Milking does and taking away babies

Mason&lily

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I was wondering how do most breeders take the baby's away from their mom and their method? Like I know most do it shortly after there born and put them on the bottle but I would like to know a couple different methods. I want to Milk my does next spring but I'm not sure about how I should handle it.
 

Goat Whisperer

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You can still get milk from your does with the dam raising.

I personally like bottle feeding over dam raising, but bottle feeding kids is not for everyone!

It is a lot of work at first, feeding and monitoring kids every few hours for the first few days along with milking several times a day from the first day they kid.

When you take the kid from the mother it is called "pulling". When you pull the doe generally bonds with you and will see you as he kid. I pull the kid right away and the doe never gets to see, smell, clean, or bond with the kid. She bonds with me because I milk her and they accept being milked right away. Be prepared for the does to holler for you!

Some leave the kid on the doe for several days and then pull, I like to pull them right away. This is much less stress on the kid and the doe. When you leave them together- even if it's only for a few days- the doe creates a strong bond with her kid. Once you pull the kid after they are bonded you can run into a few issues such as the kid not wanting to take the bottle, doe not wanting to be milked, and possibly injuring herself if she gets frantic.

If you choose to pull, you can train the to drink out of a trough or a bucket with nipples attached.

If you decide you still want to dam raise AND have milk for you, that is possible too :) You seperate the kid overnight when the kid is about 2 weeks old. Milk in the morning and let the kid back on his dam for the rest of the day :)
 

samssimonsays

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I started separating my single kid at night and milking in the morning. It was great to ease me into the routine! I bought mom and baby when baby was 4 weeks old already however. Started milking at 6 weeks old. It worked best for us that was. I will probably wait 'til the kids are a month old before separating at night when we do it from the beginning next year. But I'll also have more than one kid then. It is all what you prefer. You could always try it one way and if it doesn't work, try a different way.
 

Fullhousefarm

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Generally, this is what we do:
(I know and respect many breeders who do things totally different from this way- because it works better for them. I've even bought their goats!)

We have Lamanchas and Nigerian Dwarfs. All our goats are CAE tested during their pregnancy. If they were positive I would not allow them to have any of their dams milk.

We generally are present for the birth. I make sure kids are nursing well and then milk mom within the first 8 hours after birth- usually closer to 1-2 hours. I don't milk her out, just relieve the tightness and signal her body that I want LOTS OF MILK! I've gotten a few squirts to a gallon depending on the doe. I've found this also helps the doe tolerate milking much better than waiting.

For the first two weeks If a doe has a single I milk twice a day- at least for a while until I see if they baby is keeping her empty. If she has twins or more I milk at least in the morning, and at night only if she seems full.

Around two weeks I separate the babies at night (usually try 8 hours the first few nights, then go to twelve.) Milk in the morning, then let the babies nurse all day. I only milk those who are still full at night. My Lamanchas with single babies usually have enough for me to milk at nigh and get at let a few cups. I'm milking a first freshener Lamancha now with a single and she's 3 weeks fresh. I get 8ish cups in the morning and 6ish at night and she's so full (and kidded late in our kidding season so I don't have any other babies for her to snuggle with at night) and I haven't been separating her at night.

I generally wean Nigerians around 8-9 weeks and Lamanchas at 10-12 weeks, but will let does I'm keeping nurse longer if it works out. I try to start letting them only nurse after I milk twice a day for about a week before I totally wean them or they get picked up to ease the transition, but sometimes it doesn't work out they leave to be totally weaned. I do make sure they are eating well.

My goal is to keep every doe in milk at least 6 months, ideally 9-10. I go to once a day milking in June most years for does who freshened in December-January, then in July for does who freshened in Feb, and so on. Sometimes I let a Nigerian go to once day a little sooner, if supply is declining. It's so hot here in FLorida that their supply will often drop in June-September, then rebound if I milk them into fall.

I machine milk in the morning, then usually hand milk at night unless I just have a lot in milk or have one or two that are hard to milk. This year I'm usually milking around 6, 7-8 for a short time before I sold some milkers in milk. Right now 6 in the morning, three at night as for today.

Hope that helps!
 

