Separate the kids? Seriously?

[Nickme23]

My family had Nubians when I was a teenager and it was my responsibility to take care of basically everything. I milked, fed, tossed hay, cleaned the barn, toted grain, you name it. We never separated the buck (we named him Odie, cause he smelled so bad), and never separated the kids from the does. Last year my girlfriend's family got 2 fresh does and one who'd never been bred. This past fall they got a young buck (against my advice) and now they want to separate him with field fence, giving him about 1600 sq ft for his pen. Now that they're expecting kids from all three does they want me to help build them a kid pen. So they can keep the kids in a pen away from their dams... Now I'm willing to be open minded about this, but what possible reason could they have for doing this? Should I explain how much work it's going to be to milk the dams and feed the kids every day? One of the does had triplets her first time. The other doe had twins. I'd be expecting 5-7 kids from all three does... When we had to bottle feed just two kids it was a royal pain in the rear... Anybody have a take on this situation?

[Feathers-N-Fur]

There are many ways to raise goat kids and there are lots of people on this board doing in all those ways. With 5-7 kids, you would want to put out a lamb bar which is a bucket with nipples and the kids can feed from it when ever they want to. Lots of people do this. You will generally get more milk from your does, even after giving the kids their share. It is also done for CAE prevention. For this you have to be there when the does gives birth and prevent her from even licking the kid, but you do get more $ for kids raised on prevention.

Your next way of doing it would be how we do our dairy girls. At 2-4 weeks, depending on the doe, we take the kids away at night, put them in their own pen, then milk the doe in the morning, then put the kids back with her. This way you have a pen all ready when it is time to wean the kids.

Then there are those who do it how you grew up with never separating the kids.

Not separating the buck from the does, is done, but usually not with dairy goats. Having a stinky buck running with the does will affect the flavor of their milk, and not in a good way. The 40x40 pen for the buck is probably fine as long as he can see the other goats. If not he will need a buddy to keep him company.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I also keep my Buck in a seperate pen but he always has a wethered buddy or he'll be lonely. I don't seperate my kids from the dam's since I dam raise all of mine unless something is wrong. I think it is more natural & healthy for the kids but like feathers said so many here all have there own way of doing things.
They are probly wanting the milk for themselves so withouth the kids sucking on them all the time they get it all then give the kids the needed amount.
Some here seperate the babies at night, then milk the doe's in the a.m. then let the kids run with them all day. That way they get enough milk for their family & less work for you & the kids are happy too.

[Alice In TX/MO]

My ideal setup would be a buck pen adjacent to the does, and a kid pen nearby the does.

When we had does that were not quite as productive as the ones we have now, we separated the kids at night. Now, our does make so much milk, we don't have to.

[DQ]

cae prevention or wanting to really test the does production are two reasons people bottle feed. (you can't really know how much milk they are making if the kids are on them)

kids raised on cae prevention and from does that have milk production records are worth more because their disease status and ability to produce lots of milk are more assured.

[Nickme23]

Thanks for the answers guys! I remember now that we used to leave the kids with the does for about a week to get as much colostrum as they produced and then after that we put the kids in a diff little pen for the night, milked in the morning and then let em all run together. And yes our milk did taste buckish which I really hated but I guess my dad thought it was too much hassle to build him a diff pen.

Yes the buck pen will be sharing an 80' fence with the does and the kid pen will be right next to the barn.

Thanks for the responses again everyone!