Pull Babies Off Mom After A Week????

[reneeearle]

Anybody Ever Let Babies Eat On Mom For About A Week, Then Pull Them Off To Bottle Feed? We Might Do This, As These Babies Will Be 4-h Projects. I Just Want Them To Take The Bottle Ok. Will They Reject The Bottle? Or Just Leave Them On Mom, But Handle Every Day?? Which Is Better?
Renee

[mary,tx]

If you want them to take a bottle, give it the first day. After a week on the dam, I very much doubt you'll persuade a kid onto a bottle.
And it's going to be a whole lot more distressing for both the dam and the kids if you leave them a week than if you took them at birth.
mary

[LomahAcres]

Dam raised kids can be just as friendly as bottle-fed kids.

If your doe is friendly, then just handling the kids every day (especially the first couple of days) would be enough. The kids tend to follow 'mom's' attitude toward people so if your doe is timid, shy or hard to handle, you may then want to bottle-feed.

If these kids haven't been born yet and you do decided to bottle feed, I would pull them right away (at birth), it will be less stress on the dam and kids.

The longest I've left kids on the dam before pulling was 3 days (momma cried for 4 weeks). The first day of bottle-feeding was more of 'force' feeding, and what a mess! By the second day the buck kid had it down, but it was another day before the doe kid was readily accepting it. How long it takes for the kids to start excepting the bottle I think depends on how 'people friendly' they are as well. Kids who haven't been touched much might not switch over.

[Loda Farm]

My friend had a Nubian Doe who was freakishly shy, had a buck that they wethered, that turned out to be friendlier than any bottle baby I have met. The kids were out everyday carring him around, and scratching him all the time. He was ---- raised, and follows those kids everywhere. Just have your kids pay alot of attention to the babies, and make sure to play with them everyday.

Laura

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I agree with Laura, really the only way of having tame dam raised kids is if you have kids or it's your first couple of years with goats, and you still love them little darlings Because other than that and all you really have is tame kids for you, and they certainly aren't bottle tame. Sure they will learn your routine, but sell them, and 9 months later I can just barely get the doe to lick my finger on the otherside of the fence, go in the pen and it's still across the pasture for her! If she wasn't this excellent pedigree, she would be gone, I am soo not looking forward to teaching her the milkstand routine!!!

If you do take them away, be there for the birth and deliever the kids into the house, so the moms can't smell or hear them. Another option is to just let bucklings nurse and bottle doelings, as long as you have pairs. Another option is to let her lick off the kids then trap the kids and feed them bottles on your side of the barn, they don't learn to nurse but mom can smell and hear them, and mother them. After 3 or 4 days on the bottle they are tame for youm, bonded to you and their bottles, then can go live with mom, they don't even know what her teats are to nurse them, they run to you for a bottle when they see you, and are protected by mom. Or...let her nurse the kids, take them away and they can live in a seperate pen, milkstand her twice a day and let the kids out to nurse, they will nurse anything, thier mom or their aunt, any teats hanging down on the milkstand...this was our favorite way of raising kids back before CAE testing, using the kids to nurse them darn little first fresheners teats was terrific You could still use wethers for this, I use a milking machine Vicki

[waygr00vy]

I don't usually bottle raise my kids, but I will if their dam is particularly skittish. Because I wasn't really equipped for milking until recently, I have left kids on mom for about a week so they get all the colostrum and a good start, then seperated them (only if they have a sibling or I have another young one to keep with them). Moms and kids usually only cry for a day. I actually tried to put a kid back in with one (she has twins and was producing so much milk i thought maybe i should leave one on her) and she wanted NOTHING to do with him...only after 1 day! Most of the kids take to the bottle with a little patience. A tiny bit of molasses in the bottle helps with the more stubborn ones.