When do you guys disbud & wether nigerian kids?

[Cygnet]

I need to get these guys done soon, but I've been putting it off ... *sigh* They're SO tiny and disbudding them scares me. At two to three weeks, they're the size of the desert cottontails that hang out in the pen. Horn buds are barely there on the bucks and I'd have a hard time even finding them on the oldest does. My housecat is three times their size -- they weigh maybe three pounds, tops. Should I bite the bullet and disbud them now, or wait a bit?

I'm going to wait a few more weeks for banding, because of the high risk of calculi here, but curious when you guys do it.

(Oh, and there is just something so funny looking about a herd of two and three pound kids running across a field like a bunch of rabbits. Cracks me up every time they take off en mass.)

-- Leva

[crazygoatgal]

I disbud my bucklings as soon as I feel buds and the younger the better for several reasons. It is much easier to handle a tiny one, it seems to help in the prevention of scurs(sometimes you still need to disbud twice), and if they are on a bottle you can feed them right after and they truly seem to forget all about it. The doelings don't seem to have as much trouble with scurs and don't seem to grow their horns as quickly, but it is still a good idea to do it as soon as you feel their buds. As far as banding goes, I always wait at least 8 weeks and I have been told that I should wait until they are 6 months old. The wife of a goat judge told me that they never band until the guys are 6mon. because of the development of the urethra can be inhibited and can lead to some serious health problems like U.C. I am still learning too. But aren't the babies the cutest things in the world? Someone once told me that they look like beenie babies with legs. That is so true!!!!!

[Cygnet]

They just crack me up at this age. They're so cute they don't even look real -- I've called them the live equivalent of My Little Ponies.

-- Leva

[Jillis]

The person who does my disbudding waits until you can feel the horn buds just under the skin. I have never had any problems with scurs, except sometimes the bucklings are hard to do a thorough job on. They seem to scur more easily than the girls.

[pookshollow]

As far as banding goes, I always wait at least 8 weeks and I have been told that I should wait until they are 6 months old.

If you wait until they're six months old, you'd better have a secure pen to separate them. Nigies are precocious little fellers - I know of at least one that bred a doe when he was 10 weeks old. I have the daughter of that mating.

Of course, my registered Nigie buck is eleven months old and is still quite clueless.

I just disbudded a Nigie doeling, about 10 days old (I think). I could just feel her hornbuds coming through. She hardly even hollered.

[Cygnet]

Originally Posted by pookshollow

If you wait until they're six months old, you'd better have a secure pen to separate them. Nigies are precocious little fellers - I know of at least one that bred a doe when he was 10 weeks old. I have the daughter of that mating.

Of course, my registered Nigie buck is eleven months old and is still quite clueless.

I just disbudded a Nigie doeling, about 10 days old (I think). I could just feel her hornbuds coming through. She hardly even hollered.

Yeah, my buck had kids on the ground when he was 10 months, if memory serves. That was deliberate. He'd have bred the does sooner I think, but he wasn't tall enough.

And I've posted about my, "Surprise!" twins from an eleven month old doe.