Weaning time?

[ragdollcatlady]

I prefer to have my kids on the dams for 3 months or more if they are staying here, 2 months minimum if they are sold, unless they are trained to take a bottle.

But boer kids and nubian kids seem to grow faster staying on milk longer. In our herd, nigerian does tend to start weaning earlier, between 2-4 months (depends on the doe) and the boers, generally seem to let the kids nurse alot longer when left to their own devices. I won't hesitate to wean a healthy, active, good sized boer kid at 8 weeks though if they are eating hay and grain, and doing fine.

When I have had triplets, quads,or quints, babies are TINY for nigerians and just seem thinner in the boers. But by a couple weeks old, they are always eating fine either with a bottle or on the moms and they are usually normal in all other ways. Little Italy had a really thin coat when she was born, (maybe she was a premie). She was the tiny one out of triplets, and her coat took about a month to come in well, but she was the only one, and I kept heat lamps on for her so she didn't get chilled. She grew fine and was out playing with everyone else at a week old.

If the breeder says there are currently only 2 kids nursing off the mom and they aren't going to be ready at 3 months, I see a red flag. HUGE red flag! A doe can usually feed 2 kids well. A 3 month old should be eating enough hay and grain to survive and grow just fine whether or not she continues to receive milk. If she is not growing or eating well, she could be sick or have other issues, coccidia, worms, or something else. Triplets are usually born smaller, but most issues I have seen in smaller kids due to large litters seem to be pretty well resolved by a week or 2. They might grow a little slower, but should look good and be healthy, sturdy, active baby goats otherwise.

 

[babsbag]

I agree with @ragdollcatlady. Boers often have a hard time raising triplets but should certainly be able to raise twins. Although triplets may be smaller at birth if the dam has sufficient milk they should quickly catch up to single or a twin. So I see three red flags. One, are the kids healthy so they can grow accordingly. Two, does the dam have enough milk; a poor milking bloodline is not a trait you want to start with in your herd. Three, is this line of Boers fast growing, you want that in Boers; the faster they grow the sooner you can sell and the more money you make.

Now if these are just pets and you breeding or selling down the road then flags two and three really don't matter.

Another thing to consider if this goat is to be a pet is that a dam raised goat can be very skittish and a downright brat and the longer they are with the dam the worse can be. Ask me how I know. Most Boers are dam raised but hopefully the breeder spends a lot of time with them.

 

[lalabugs]

We will be getting her to breed, for meat goats to raise for us. Breeding is going to be a priority.

The breeder said that they're (the doeling and the size of a full grown Nigerian dwarf and they're just shy of 3 months. I don't know if that is a normal size at three months for a boer cross. Her dam the last i seen did have a good udder. Just in the two weeks i hadn't seen them, then seen them again. They had gained/grown a significant amount. They were tiny when born, but have been growing accordingly. I haven't seen the doeling in about a month. I usually go out every couple weeks to see how she's doing and spend time with her. She has been growing fine. They were small being triplets, but the other doeling born got trampled by the other goats/sheep in the pasture. At a month old it was just then the twins left.
Another thing that the breeder said is that the dam is not starting to wean the kids at all.

The breeder does go out and spend time with the does/kids. They are very friendly. She comes up to me every time I go out to see her. I will try to get some update pictures of her.

 

[babsbag]

Some dams will not wean at all, I have had kids nursing on mom and mom nursing on grandma, it is pretty funny to watch. I am not a big "weigher" of goats so maybe @Goat Whisperer can tell you how much a full grown ND weighs and then @ragdollcatlady can tell us how much her Boers weigh at 3 months. I don't raise Boers anymore, I sold them all to Ragdollcatlady. But I think that a 3 month old weighing the same as a full grown ND sounds like a pretty good gain. I can't imagine why she wants to hang on to them longer. And really glad they are friendly.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

Our boer kids seem to average about 20 lbs at one, 35-40 at 2 months and Cherrys wether and Baileys doe kid were around 60 lbs at 3 months.

If they are around 60 lbs, that would be our midsized nigerians. Our smaller nigis are around 40-50 and my biggest are around 80.

You can always use a bathroom scale to get a fair estimate of their weight while they are younger. My boys can't lift much over 100lbs but up until then we can do it.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Our full grown ND's tend to be 70ish pounds. Unless you have an obese doe that weighs 85lbs. We do have a smaller doe that is closer to 60 lbs.

Personally I would do what the breeder thinks is best. When you are dealing with someone experienced you should go with it. They know their goats better than you do, if they think she needs to be on the dam a few more weeks I would do that. You want her big- milk is the BEST way to have kids grow big.

Many dairy goat breeders leave their kids on milk for as long as 10 months. These kids are of course going to be larger than those weaned at 2-4 months. Those goats will almost always be able to be bred young instead of waiting until they are 2.
For most of these breeders they need to keep the does in milk for 10 months- and they can't use all that milk for themselves so it gets fed to the kids.
I like leaving standard breed kids on milk for 16 weeks. No clue with boers, but that extra milk won't hurt- it just makes her grow bigger

 

[babsbag]

Silly me, I forgot the ragdollcatlady has Nigis too. I should have known that, I have two of them. Senior moment...

@Goat Whisperer But that girl on a diet.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

She has been on a diet
That's my honey boo boo goat right thar

 

[babsbag]

She's called an easy keeper.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

She only eats grass and grass hay. I've thought about following her around with a spray bottle to keep her moving, but I'm afraid she'd keel over and have a heart attack. The crazy thing is that she hasn't been wormed in over a year if I remember correctly. Fat heifer.

Just realized this has turned into a ramble, sorry