Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to be rechewed before entering the rumen and reticulum again. The walls of the rumen and re-
ticulum absorb fatty acids and vitamins. After the plant matter is thoroughly broken down, it
enters the second two chambers, the omasum and abomasum, where nutrients are extracted
and final digestion takes place.
The digestive systems of kids (baby goats) do not function in the way those of adult goats do.
Newborn kids use only the abomasum (true stomach) to digest liquid food. As the kid begins
to experiment with eating roughage, its rumen begins to develop, and then the other cham-
bers. Once you notice a kid chewing its cud, the four stomach chambers are likely fully
formed and functional.
In order to maintain the rumen in good working order, a goat requires the right proportion of
roughage to grain. Feeding too much grain to a goat is not only expensive, but also it impairs
the muscle tone of the rumen. The digestive systems of adult goats that are not fed enough
fiber begin to function more like those of single-stomached animals, and the contractions of
the rumen almost cease. On the other hand, when the goats have too much fiber without
enough grain to provide energy for digestion, the rumen becomes so full that food cannot pass
into the omasum, which results in bloating and death.
Udders
Proper care of a goat's udder is essential to milk production and the health of the doe. The ud-
der of a goat has two halves, each containing a single mammary gland; it has two teats where
a cow's has four. The two sides of the udder should be the same size and separated by a cleft.
The mammary glands contain tiny sacks of cells called alveoli (or alcilli) that secrete milk,
surrounded by muscular cells that allow the milk to exit, also called “letting down” the milk,
when the udder is stimulated by milking or a kid sucking.
The udder is suspended from the abdominal wall by a series of ligaments called udder attach-
ments or udder supports. If these become abnormally stretched or weakened for any reason,
the udder hangs too low and is prone to injury, such as being stepped on by the doe or by oth-
er goats.
