new style

[glennaelf]

hello folks, as most things, time changes things. Last time I had milk goats you took the babies at birth and hand raised them. Was told that goats would not let you milk and let babies nurse, too. Now, 40 years later, have been told that you can do both. Since I have not retired that idea sounds great. Had planned on milking in the morning and letting the kids be with Mom all day. Then separate at night so I have milk in the morning. This is how grandmother did it with her milk cow...figured it would work with goats. But I see a few problems. This will be first kidding for my ladies. Anyone do this with first time does? How do you teach for milking and also let them bond with Mom ? Milk Mom the first week, feed it to the babies and then hope she will accept the babies ? Let the babies nurse and hope she will accept being milked after the first milk ? glenna

[CraterCove]

Leave the babies on her for two weeks. Then begin separating at night. It works well. For first time moms I like to make sure they are confined when they are close to giving birth because I have had one just pop babies out and keep grazing, I /think/ one can avoid them ignoring the little ones as just some painful and weird bowel movement if they have no where to go.

Good luck!

[mygoat]

Manage the udder from birth if you want the udder to stay undamaged. For example, a single nursing kid can cause a horribly lopsided udder and when your buyers come to purchase kids, they can't evaluate the dams' udder well. If they prefer one side over the other, you'll need to milk that side out regularly. If you wanted to do anything like show or LA, you'd also have to consider the lopsided udder.

Another issue you MAY have is taming the doelings to make good dairy girls for replacement and sales. My least favorite thing is an untame dairy doe - I'd only keep one if she was worth it from a brood doe standpoint to pull doelings off of at birth to bottle raise for tame replacements, or if she was a meat brood doe. If I was a buyer and the animal I'm looking to buy for dairy is an untame doeling, no thank you. Some people do just fine taming their kids down as dam raised, but it takes effort. I personally much prefer taking kids at birth and bottle raising (also for ease of coccidia prevention) as I'm guaranteed tame kids and I know we are not going to take the time to try to tame the dam raised kids. (and I also personally think that bottle raising is super easy compared to dam raising LOL - I know many people don't agree with that. :P) When I take kids, I take them right at birth with no interaction - I find that is easiest on the does because they know they are supposed to take care of something, but they aren't sure what - usually they decide that I am their baby, lol, and become almost annoying for the first week or so after kidding because they are just so concerned with me as their 'baby'. Easier than letting them care for their kids for a while and then taking them away. (and WAY easier than weaning!)

[GoatGirl123]

Ha, CraterCove Hazel did pretty close to that when she had kids as an FF in March! She was gobbling up Chaffhaye all through her labor and then the babies just popped out, luckily she was lying down. She started licking the first one but ignored the second one, we had to coax her to lick him. She took care of them the first week or so and then ignored them as an annoyance, kicking them away if they nursed too much. Totally the opposite of Annabeth -- she's had kids 3 times, we got her pregnant for the second time and both rounds of kids she was super protective of them. She still lets Bella nurse and she's 7 months old! You just never know with goats. Might have something to do with the fact that Annabeth was dam raised whereas Hazel was bottle fed.

[Clovers_Clan]

I dam raise and have had no problems at all with milking. Regardless of bottle or dam raising choice, all milking does should be trained to the stand BEFORE birthing, the earlier the better. Take the time to feed them on the stand and mess with their udder and over time they will be comfortable with all contact. It helps to be present at birth and if you are dam raising, the babies must have time to bond. Generally the act of helping newborns find and latch on gives the doe the message that nursing/milking are the same, and the babies and you alike are hers to protect and care for. I leave babies with mamma the first two weeks. And when the milk comes in I hand express a couple of times a day as needed to keep the udder balanced. This can be done in the pen with babies present, no need to put them on the stand. Beginning at two weeks, I pen the babies at night and milk in the morning. This is the period of time that is most difficult for the doe. It helps if you can separate them visually while you are milking. Its not so much that the doe thinks you are stealing her milk as much as the babies are a distraction and she feels she needs to look after them. If you have children or a helper, take advantage of the opportunity to offer comfort to the babies while you are milking. This helps the babies bond to people and feel more relaxed without mamma.

Honestly the key to any calm milker is putting in the little bit of time everyday before they kid to get them used to being touched. Without it you'll have a rodeo on your hands.

My dam raised kids are just as friendly as bottle babies. I think the only difference you would see temperament wise is in a large herd. I agree that is not a setting conducive to taming babies. But with just a few goats bonding with babies is easy.

Oh, and wanted to add. The kids that I dam raise and pen at night have been the easiest to wean. The first week of being penned at night is the hardest, they will cry. But when its time to wean, they barely notice. They also seem to be less stressed at being moved around and penned with others. I'll try not to be anthropomorphic, but like children who are socialized early and gradually they seem to be more well-adjusted.

[glennaelf]

Want to thank each one of you for an insight of how this can be done. This whole homesteading got thrown in high gear this year. Got the land 1-31-14 and found three nubians I could not pass up in the middle of July. Needless to say I am playing catch up. glenna

[Pony]

After a week or two, I pen the kids at night and milk in the morning. Everyone's happy pudding after the first couple nights. I get milk, they get milk.