Early weaning

KimM · #1 03/16/08, 10:28 PM

I have a 6 week old buckling that weighs 35 pounds and is eating pellets and hay reasonably well. I need to sell his dam. Do you think he'll be alright?

Terre d'Esprit · #2 03/16/08, 10:43 PM

I hope so! I have three bottle baby wethers I am planning to sell in a sale, and the sale will happen when two of them are 8 weeks old. I am hoping that I can wean them early and sell them. Hopefully someone will come along that knows more than I do! I'll be watching this thread closely.

steff bugielski · #3 03/17/08, 05:14 AM

I have weaned them at that age. I must admit they did not grow as well as those left on mom. If I was keeping the kids I would bottle feed for a few more weeks.

simplyflow · #4 03/17/08, 07:15 AM

At Fiasco, they say you can wean at two months old.

topside1 · #5 03/17/08, 07:58 AM

Kim, just sold three doeling & one buckling at that age...Not a single problem according to the new owners. I can send you a blurb that says weaning @ 6 weeks is acceptable....John

Coffietta · #6 03/17/08, 08:10 AM

I want to wean now, but they are only 5 weeks old. Any suggestions?

Loda Farm · #7 03/17/08, 08:18 AM

I wean my bottle babies at 6 weeks old. I was losing some bottle kids to bloat when they would start eating hay and grain. I think it was beacuse the bottle kids would drink the milk more quickly from a bottle than they normally would feeding off mom. Last year I did not lose one kid to bloat after weaning at 6 weeks. You could always try to switch them to a one bottle supplemental feeding after selling mom. Thy may take a while to take to it, but I have been successful transitioning older kids to a bottle before. I always wean bucklings at 8 weeks, as I bought a fainter buckling at 9 weeks old from a farm a few years ago. Turns out he impregnanted mom before he left. LOL I don't want that to happen to mine, so I pull all bucklings at 8 weeks to avoid that.

Laura

topside1 · #8 03/17/08, 09:01 AM

5 weeks, I wouldn't do it..Even at six weeks I wouldn't wean unless they are eating normal amounts of grains and hays...5 weeks is to young in my opinion...

fishhead · #9 03/17/08, 09:52 AM

It seems that lots of people have problems with milk replacer in young goats. Would it work better if kids were slowly shifted to MR at 6-8 weeks?

KimM · #10 03/17/08, 10:04 AM

I normally wean at 8 weeks if they're eating good. If the kid is a little small I'll let them go a while longer, especially doe kids. This buckling seems huge, and very heavy muscled. I think I won't have to worry about him but I wanted other opinions. Thanks all!
Oh, I woudn't wean at 5 weeks either unless there was no option like the doe dying.

CountryHaven · #11 03/17/08, 10:05 AM

Yeah Coffietta, I wouldn't do it at 5 weeks either. I actually prefer to leave them on mom until 3 months if I can, and if I am keeping them myself for sure, 8 weeks at the very outside if I have one that is sold and needs to leave. 6-8 weeks would have to be an extreme for me.

jBlaze · #12 03/17/08, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishhead

It seems that lots of people have problems with milk replacer in young goats. Would it work better if kids were slowly shifted to MR at 6-8 weeks?

I would advise using whole cow milk from the store, NOT milk replacer. We are using the cow milk this year and it is going MUCH better.(we used the MR two years ago and the kids did not do nearly as well.)

As to weaning, I don't wean mine till 3+ months, but I do not have boer, I think they grow faster?

Terre d'Esprit · #13 03/28/08, 09:08 AM

Exactly the same here, jBlaze. Cow's milk is going SO much better. Just out of curiosity, Loda Farm, did you feed milk replacer or cow's milk? I did lose one-- don't know why, it might have been trauma-- this year. But I don't think it was bloat or overeating. I am curious about this, though...