My doe wont feed her babies anymore!

Bricore · #1 04/25/08, 10:48 AM

I have a problem. I have a doe that had two kids a little over 2 weeks ago. She has always been a little touchy thing. She started out feeding her kids fine but just the other day I noticed once her kids get on her she'll jump away after a very short time.

Of, course I got right to checking her out (seeing if there is any heat, if anything felt hard, or anything that didn't look right.) Everything looks fine. Her babies are pretty rough on her when they eat (compared to my other goats with their does.) She has VERY little teats and it's hard to get milk out of her by hand but she does have some in her (I have to use my thumb and index finger to milk this girl and she has never been crazy about me touching her udders. Even when she didn't have a baby.)

This is her second time having kids. The first one I believe was bottle fed.

Any ideas?

I do have extra milk from other goats here and I did try to give one of the babies some of it today. She really didn't understand it just yet but of course as soon as I put her down she went right to her mother and wanted to drink (the doe just walked away.)

stacygoats · #2 04/25/08, 11:31 AM

Does will limit when and how much kids nurse. Check their bellies, if they feel full then the doe is allowing them to nurse a sufficient amount of time. I was concerned when I saw a doe initially not letting her kids nurse, but then I'd frequently see them nursing for a significant amount of time. If they aren't skinny and crying alot, then the kids aren't going hungry.

Good luck!

DQ · #3 04/25/08, 11:35 AM

mommas decide when babies get a drink not babies. I have kids between 2 weeks and 2 months old right now and I guess 75-90% of the times I see the babies walk up and try to nurse the moms won't let them. the older the kids the more likely the moms are to walk away. if you watch long enough (hours) you will see mom eventually give the kids a little call and they come running to nurse. keep an eye on the babies and as long as they are happy healthy and energetic I wouldn't worry. if you have the patience spend all day observing them and see if this is the case with yours. my kids routinely get both of moms back legs of the ground when bumping the udder while nursing. doesn't seem to bother moms at all they just stand there looking around like nothing is happening. so I doubt that the kids being rough would make moms not want to nurse them.

Bricore · #4 04/25/08, 11:51 AM

Thank-you guys.

I have seen her feed them but it's only for short period of times anymore. They seem to go crazy when she does let them and she just jumps away when they start doing that (my other babies aren't no where near as pushy as these two are with her.)

Her udders aren't over full or hot so they must be getting what she does have in there but I was worried maybe she wasn't making enough for them.

Then again they both are full of energy so maybe I am worrying for nothing. They aren't crying but I have seen them try to eat off all the other does (my other babies did that in the beginning but I haven't seen them do that for a while now.)

I have a first time mom this year and I have found one of these babies on her once and a while (as soon as they get rough with her she looks down at them and then notices it's not her baby and pushes them away.)

I was about ready to go buy a little scale just to make sure they are getting enough but thanks for pointing out about energy levels. Sometimes it's the simple things I over look.

Thanks again!

jBlaze · #5 04/25/08, 12:03 PM

It is truely AMAZING how quickly those kids can nurse mama dry! I hardly see ours eat very long at all either.
The doe my dd showed last year milked over a gallon a day, and it took us a while to milk her out each time. When we put her kids on her, they would have 12 hours of milk out in a few minutes, like it took them three minutes to take what took me 20 minutes. (and I grew up milking goats, so not lack of experience there either, lol) This was a sweet doe that would always take her kids after we seperated them, it worked out really well for showing and vacation!

deetu · #6 04/25/08, 03:54 PM

I have one bottle baby that I had to stop feeding because he was a opportunity feeder, nursing off any doe that doesn't realize he's there. Giving him a bottle just made him fatter, didn't get him to want to nurse less.

I have also noticed kids nursing off other mothers which can cause problems if they start smelling different from their moms. One doe had five kids nursing off her... she was skin and bones even with all the food I would give her.