Weaning kids off doe, tips?

[MargaretClare]

So this is my first time weaning kids off the does. Last year I only had one bred doe and let her keep one kid to wean herself but I'm not planning on keeping any kids this year. I know how to milk but I don't milk, especially as a routine (I keep meat goats but my does have Nubian in them), so I just wanted to ask some general advice on that.

Each doe has one kid on them and I've stopped giving grain. One kid is almost 5 months and one is almost 4 months.

When I pull the kids what signs should I be looking out for to catch any mastitis early? As much as I've read about it it's got me pretty concerned since I've never dealt with it. I do know I'm supposed to keep an eye on how tight and full their udders get and relieve pressure if needed.

And due to the size of my setup it's very difficult for me to keep the dams and kids out of sight of one another, so how bad is it really for them? The best I could do is put up a thick shade screen but they'd still have to share a fence.

I would also appreciate any other tips or advice anyone has for this, since I've never done this before. I'd like to separate them this weekend but want a little bit of extra advice before I do.

 

[Latestarter]

May sound harsh, but simply stated, separate them. The kids may/will scream and carry on for a while but they'll adjust. I'm kinda surprised at their ages that mom hasn't already pretty much cut them off. They don't need to be separated from sight and you don't need any fancy screening. Just as you said, keep an eye on mom's udder and check it out every day or two for a week or two to make sure it isn't over-filled and painful to her. If it gets hard and tight, you can milk out just a bit to relieve the pressure.

 

[MargaretClare]

Okay, that's reassuring. I'm not really worried about the kids, I just read that they should be kept out of sight of one another to keep down on stress. My big concern is that I'll have a doe get mastitis. The what-ifs are always the worst part, I guess.

I don't know about the first time does this year but last year this older doe would not wean until she got bred again in September.

Should I be immediately worried if an udder starts to feel really warm or is that not necessarily a beginning infection?

 

[Mini Horses]

You can buy in infusion for mastitis and drying off -- since you don't want to milk. It's the cattle product. Easy to do. And yes, pull the pressure for just a few days. As the lack of milking or nursing stops, so will production. I have a doe who still lets her 14 month old nurse AND another doe that I could almost never dry up. But generally they do with just a few relief sessions. I don't remember if it is "Today" or "Tomorrow" that you want for the infusions. Most feed stores carry and Jeffers does, also. Hope that helps.

If they are Boer/Nubian, the Boers generally feel fine with weaning and drying -- mine didn't take a lot to work thru it.
The kids -- hey, they will scream a day or two. That's life.

 

[Southern by choice]

Her udder should be checked daily as at first she will fill up. Milk out a bit more than half- 3/4 the goal is to gradually reduce production but dry off properly.
You have to determine what she is giving and go from their. You may want to do 3/4 empty 1x day then go to 36 hrs, then move to 2 days. Each doe is different- our heavy producers take forever to dry off. Mediocre does we can get dry in under a month, with gradual reduction.
Cold turkey and not gradually decreasing only causes other issues and although the doe may not get mastitis next kidding you could be dealing with garget, and you can have a higer SSC which sets you up for issues after next kidding.
The past month we have had several e-mails and calls about weaning and now the goat is inflamed, some full blown mastitis. These are generally people that pet raise and don't utilize the milk, kids get weaned and there ya go.

 

[MargaretClare]

So it would be better to dry her off like a dairy doe then? I can do that. I didn't understand some of the terminology you used though. Garget and SSC?

 

[Southern by choice]

Well a doe in milk is a doe in milk IMO, dairy does being more fragile but always better to be cautious. She may dry off in 1-2 weeks...
Sorry I meant SCC which is somatic cell count. Garget is basically inflammation in the udder, technically all mastitis is inflammation of the udder but usually when we hear mastitis we think of the nasties that have to be treated. Garget is basic inflammation and usually is associated with old milk left in the udder- may or may not be a problem but when they kid they can have fatty globule like stuff come out.
Using "tomorrow" cabe good but IMO inserting anything into the teat orifice just opens that doe up to bacteria and unless the doe has a history of high somatic cell counts or mastitis I wouldn't use it, but that's me. I know others that use it on every doe they dry off. Just a personal choice really.

The good news is most meat goats dry off pretty easily, except Kikos. They are actually developed from dairy and feral mountain goats so they tend to stay in milk.

Sorry but I like these easy definition so copy paste it is

"A somatic cell count (SCC) is a cell count of somatic cells in a fluid specimen, usually milk. ... White blood cells(leukocytes) constitute the majority of somatic cells in question. The number of somatic cells increases in response to pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, a cause of mastitis."
From wikipedia ( terrible site but good description)

 

[MargaretClare]

That makes sense then. I was also wondering, since I live in Arizona and it is HOT right now, can high temperatures affect a does drying up in any way?

 

[MargaretClare]

Sorry but I like these easy definition so copy paste it is

Yeah sorry about that. I didn't realize until after that I'm a functioning human being with access to Google. XD

 

[Southern by choice]

That makes sense then. I was also wondering, since I live in Arizona and it is HOT right now, can high temperatures affect a does drying up in any way?

Sure it can. The other day it was 92 with heat index of 96 and very humid. We have had enough rain to last us a year. When the goats get hot they don't want to eat, plain and simple especially anything with alfalfa because it is such a "hot" hay.
Production was way down at evening milking. They ate well overnight being cooler temps so back up this morning.

Of course you want to keep her healthy but grass hay and little to no feed (depending on what she is use to) will help in the process.

My mistake _ I wrote SSC not SCC.