Hey Wholesome,
I can empathize with your situation. That little cashmere goat that I'm holding in my intro-blog died within 2 to 3 weeks of coming to us. We were totally green on caring for goats and we didn't recognize the warning signs until is was too late. It still bothers me and I regret not knowing enough to see that he wasn't well. Our goat paddock was clean, they had the right food and fresh water everyday but yet he died and was basically full of worms and coccidia. The vet told us there was no way that he could have contracted such a large amount of parasites in the short time he had been with us, so it's obvious that he was sick when we bought him.
There's several lessons here I feel - firstly, raising livestock is not for the faint of heart. Secondly, you can't learn too much before taking on the responsibility of caring for animals. In spite of the stereotypical view of goats... how they can eat laundry or a tractor seat, they have sensitive digestive systems.
We now have use portable fencing and rotate their pasture every week or so which serves several needs. It get's them out of their paddock, it saves on feed bigtime and they're happier (quiet).
Hang in there.
Thank you! I am sorry for your loss! It is very important for new goats to be dewormed immediately after transport to your farm. The stress of transport creates a major worm outbreak almost every time. Goats are much more fragile than people think for sure! we use portable fences too!