Doe won't let me near her to milk - Page 2 - Homesteading Today
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  #21  
Old 03/25/12, 01:58 PM
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If you want tame kids, take them when born or shortly thereafter. It'll be easier on the doe's emotions if you take them ASAP. If she's wild, she won't let you within 15' of them.

I've taken kids as old as a week and a half and put them on the bottle. Ideally, you take them at birth or within a few days. Usually I'll take boer kids off of the dams to bottle raise (doelings, and only if there's another sibling I can leave on her) so I can ensure they're tame. Within a few days of birth, kids will generally nurse anything - the stubborn ones people talk about here and there were probably difficult to get started nursing their dam, too. Once they get hungry, they'll take a bottle. Having experience bottle feeding helps too.

If she has bucklings, leave 'em on. They're meat anyways most likely, that'll solve all the problems. What would really be nice is if she gives you buck/doe twins. Take the doeling to raise on the bottle, leave the buckling on her.

If you want to milk, that's up to you. If it's not feasible, let her bag up for a day or so, then milk her partway out to ease tension, then let her bag up again etc. That will signal the doe's body that her kids aren't around, and to stop producing. I had to do that with my CAE pos does I had several years ago. They weren't comfortable but I wouldn't call it cruel by any stretch of the imagination.

I'd pen her, and take her to the milk room 1 or 2x per day and put her in the stand for pretend milking. Sit with her, and most goats will love you if they realize you give out the scritches especially on the shoulders. They love that. Feed her right next to you, run your hands over her, and especially while in the milkstand, sit next to her and pretend to milk. She'll kick and dance but just keep at it. hopefully the food will distract her enough that eventually she'll decide it isn't too bad.
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  #22  
Old 03/26/12, 11:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mygoat View Post
What would really be nice is if she gives you buck/doe twins.

That would be great...but I asked her for a buck and 2 does!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for that to happen!!!
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  #23  
Old 03/26/12, 11:16 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm View Post
If you pull the kids immediately and let her lick birthing goo off your hands, she will bond with you and be more likely to let you milk her. After she is done kidding and licking your hands, then work on milking out the colostrum for the kids. She will likely yell at you a lot for the first week or so after kidding for not getting out there and laying down where she told you to, you disobedient "kid".

Yep!!! If they adopt you as their kid, they become a lot easier to handle!
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  #24  
Old 03/26/12, 11:21 AM
 
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What kind of facilities do you have to work with? If you have a barn with box stalls, could you keep her with the kids in a stall for a couple weeks? If you are feeding grain, hand feed it to her every day. She will warm up to you very quickly! Having a small enclosed space where she can't really "run away" from you will be helpful, if you spend time with her and the babies consistently, she will eventually come around, and the babies won't be shy like her if they are socialized from birth. I would leave the babies on her if you aren't going to milk her. Like Alice said, saanens are bred for high production, it will be very hard on her if she has to dry up immediately after kidding.
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  #25  
Old 03/26/12, 11:28 AM
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I have a 8x8 wood shed that I put fencing around to give the mamas and babies their own space. I put straw in the shed and cut the top half of the door off so they have good ventilation when I close it up at night.
I brought her in from the big pen and put her in this space so she couldn't run off.
When I go into her area, she runs into the shed and then I follow and just sit in there with her. She still hates me being there, but I am working on it.

If she has a boy and a girl, I might keep the boy on her and pull the girl. I have another goat due any day, too so I am hoping to get 2 of each...but we know we never get what we want!!!
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  #26  
Old 03/26/12, 01:06 PM
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I've got a really, really gentle nubian FF that just gave me twins. (one buckling, one doeling.) She is/was the most gentle critter in my herd that followed my son around like a dog up until she kidded. I share milk with her and the kids and do some intermittent bottle feeding. As long as I get them on a bottle asap after I see them stand and nurse from mom a time or two they take it readily. I do this to both to be lazy as well as gentle them.

However, she's not being near as friendly now since she's kidded. She's not leading anymore. She's not hopping on the milkstand anymore, and she's not standing for milking while she eats like she would for udder massage pre-kidding. She's not the same goat. Yee haw, bring on the rodeo for milking the next few days.
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