Weaning Paddles??? Anyone ever try them?

[babsbag]

Because I dam raise and usually don't have a pen for kids to stay in to get weaned earlier so they get weaned when they get sold. I sell them at 8 weeks and won't wether before that so it all gets done at once. I also only wether when requested to do so, it depends on the purpose for the kid.

A lot of that (most) will change when the dairy is done.

 

[Mini Horses]

I find it best, for me, to separate all day when weaning and do NOT put mom on fence line where they can stick head thru & nurse!

Minis were separated, brought in and allowed a "slurp" or a few days, then fed outside mom's stall, then to a pen with other weanlings. After about a week....no slurps, just own pens and pastures away from mares. I'd check mares for udder tightness but mostly the week of slurps slowed her down and she dried.

Goats, who are being milked and nursed....well, take the kid off with others and just let them holler. Like others say, couple days and they stop BUT you will have to keep them away from moms for a couple months or they will nurse again. Dairies generally just pull at birth, bottle feed. I've done that & really was easier in many ways.

Next tip -- to distract a mare we put her with a good stallion. Yeah, love happens but, they can be pastured when not cycling. The interaction of a herd changes some attitudes. If you don't own a buck, so be it. Just change pastures -- new browse, exploring, etc.

 

[goatgurl]

I've seen weaning paddles for cows and have used weaning halters on horses but have never sued one on a goat. I am also of the put them in separate pens and let them cry for a while. they get over it pretty quick but I agree with mini horses you have to keep them apart for quite a while or they will go right back to nursing.

 

[greybeard]

This is why you see so many on here with emergency "I just got my new goats and..... fill in the blank"
Weaning and shipping off to new home is really stacking the odds to have serious stress complications.

I don't see it often with cattle in emergency section here but only because there are relatively few here who have cows, but It happens with calves too....way too often, especially with dairy calves. I see it on the cattle forums all the time--most bought off Craigslist.

Having said that, I do occasionally 'trailer wean' @ 6 months if I need to send one to the sale barn but not many novice calf buyers at those barns.

It gets noisy around here when I pen and separate them, but music to my ears for a few days, and a check in the mail won't be far off.

 

[WyndSyrin]

what I have discovered is that if you start weaning calves 5 days before the new moon there tends to be very little squalling of the calves for their mothers.