First time goat owner

[Theresa]

Hi we have 2 baby goats that will be 5 weeks Monday. When we got their mom we were told she was expecting. So that is were the kids come into play. After a week momma stopped nursing. This is not here first set of kids. Her 3 or 4. Now we have taken them at night to give her rest, but when we put them back she let's nurse a little then runs around to keep them from nursing. We tried to milk her but didn't go to good.
The baby's eat oats, sweet feed, hay, grass, corn an drink water too. We also have 4 other goats that are older. We have total of 7, 5 females and 2 males.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH. Seems you joined back in July, glad you finally went ahead and posted. What breed are the goats? 5 weeks old is quite a bit early for them to be weaned... Typically the doe only lets them nurse for 10-15 seconds at a time... but it happens frequently over time. It happens and is over so quick, that if you're not watching constantly, you'd miss it most of the time. If you're not milking mom, you might consider just leaving the kids with her full time.

I'm a little confused... Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what your post is saying and what you're saying is that you got the mom and she was pregnant and had the kids ~5 weeks ago? If not, then the math kinda confuses me... if the mother of the babies is pregnant (again - it CAN happen), and the babies are only 5 weeks old, then mom has another 3-4 months to go before delivery. Gestation is 5 months (145-152 +/- days generally). Also, it wasn't really a good thing to allow the mom to be immediately re-bred after having the kids... That's a lot of drain on the doe's system. You might want to keep a close eye on her to make sure she's getting enough quality food to maintain body condition.

Anyway, make yourself at home. Please consider sharing some pics of your goats. We all love to see pics from other members.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I think she means that she bought the goat while she was pregnant and the babies are now five weeks old?

 

[Eteda]

she says after a week the moma quit nursing.
Welcome theresa! Glad to have you hear! so have you been bottle feeding them for 4 weeks? or did you leave them with her during the day and just take them away at night? Dose the mother still call for them and protect them from the other goats. it is hard to offer advice with such broad information. being more specific would help us guide you in the right direction. you say they eat sweet feed. All stock and purina goat chow are both sweet feed. As far a nutrition there is a whole lot of difference between the two. Hay- grass or alfalfa? big diffrence their to. Is the mother's bag hot, hard or engorged or slack like a flimsy sack?
The frequency and amount a lamb or kid is allowed to nurse is a direct result of how much milk the mother produces. Diet type and amount is a direct result of the amount of milk produced. not getting into genetics or breed. after the first few days when the bag is not so engorged any more the mother will call her young to nurse every time she feels uncomfortable pressure on the bag. She lets them nurse until she is in the comfort zone and then walks off. mothers also use the milk as a bribery tool to teach their young to follow them or come when called. rewarding them when they do.
you can make a creep pen out of wooden pallets for the babies. make a hole big enough for them to get into the pen but to small for the other goats. The more you isolate them from the herd the harder it will be for them to integrate back into their herd rank position. put their feed, salt, hay. water and minerals in their so they can eat all the time. they will probably sleep in their if you will hang one of those nightlights above that come on at dusk. you might find some of the wonderful people on hear can give you advise on the amount of feed according to type for their age. I use calf manna nixed in with noble goat medicated and sometimes rabbit pellets. but I gradually change them to to just the noble goat when they get to going good. it is a balanced diet made just for goats to meat their needs. that can be in 2 weeks or 4 months depending on the individual animal needs.