Questions to be addressed

The primary question is what can be done to remedy the situation? Secondly, based on data collected so far, can one determine the likely outcome in completing the experiment?

Two suggestions from the researcher were as follows:

Option 1. Six goats in this new batch of 12 animals could be put on diet A, and three each on diets B and C. This would mean that there would be only six replicates overall for diet A+D and nine for C and B, one less than originally planned for these two groups.

Option 2. There was also the possibility of obtaining a further six animals to be included later in the experiment to make up for the loss of the 6 goats, although the availability of six additional goats kidding at the same time was uncertain.