KatyDaly
Ridin' The Range
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2016
- Messages
- 14
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Hi there folks: I just jumped over from Backyard Chickens to pester you with a goat question. We have been raising and breeding dairy goats for almost 4 years now. That makes us newbies with just a bit of knowledge, so far just enough to keep us out of trouble.
We had our Saanen doe deliver a dead kid about 2 weeks ago. She was mourning the loss terribly, whining and bleating for most of the day, and for several days after. We thought we would do her a favor by buying a bottle baby for her. He is a Nubian buckling and only about 4 days older than her kid would have been. As she kidded early in the season, there weren't many babies available.
She has no interest in feeding this kid, and being a bottle baby, he has no idea what he is supposed to do when we put him under her. We tried several times, but eventually gave up as she started head-butting the little guy out of the way. And then the other goats started butting him too, not hurting him, but not loving him either.
So we gave him a small dog crate in the barn where he could hide if he needs to. He spends most of the day in there. We have 3 other new kids (born here) who visit him in there sometimes, but for the most part he is by himself.
Just these past 2 days the weather has turned frigid. Down to -20° at night. It is expected to get warmer the day after tomorrow. My 3 kids are bigger than the new guy even though not much older. Bigger, and with thicker coats. They don't seem to mind the cold, but then they have been out there since they were born. He came from a nice warm barn in a pen with 8 or 9 other kids to keep him warm.
So we decided to pull him and now have him in the garage with a heat lamp. Big garage, just 1 lamp, so it's not actually all that warm, just enough to keep him from getting frostbite. He is in a larger crate with plenty of hay, and we are bottle feeding him 3 times a day.
So my real question is: Is there any magic trick to get the other goats to accept him? I don't want to keep him separated for more than these 3 days, but I am afraid of leaving him out in the cold. Do you think it is wise to keep him in the garage?
I see a lot of people keep the bottle babies in the house, but that just won't work here as much as I am tempted. Plus, we live in upstate NY, and I would have to keep him in here until at least April before it would be warm enough to put him outside.
Last question: Do Nubian goats have shorter hair? Or is it just because he started out in a warmer barn?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
We had our Saanen doe deliver a dead kid about 2 weeks ago. She was mourning the loss terribly, whining and bleating for most of the day, and for several days after. We thought we would do her a favor by buying a bottle baby for her. He is a Nubian buckling and only about 4 days older than her kid would have been. As she kidded early in the season, there weren't many babies available.
She has no interest in feeding this kid, and being a bottle baby, he has no idea what he is supposed to do when we put him under her. We tried several times, but eventually gave up as she started head-butting the little guy out of the way. And then the other goats started butting him too, not hurting him, but not loving him either.
So we gave him a small dog crate in the barn where he could hide if he needs to. He spends most of the day in there. We have 3 other new kids (born here) who visit him in there sometimes, but for the most part he is by himself.
Just these past 2 days the weather has turned frigid. Down to -20° at night. It is expected to get warmer the day after tomorrow. My 3 kids are bigger than the new guy even though not much older. Bigger, and with thicker coats. They don't seem to mind the cold, but then they have been out there since they were born. He came from a nice warm barn in a pen with 8 or 9 other kids to keep him warm.
So we decided to pull him and now have him in the garage with a heat lamp. Big garage, just 1 lamp, so it's not actually all that warm, just enough to keep him from getting frostbite. He is in a larger crate with plenty of hay, and we are bottle feeding him 3 times a day.
So my real question is: Is there any magic trick to get the other goats to accept him? I don't want to keep him separated for more than these 3 days, but I am afraid of leaving him out in the cold. Do you think it is wise to keep him in the garage?
I see a lot of people keep the bottle babies in the house, but that just won't work here as much as I am tempted. Plus, we live in upstate NY, and I would have to keep him in here until at least April before it would be warm enough to put him outside.
Last question: Do Nubian goats have shorter hair? Or is it just because he started out in a warmer barn?
Thanks for any advice you can give!
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