them to have them...it means everything is working right


Great! I have nothing to worry about then. Ive seen some really lean goats of the same breed but in good flesh. Mine just look like wormy little puppies! And they were wormed already.....


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

What kind of goats are they? Can you post a picture?


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## jaytori220 (Jul 23, 2008)

Minelson said:


> What kind of goats are they? Can you post a picture?


They are ND. I only have side pics of them which really dont show their bellies. This morning the bellies have gone down. I think its just the belly working like its supposed to! They were so big last night I thought they would pop....but they have always had a big belly. My friends goat is a doe and she is also ND.....she is very lean but looks very good and not skinny. Her does is very long wheras mine are alot smaller then hers and mine are older.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

I have a Niggie doe that is like that - looks like she is going to pop every night, but she looks noticeably less bloated in the morning. She is the only one of my Niggies that looks like that. I'm thinking it is her genetic line as her momma always looks that way too.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

From my limited experience with goats  I have seen two types of "pot belly" that have concerned me:

1) pot belly when the animal is very thin due to too much low-quality forage and not enough nutrition (they fill-up on junk and don't get what they need because they are full and/or there is no higher-quality forage around); and

2) pot belly when the animal is wormy.

There is a third reason, which is bloat, but I'm very happy that I've not had to deal with this (yet). Any other pot belly is probably not really a pot belly and is just their healthy rumen, as previously stated. Does this change throughout the day? Can you see the rumen moving? Do you hear good rumen/gut sounds? Are the poos normal? Attitudes normal? Pictures sometimes help. 

I bought a doe recently that looked like #1 above. She had been foraging and not getting any hay or grain. She was very thin but had a HUGE pot belly. She is an ND but looked like a very thin and very pregnant pygmy. I had the seller dry lot her for a couple of weeks to be sure she could get her figure back and within a few days they reported that she was losing the pot belly. When I went back to buy her a few weeks later, she was still a bit thin but MUCH more like an ND. She was getting her beautiful build back and I knew I was right in wanting her. She's not had the pot belly return since she's been here and she's steadily gaining weight.


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