Eight month old won't stop drinking milk

CarolynRenee · #1 12/28/08, 02:58 PM

My Saanen doe gave us a beautiful doeling this spring. We would normally sell the kids, but wanted another milker, so we kept the doeling. She's eight months old now & just will NOT stop drinking her dam's milk, nor does her dam seem to want to wean her yet.

I've tried separating them for weeks, but the kid still goes back to nursing. We've had to take down our "extra" pen, so keeping them separated is a bit harder now as the only place I have to pen the kid up is a "dog" kennel that's only 14' x 6'. I'll put her in there at night, but first thing after I milk & they are fed, the kid is right back on the mom & drinking all day. Just recently I had them separated 24 hrs & got just shy of a gallon from the Mom. That kid is drinking almost an entire GALLON of milk a day PLUS her hay & grain. Is this a fattie kid or what?

Both the kid & her dam were bred two weeks ago. Will this kid EVER stop drinking? I'd like to give the mom some time to dry off & keep her energy for her new pregnancy, but I don't want to have to keep the kid in the dog pen 24/ 7.

Should I just let nature take it's course, pen the kid up all the time (which I think is a bit on the mean side) or is there something like teat tape that I can put on the dam (and that the kid just wont tear off)?

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians · #2 12/28/08, 04:10 PM

She doesn't need to dry for nearly 100 more days, keeping her in production is key in a healthy udder and a milker free of fat. The longer the dry period the more problems you have with your goats. With her bred at 8 months there is no such thing as a fatty, you want her nursing or/and eating all the alfalfa she can get and some grain if your alfalfa isn't good enough. Kidding out young does is an art, best left to those who already have some management skills in nutrition, so in your case I would happily keep this doeling drinking all this nutriton rich, calorie dense, calicum rich milk along with an excellent diet. This way you also can simply just lock the kid up for the night or day, to get milk for your family. Unless you need a gallon a day of milk? Then you will have no choice but to keep them seperated. Which you may find you have to do when they are both 100 days pregnant anyway, so think ahead on that one.

Make sure you are supplying this young doe with a form of calcium besides her dams milk, perhaps that, and protein would help the weaning process. vicki

dosthouhavemilk · #3 12/28/08, 04:47 PM

If I have a dam/daughter pair that refuses to self wean, I will force wean when they are two months out from kidding, so the dam gets her 60 day dry spell. I have enough pens and enough goats taht I can easily separate them.
Most of my does wean their kids by 8-10 months on their own though. Also, when I pen breed from October and on, there is a good chance I am breeding the dams back to the doeling's sire so they have to be weaned at that point anyways.

nehimama · #4 12/28/08, 05:02 PM

LOL! Same situation here. The dam finally kicked the daughter doe off, and did dry up in time to have the 60-day dry spell before kidding.

NeHi

CarolynRenee · #5 12/28/08, 08:34 PM

Thanks for the reply / info all!
This is only my second kidding; last year I had sold the doeling at 6 months, so neither mom nor kid had much say in the "weaning".
I'll keep her on mom during the day & lock her up at night if we need milk for us. I was torn between letting the doeling have all the nourishment she could get (by keep nursing), but was afriad because I had heard somewhere about "fattie" goats having problems kidding.
Hopefully mom will have enough of the kid by time she needs to dry off!