Moody

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Personally I don't want the extra work of bottle feeding but if you are selling the kids, many buyers want to bottle feed.

I like to be able to not milk because the kids will take care of it. I get 1/2 gallon out of my Nubian each morning. I chose to occasionally milk my first freshener this year and let her kids do the job if I don't want to. Her milk is extra anyway.

But there are definitely advantages to bottle feeding from the start.
 

Southern by choice

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I like seeing the different practices!

Bottle feeding for us has worked out very well. We use to exclusively dam raise. Now, most we pull and bottle feed. Some we co-parent.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

This year we had kids in Jan, March , and April.
So it is a never ending bottle feeding.
Next year we will try to have everyone kid at once. That will be so much easier.
The does that kidded in April are mostly dam raising but 2 we pulled for other reasons (2 out of quads)- the dam and kids are being leased. The other doe that kidded we kindof do both... Millie is her momma and Millie has way too much milk AND she is a bear to milk. So her kid relieves her and then we milk.

I do like that the does do not get all wigged out and try to hold the milk like those that dam raise their kids. Does with kids pulled just stand there and are happy to be milked.

The negative is you HAVE to milk no matter what.. if you are sick, tired etc. Hard to go anywhere or do anything.

Weaning is so much easier with bottle babies, no drama and no sneaking emptying momma... as well as no need to separate only to reintroduce back to the herd and boom they drain the doe. I don't want my kids nursing 8-9 months old. No screaming, crying or any of that.

Trying different things helps you figure out what works for you and even then sometimes things may change. Some goats you may find are better one way over the other.
 

babsbag

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Bottle raising is a lot of work, but they are typically easier to sell. The only ones I am bottle raising this year are the ones I am personally keeping. I usually don't pull until they are about two-three weeks old and then I will get them on a bottle but also let them nurse when I don't want to milk. Some of them I have let go back to their dams after they have gotten accustomed to me handling them, but then sometimes the dams won't take them back. Every doe/kid pair seems to be different.
 

Mason&lily

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I think I want to bottle raise. I bottle raised my first three bottle babies this year.. It was only suppose to be one but I bought another and then one of my friends doe tried to kill one of her kids so I took him :hide . Really I'm only thinking of one that I want to milk which happens to be one of the bottle babies. Since she will be a first freshener I wanted to know
different ways I could go about pulling the kid when it is born. Still debating if I'll pull the kids from one of my other does:idunno.
 

Hens and Roos

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This year we had no bottle babies- we tried to supplement the 2 doelings that were part of the quad because the 2 bucklings were taking most all of the milk and the doe was favoring the bucklings too- but the doelings wanted nothing to do with the bottle. We weaned all the bucklings and left the doelings with the doe. The 2 doelings are filling out nicely now. Next year we may pull any doelings with this particular doe.....
 

Fullhousefarm

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I've pulled bottle babies too.

One at birth (we were sold a doe that ended up testing CAE positive, so she never got any of mom's milk, then we gave the doe away to a pet home). It was HARD to milk a first freshener by hand even though she was super cooperative and patient. But, we did it. She had teenie tiny teats for a few weeks and had that full/congested udder going on and it would take 30-40 minutes to get a few oz milking with two fingers. Then, after 2 weeks she had perfect hand sized teats that were a dream to milk. I say that to say, you might want to have a backup in case that happens.

I've also pulled one triplets and two quads. I waited until 2-5 days to pull so that I didn't have to get up at night to give milk, though one of the quads I had to the first night because I didn't see him nurse for the first 24 hours. They take a bottle really well still at that age. Of coarse, I had other babies with mom so she didn't care at all.

I've had dam raised babies that were friendlier than bottle babies, but I have kids that hold them and play with them and we are home a lot to be with them. I've also had great success getting babies of any age to start taking a bottle by giving them an oz or 2 in the morning (when they've been away from mom) for about a week, then making them "bottle babies" so I could sell them a little earlier or so they new owner can bond with them. The moms don't mind much, it seems, when they are older, like 5-6 weeks. I always keep them from mom totally for 4-5 days at least before they leave to make sure it is really good on the bottle.
 
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