When to feed baby something other than milk

longhorngal · #1 12/06/05, 02:25 PM

Finally my pygmy had her baby! A single doe, yesterday. No problems her and my first!
When do I start giving the baby something other than Mamma's milk and at what age? And what? Also, I would like to milk the mom for milk for my homemade soap. At what age can I do that without depriving baby?
Thanks!
Cara

Delinda · #2 12/06/05, 04:51 PM

I have hay available to the kids at about one week old, you will be surprised at how fast they will start nibbling on it, and I start creep feeding the kids a good goat chow at about 3 weeks old. When mine are around 6 or 7 weeks old they really start eating the feed. Even though they are eating goat feed and hay I do not wean mine until they are at least 3 months old. They still need their mothers milk. I would not take any milk from the mother until they are eating another feed and eating well. Pygmies do not have the milk a dairy goat would have as they are meat goats.

Ramblin Acres · #3 12/06/05, 08:25 PM

As with what delinda said make sure they have hay available,they will start eating feed at about a week old.I give my pygmies there 1st CD&T vaccination at one month and then there 2nd one a month later.Now all of my does are vaccinated a month prior to kidding and de worm the day that they kid.

As far as milking her,since she had a single kid it would be ok for you to go ahead and start milking her.She will produce enough milk for her and you.You should get at least a quart of milk at each milking,depending on her being a good milker.When we had milked ours we got an average of half a gallon a day per goat but that is from good milkers.We now have a few dairy goats that we are using for milking even tho pygmies have the highest butterfat milk.This will be our first year milking the dairy does and we cross bred them to our pygmy buck so just maybe we will have good milk.

longhorngal · #4 12/06/05, 09:22 PM

Hi,
Thanks for the advice. I have to say I did not get her vaccinated a month prior to kidding. I bought the vaccines but being new to this I kept thinking she was going to have that baby and was afraid to do it.
So, when should I give the mom those vaccines that I missed? Also, what should I worm her with?
I did milk the one side of her today that baby doesn't drink from. It was very hard to touch. I got about a cup of milk or maybe a bit more, some spilled. As I say I'm new to this but it went fairly well or seemed to

.
Should I milk both sides....once....twice a day or just the side the baby doesn't use?
Thanks so much for the help on the weaning and feeding too!
Cara

Ramblin Acres · #5 12/07/05, 07:53 AM

Go ahead and give the doe her cd&t vaccination and then remember in a month you have to give her another booster UNLESS she has been vaccinated before and you know that for a fact.Then You need to vaccinated the baby at 2-3 weeks old and then again in a month.Some people do 3 vaccinations but I only do it twice.I need to correct myself in the previous post I stated

HTML Code:

"I give my pygmies there 1st CD&T vaccination at one month and then there 2nd one a month later".

I do this with my dairy goat babies, my pygmy babies are on the doe until weaned and at weaning I give the 1st cd&t vaccination and then the 2nd one a month later.You can worm her with safegaurd or ivermectin at double dose.

Remember when you milk her you have to be consistent and do it at least 2 times a day or she could get mastitis.Since she is nursing one baby I would make sure that the baby eats first and then try and milk both sides. Make sure you milk her out good.She will replenish enough milk by the time the kid is hungry again.She will not give you alot of milk due to the factor she is nursing a kid.Make sure mom is getting enough hay and grain,I give my pygmy does about a half of a pound to a full pound of grain each feeding plus a good alfalfa/grass hay.I would rather see them a little overweight then skinny.Then after the kid is weaned my does get the next breeding season off,this year I only have 7 does that will kid in may and june.This is what has worked for me thus this far.

Any other question feel free to ask.
Lisa

longhorngal · #6 12/07/05, 01:39 PM

Thanks for the additional information. You know I'm not sure I even have the right vaccines, I asked the vet...we're in a rural area....this is what they gave me.....I got 2cc of vision 7 black leg (which the vet tech said was for CL) and 2.5 cc of Respishield + Lepto.
Does this sound correct? I'm assuming the cd/t has tetanus? I'm not sure these do. Oh brother! This poor goat, if she survives me she'll be doing well.

Yes, I'll be sure to milk her out twice a day. I read on a website somewhere that they're milk doesn't taste good due to hormonal influence for about two weeks. Have you found that to be true? I guess it would still be ok to save it to use for soap making anyway, right?

Cara