You may be wondering why @papa-pepper is giving carrot juice to his kids.
Then again, you may not. Some of you may not even realize yet that I am talking about young goats, which are also called kids. Either way, just sit right back and you'll hear a tale.
Back when we traded some of our pigs for some goats and other animals, some of the young bucklings were not doing very well. These young male goats had recently been weaned and were having a rough time adjusting, as is often the case.
They had some pretty bad scours (diarrhea) and their weight was already dropping. We did a number of things to help remedy the situation, and it looks like we will completely win this battle. By doing things like removing all grain from their diet and feeding them dry hay, certain things can be done to help.
CARROT JUICE?
I'll share some more about our basic care for these creatures later, but I wanted to share this one now, since it is so peculiar. Because Beta-carotene can have a greatly positive effect on the immune system and also work to fight against diarrhea, @mobile-joat suggested that I try to get a good dose of Beta-carotene into their system.
Now the diet of goats, like any animals, can be a very delicate issue. Attempting to add the wrong thing into an animal's diet at the wrong time can be potentially fatal for the animal. Anyone who chooses to get involved with animal husbandry has some serious responsibility on their shoulders and the lives of their pets or livestock should not be taken lightly. That said, I am in no way giving any advice about how others should care for their animals, I am just sharing what we chose to do when dealing with an issue that was threatening the lives of some of our animals, and how it worked out for us.
I first tried offering a little raw carrot to our kids, but they had no interest in it whatsoever. I then contemplated other options. Personally, I like a more natural, drug & chemical free, organic approach to raising animals, so I thought about trying some carrot juice. For an added boost, I added a bit of electrolyte supplement which also helps when goats are experiencing scours because it helps keep them hydrated during this dangerous time.
When I placed the bit of carrot juice into the bucket with the electrolytes and offered it to the kids, I had no idea what to expect. They had wanted absolutely nothing to do with the whole, raw carrot and I had no reason to think that this would work out any better.
They immediately came over to check it out, and were soon fighting one another to gulp down as much as they could. I was thoroughly impressed. These kids loved it!
Soon their muzzles were tinted orange. Not only were they getting some sort of liquid to help hydrate them, they were getting a good dose of Beta-carotene and electrolytes too.
They even enjoyed it so much that they began to lick their lips to finish it up! While not every kid would do this, these goat kids did. I honestly think that the @little-peppers would do just as good though too.
In about a minute after offering the carrot juice to the kids, they had mostly finished all of it. I didn't offer them the whole bottle, but they had what I considered to be a good, yet safe, amount. They are currently adding on some weight and doing better, but we are still monitoring them and keeping them on dry hay for now, until this completely passes.
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-kids-will-drink-carrot-juice
Until next time…
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