![]() But, it’s only for a few days.Ĭheck the does to see if they need dewormed. Their udders engorge like a balloon as they dry up. Weaning is a stressful time for mother does as well. After a few days, the kids learn they don’t need mom anymore. Since, they are eating and drinking already, this transition is fairly simple and quick. They get all the hay they could ever want. In the wean pen, we keep a complete medicated pelleted feed in front of them all the time. Starting them on feed, hay, and water before weaning makes the transition much easier for them. They may feel it the first few days, but recovery time is quick.īefore weaning time, kids are eating feed and hay with mom as well as drinking water and milk. Since we band everything for prevention of early matings in the weaning pen, this is just the right time to do it. Banding bucklings at this age helps prevent a disease called Urinary Calculi. It takes 2 weeks for the CD-T booster to be effective.ĬD-T will protect the kids and keep them healthy as they transition to their new pen.įinally, if the weather is nice, we band castrate the male bucklings. They are still receiving the antibodies from their mother’s milk but maybe not as much, so this is a good age to give them their first round. They also get a second booster shot of CD-T, which is a preventative for a disease called enterotoxemia or overeating disease.Ī little more about CD-T: A first booster shot is given at 8 weeks old before they are weaned. I write these numbers down in a notebook for record keeping. The scrapie tags help us to identify them. So, as we remove the kids from their mothers, we assign them ear tags (scrapie tags). Secondly, health and safety is of most importance. Look for any holes in the bottom of the fence where the babies could squeeze out because you know they will be looking for one. Here are some tips to keep in mind for successful weaning.įirst of all, it’s important to make sure the weaning pen is extremely secure. So, let me tell you the weaning process I’ve found that has worked the best for me for over a decade of raising goats. This is when the kids are 10-12 weeks old, which is perfect weaning age. The nursing doe should be in the 2-3 range by the time we schedule weaning. The thinnest is 1 and the fattest is 5.The middle and healthiest point on the scale is 3. What is Body Condition Score?īody condition score is a range from 1-5 judging how fat or thin the animal is. And watch their body condition score closely. The more the kids take, the more the mother has to give. The kids become more wear on their mothers but demanding to nurse.Īs the circle of life progresses on, the kids grow and continue to use up all the mother’s reserves. By a certain age, the kids don’t need their mother’s milk anymore. So, it’s true that weaning kids is for the mother’s health. More time than not, goat moms are ready to wean their babies at a certain time but the babies do not cooperate. ![]() We monitor the self weaning process and then simply help her with it. The second reason I mention is that the Mother will try to wean them herself…eventually. I’ll talk about body confirmation in a moment. So, why is weaning kids such a necessary process? The first reason is to s ave Mother’s body confirmation score. Here are 2 main reasons why you should wean goat kids. * Why weaning kids is an important part of raising meat goats. * My best simple tips for less stress in goat kids. ![]() When are they ready? I’m going to cover that in this post as well as: Weaning boer goats and weaning dairy goats are a pretty similar process. On the farm, the farmer helps with the process when the mothers and goat kids are ready. In the wild, goats will wean their babies on their own. All babies are weaned from their mothers at some point. I get goosebumps when the young goats cry for their mothers during weaning.īut, weaning kids has to happen. Honestly, my heart strings pull every single time. Weaning Kids is the stressful but necessary process of separating goat kids from their mothers. Not all parts of raising goats is enjoyable. One of my least favorite tasks of goat production is weaning kids.
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