not enough milk!

goatgirl1392 · #1 02/03/07, 03:07 PM

okay, so i have this doe who had her babies yesterday, and she doesn't have enough milk for the the two of them, so i am bottle feeding one. this doe usually gives a lot of milk... she also had her babies two days early, could that be the reason why she isn't giving as much milk?

TexCountryWoman · #2 02/03/07, 03:10 PM

2 days early should not make a difference on the milk. Did the baby get colostrum?

By no milk, what exactly do you mean? Is there any milk or colostrum in the udder? what are you feeding the doe? is she acting normally? drinking eating?

goatgirl1392 · #3 02/03/07, 03:14 PM

she has milk, just not as much as she usually has. both the babies got the colostrum in the first 12 hours. one of my babies has weak back legs and can't walk very well and his brother is getting all of mom's milk, but i would think that she would still have enough in there for this other little fella. my doe is acting very normal, and is eating and drnking. i am feeding her hay and grain.

goatkid · #4 02/03/07, 04:38 PM

Could be that it may take a few days for her to come into her milk. I know some of my does take a little while for their production to come up. One of my girls kidded maybe a week early last year. Don't know for sure exactly hoew early as she was pen bred. I had to bottle feed the kid as she was a preemie. Mom didn't make a whole lot of milk at first, but her production increased with twice a day milking.

topside1 · #5 02/03/07, 05:15 PM

What makes you believe that the doe is not producing enough milk? What makes you think the kid or kids are not getting enough? Have you tried milking her by hand when you believe she's empty. Maybe by just spending a little time assisting the smaller weaker kid to mom's milk would insure it's getting it's fair share. After a few days all maybe normal for the doe and her offspring. Kidding a few days early would make little difference in milk production....

goatgirl1392 · #6 02/03/07, 05:31 PM

how i know he isn't getting enough is because he can't get on by himself and his brother is taking all the milk. i have tried milking her and only like two squirts came out. i am bottle feeding the weaker one right now. this is the first time her udder hasn't been really full when she had her babies, so hopefully it should fill up.