Separating goats / kids question

[mousebandit]

Now that our last babies have arrived, along with the warmer spring weather, I am bound and determined to get all the goats out to the big barn and properly set up. We're setting fence posts for fencing this week, so the pasture should be done by the end of the weekend.

We have quite the motley crew of a goat herd right now - 2 yearling nubians (one doe, not bred; one wether, needs a little attitude adjustment), 3 pygoras (mama and two 3 mo. old about-to-be-wethers), 2 kiko mamas, and a total of 5 kiko kids (2 are 6-weeks old, and the triplet newborns).

Right now, the kikos are in a separate barn, closer to the house, and all the others are in the big barn out in the pasture.

I'm also ready to start milking my kiko mamas in the mornings, so I want to separate the kids at night, then let them run together during the day.

1) Are the older kiko kids (6 weeks old) old enough to put them and their mama in with the other goats in the big barn? Are they old enough to separate at night?

2) How soon until I should separate the newborns at night?

3) If I keep just the new mama and her babies together in the small barn (and move her sister and the bigger kids to the big barn), will she be lonely, or will the kids keep her company?

4) Or, if I kept the two kiko mamas together at night, with the newborns, will the newborns nurse off their auntie?

Thanks!

Tracey Mouse

[Sweet Goats]

Tracy, I guess I don't understand why they are all seperate. I have all my goats together (except the buck of course), It depends on the size of the babies, but I let them all out together at two to three days, depending on the wheather and again the size of the babies.
Good luck with the fencing, I hate that part.

[mousebandit]

Each of the three breeds has come from different places, and I wasn't sure about how everyone would get along. Of course, the nubians and pygoras have done fine being together. The other thing was that with one kiko with newborns (day olds when we got her) and all this time we thought the other mama was going to kid any day, we wanted them closer to the house. Plus, I was worried that there might be trouble between protective mamas and the other goats.

So, sounds like that's not a problem for you? Maybe I've just been overly paranoid (wouldn't be the first time, LOL!).

You think it would be fine to put them all in together, even the newbabies?

If I did that, would the newborns try to nurse off their auntie kiko at night, when I've her 6 wk. old kids separate? If they did, it would kind of sabotage my milking efforts in the morning, LOL!

Tracey Mouse

[tioga12]

I'm curious...I didn't know people milked kikos. Do they have more milk than boer dams? I was under the impression meat goats barely have sufficient milk for their kids, let alone dairy purposes. ???

[mousebandit]

Kikos certainly aren't known for milk production! I hadn't heard that they barely had enough for their kids. Since our nubian isn't even bred yet, and I am desparate for some goat milk, I figured I had nothing to lose but some of my time.

I haven't milked them much yet (well, the one that kidded two days ago, I haven't milked at all, LOL!), but I'm really optimistic!

Do you think I will threaten the kids milk supply if I start milking the mama of the 6 wk olds? I don't expect to get much, especially just once-a-day milking, but even a quart a day would thrill me to no end!

Tracey Mouse

[tioga12]

I have a dairy doe that puts out over a gallon a day, and before selling her kid (4 mos old) he always got all of it...we never got more than a cup a day. Of course, he was a big kid...over 12 lbs at birth and just went to market at 4 mos. and over 80 lbs. (Strangely enough, his father was kiko! lol) Now that he's weaned we get plenty. Growing kids take a lot of milk if not seperated. You could seperate them at night and milk her in the morning...but if she is a meat goat they probably would get shortchanged and I would worry it would stunt their growth.