I need help!!! my goats are worrying me to death

myrandaandkids · #1 05/09/06, 07:05 PM

does anyone know where in northern minnesota where i can get milk goats at an affordable price? i have a milking doe and a 3 month(who i want to breed and dont know how old she needs to be) my 3 month old refuses to ween, weve tryed everythingshe is taking half our regular production from our milker who is not even her mother, and when we got fed up and seperated them she cryed non-stop which upset the adult and starved herself all together,and began losing weight, anyone with ideas? also if i breed her early will she be a poor milker? an i want more but noone in my area wants to let go of milkers or even young females except the major commercial goat milk farm in our area who only sells prize stock at $600 +and i am not particular about breed, but i am just a homesteader and just starting my little farm and so i am particular about price, also my milker has alot of gas because i had been letting her graze for a couple hours a day and she crys like shes hurting all the time now and we stopped letting her graze because another farmer in our area told us she would graze untill she bloated and killed herself, is this true? how do i solve the gas problem? please help!!!!!

vancom · #2 05/09/06, 08:20 PM

We bought a mom and daughter pair last October. Daughter is STILL trying to nurse off mom although she herself is now a new mom! But the babies don't nurse as we decided to bottle feed them for various reasons.

We use teat tape every each milking to keep daughter from nursing from mom and from also self-nursing. A little added step each am and pm but it has worked.

As for them always being hungry--yup, they'll work you. Goats prefer browse to grass (leafy plants, bushes, and trees) and we are sure they they have browse, grass and alfalfa in their electrified yard area plus grain at milking. That way we know all are eating well. They are still thin because they are milking hard but they are healthy. A CD&T vaccination given once a year is a good idea to preventovereating disease.

Vanessa

(I'd sell you some of mine but we are in Tennessee...you want to drive you can have the self-nurser and another Lamancha doe!)

**mygoat** · #3 05/09/06, 09:43 PM

The EARLIEST you could possibly breed would be 8 mon, but that depends on the specific animal. I don't think I'll ever breed one of my goats earlier than a year. Try the teat tape idea, it sounds like it will work great.

Freeholder · #4 05/09/06, 10:00 PM

A well-grown doe kid can safely be bred at seven months old -- the standard is (for full-sized breeds) that they should weigh at least seventy pounds by the time they are seven months old, and then they can be bred -- as long as they continue to be well-fed. I bred one of my Kinder does last year when she was just seven months old, but a very well-grown seven months -- she just kidded yesterday, at one week past her first birthday, and is almost as tall as her mother now. So, IF their nutritional level is high, you can breed young.

Try the teat tape. The only other solution would be to separate them, but in such a way that they could still see one another, which ought to reduce (but won't eliminate) the crying. Then you'll just have to tough it out for a few days (usually about three days will see them through the worst of it.) But, you may always have to either use teat tape, or keep those two goats separated.

As for your feeding problem -- I'm assuming that these goats are getting plenty of hay? Always make feed changes slowly. Let them out on pasture for fifteen or twenty minutes the first time, then add five minutes per day. Goats can bloat on pasture, especially lush, green pasture, but if you are careful to introduce it slowly, they should be fine.

Kathleen

TexCountryWoman · #5 05/09/06, 10:41 PM

Offer them baking soda (the kind from the kitchen used for baking) in a dish out in their pen. They will eat the amount they need and it will help relieve the acidity in their stomach. They won't over eat the baking soda, you can give it free-choice. I hear mine burp when they eat it and they are "gassy".

Sarah J · #6 05/10/06, 10:34 AM

With good growth and management a full-sized breed can be bred at 7 months to kid on their first birthday. I do it every year. Wait longer and you have that much more invested in them with time and feed and nothing to show for it. If she is 70 - 80 pounds at the time, she can be bred this fall.

As for weaning, yes, she'll cry. Both of them will cry. It's normal. How long did you have them separated when you tried it? It takes a week or more sometimes. Do they each have someone else they can BE with during the separation time? They get lonely when they're by themselves! Have you tried separating them at night, by just a cattle panel so she can'ty nurse but can see and touch the doe, and then milking first thing in the morning, then putting them together again so the kid can nurse during the day? The teat tape idea might work - they can be together and she can't get the milk from your doe.

Good luck!

Sarah

**mygoat** · #7 05/10/06, 02:09 PM

I must've had pygmies on my mind... I was thinking of how little teeny tiny my doelings were at 7 mon. They were not even 40 lbs then! they were about 45 lbs at 8 mons, and are now at least 55 lbs now they are nearing 11 mon. old. See why I will never breed at 7 mon? lol They still are small, but thankfully they will be bred this winter so they have a few more months to grow up some more. They will be about a year and a half when they get bred next January.

AnnaS · #8 05/11/06, 11:48 AM

hi from middle MN!
I don't know what you are looking for as far as price, but there are several new Grade B dairies in MN that are buying very aggresively. It will be hard to find any healthy dairy type doe for under $250. Even does going to slaughter- and they have to be really bad- are $100-$150.
I breed my doelings to kid on their first birthday. My current batch of yearlings are almost the same size as the two and three year olds. If you wait to breed them they can get so fat they can't get pregnant.
All ruminants produce a lot of gas. A doe should have a rumbling tummy, & burp a lot. If you feed her hay in the morning and turn her out on pasture after the dew is off, there should be no problem. If it is just grass pasture, she can be on it all the time.
You might want to join the yahoo group MDGA (Minnesota Diary Goat Association) to find more breeders in your area.

Sweet Goats · #9 05/11/06, 04:52 PM

I have found if I breed them too early (Because I have a bad buck) the babies having babies are so young and not totally developed them selfs. I have had to help young moms deliver the babies, I try to wait until at least a year. Two would be better. (That is for me)

TerriA · #10 05/12/06, 08:25 AM

For what it's worth, we got our milk goat a year ago this month.. she'd been milked about 2 months before we got her. The previous owners bred her at 5 months!!!! She lost her buckling.. and I didn't milk her but another month or two so I could condition her better before breeding late fall last year (November). She gave birth to a healthy thriving doeling the middle of April and I totally plan on waiting till this little gal is big enough/old enough to handle it.

Terri

Ranchermom · #11 05/12/06, 08:47 AM

Try localharvest.org or rawmilk.org for nearest farms near you if your still looking for the milk

Sam

sancraft · #12 05/12/06, 08:49 AM

If you are breeding to try and build a herd for income, I'd say breed at 7 months if the doeling is big enough. If not, I'd wait until a year. It never hurts to wait a little longer. I used to breed Toy Poodles (and groom) for a living. I never had problems starting my girls later. Other breeders would breed the first heat and had lots of problems, from small litters, mother rejections, c-sections, etc.