Sweetened's 2015 Kidding thread (Last arrival 2/23)

I am so sorry about Romeo

I'm so sorry about Romeo

Sorry about your little one Romeo

Thanks everyone. I feel awful about him, but its such a freak accident and Gretels kids are prone to either being miles away from her or right under her, doesnt seem to be a nearby point. Even cassenova is always under her feet, less now than even a week ago, but hes been playing with the others since the weather warmed.

so sorry about Romeo Kids are looking cute and Pearl is precious

Sweetened said:

Question: how do you guys merge dam raised kids into the herd? The babies keep escaping back out with their moms when i seperate them. Nothing has happened to the babies, they stick close to their moms, but I worry about it a little. They are all over a week old now.

I want to keep moms out at night and move the babies into the kennel for the night and just be able to release them for the day after morning milkings.

Click to expand...

How big is your herd? We have 10 does and two boys not counting kids we aren't keeping.

We have a kid-proof mom-proof stall in the back of our three sided goat barn. It can be 4x4 or 4x8 depending on how we close the door. We lock them in at night- usually after dark. We lock the babies in at night and let them out after moms are milked and goats are fed. We wait (especially with Nigees as we have a mixed herd of Lamanchas/Nigerians.) to put moms and babies out with the herd until babies are bouncy and moms are feeling well. Usually 2-4 days.

If it's rainy and we have little babies we put some of the big girls without babies in a separate pasture so the barn isn't as crowded with goats pouting about the weather.

We will have another pasture with shelter soon for dry does and ones that are bred, but not close to kidding. That will make things less chaotic in the main pen/shelter. We also don't have freezing weather here, so young kids getting lost/cold in a large area isn't a concern. Pasture areas are 1/2-1 acre.

So sorry for your losses that you've had this year Sweetened!!
Congrats on all the new little ones! I'm sure they've grown quite a bit already! (I don't know if I ever saw this thread before...)
How is everyone doing? Have all your does kidded for the season?