extremely stubborn doe

hardworkingwoman · #1 02/27/11, 11:10 AM

My doe had her first baby on Monday. She has not accepted it as of yet to be hers. I have to go out there and restrain her so the baby can eat. She has been kicking at the baby and now she has just figured out that if she lays down she can't nurse either. I have to hold her up in the front end just to keep her on her feet. I thought as the week went on that she would get better. I guess she doesn't have any maternal instinct. Although my other doe had 2 babies two weeks ago and she plays with them now and one of them is forceful enough to try to nurse off her. She won't let him though. I am going to try to do this for the next 2 months then attempt to milk her. Does anyone have any suggestions and do you think she will ever change? When I got her she was 5 months old and still nursing and just left to the field with the other goats. So she was never very friendly towards me to begin with. I kind of thought with having to handle her after the baby came that she would get better. Hmm I am stumped.

CaliannG · #2 02/27/11, 03:02 PM

This is not a problem I have had....but this will bump up your thread AND...

...well, if I were in your shoes, I would sprinkle the kid with something the doe thinks is yummy and let her get it licked off. That might help with bonding.

Also, it has been noticed that using towels that have been dried with dryer sheets to towel off newborns can lead to an increased rejection of kids. Seems that kidding does aren't very fond of the smell of Bounce(tm) or something.

hardworkingwoman · #3 02/27/11, 03:17 PM

I didn't dry the baby off, when I went out to the barn in the morning the baby was dry but I don't know how she got dry because I can't see the mother doing that. She won't even acknowledge that it is hers. When the baby even starts coming towards her she nods her head like just stay away from me and the poor cute little baby goes the other way. I have been separating the other doe and babies from these two trying to make her bond with her, I just started that yesterday so we will see. Any info would be appreciated and thanks for bumping this up for me! I am just going to keep up with the natural feedings, I want this baby to be healthy and want to keep her since she is a doe. I was thinking of making some kind of sling so I don't have to hold her up.

lambs.are.cute · #4 02/27/11, 03:31 PM

have you tried an a orphan headgate? we use them for ewes who refuse their lambs or when we are grafting lambs to an ewe. It works wonderfully on sheep and I have heard that it works for does too. Here is one on premire

http://www.premier1supplies.com/deta...=122&cat_id=18

but pretty much any sheep suppler should have one.

pygmybabies · #5 02/27/11, 04:20 PM

wow that ophan headgate looks like a great idea!

hardworkingwoman · #6 02/28/11, 10:24 AM

Can the doe lay down while in this headgate? It doesn't really tell you.

CaliannG · #7 02/28/11, 10:31 AM

If she can, stick a bucket under her chest. That will stop her from laying down. (Had a couple does try that on the milk stand too!)

houndlover · #8 02/28/11, 10:40 AM

I doubt that after a week the doe is ever going to accept that kid. Doesn't make her a bad goat, and she may accept the next kid. You can either fight with the doe for the next 3 months, or just milk her out every day and bottle feed the kid. Way easier than trying to restrain the doe to feed one kid.

Bret F · #9 02/28/11, 11:10 AM

I have a doe that recently had twins. At first she had nothing to do with either, but came to accept one. The other one she accepts, except for allowing it to nurse. I put her in the milk stand with a little grain and she will allow the kid to nurse. Sometimes I have to hold a foot to keep her from kicking, but she settles right down to it.

hardworkingwoman · #10 02/28/11, 08:58 PM

I am thinking about just milking her but I can't imagine her being any better on the milking stand. I am going to try the bucket under her chest, that sounds like a good idea.

jd4020 · #11 03/01/11, 01:06 AM

If you milk out mama and bottle feed, the baby will be much easier to bond with you.
It's just the way I have done it, but, my babies have usually always gotten colostrum off of mama mostly because they are already born, dried off and fed when I find them. I have always milked and then bottle fed. It's pretty cool to use the bucket with all the kids circled around it. I'm not opposed to keeping baby on mama, although they can bang that udder pretty good while nursing. I would think after a week, the struggle would not be worth it to me. Handlling & milking mama helps get her used to you and thus friendlier, and feeding the kid will help in the same way.
Hope you get it worked out.

jd

motdaugrnds · #12 03/01/11, 10:12 AM

Since the kid is as old as it is, I would not concern myself with forcing it and its dam to bond together. I would simply get that doe use to being milked and feed that kid her milk!

I had a doe like this a few years back. It was her "first" freshening as well and she had "never" nursed her own mother; so she was confused about the entire process. The way I dealt with it is: On day one, as soon as the kid to stand and showed an interest in nursing, David and I worked together (one holding the dam; one helping the kid find the nipple and stand up long enough to nurse) to make sure the kid nursed the dam without being kicked. We had them in a small 6' x 6' pen the dam could see out of and know the other goats were near her, yet she could not get out of. We kept the 2 of them together for over a week with our going inside that pen and making sure the kid nursed frequently each and every day. This did work! The dam did eventually learn kids nursed dams and she became a very good mother.

This being said, if I had your situation, I would simply take care of the kid myself, get the dam use to being milked and wait until next year to see what is needed then.