Weaning wethers....Am I doing this right?

P0U1TRYP3RS0N

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My little sister has two almost three month old nubian wethers for 4-H projects. Every time I turn around she's out of town with my dad, visiting family. I've been stuck here....for 4 days now....feeding and caring for all the animals by myself while the rest of the family is out of town.
The goats are driving me crazy. They have to be crated every night to prevent slaughter by coyotes, and let out in the morning, crates cleaned daily, and then there's the bottles...Ugh... gallon of whole milk in one day?! So...I've decided to wean them.
HERE'S WHAT I'M DOING:
The "goatsies" get 3 cups of "milk" a piece each morning and evening. I have since friday introduced 1/2 cup water each meal instead of 1/2 cup of the milk. So by today, they are drinking 2 cups water, one cup hot whole milk in their bottles. Also, I've been giving unlimited alfalfa for them to munch on, and increasing their grain by about a cup a day. Today they had 2 1/2 cups grain to snack on after their morning bottle.
AM I DOING IT RIGHT? OR TOO FAST? HOW MANY CUPS OF GRAIN SHOULD THEY BE GETTING WHEN THEY ARE ALL WEANED?
 

cmjust0

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Mixing to water is one thing I've heard of doing, but at almost three months old...you could just quit bottlefeeding and listen to them scream for a few days. They'll get over it, and they'll be no worse for wear.

Now, speaking as a person who's currently battling urinary calculi and its associated complications in a 6mo intact buckling, something I'd advise is be really careful with grain.. That's especially important with wethers, as their urinary tract pretty much stopped developing whenever they were castrated. Trust me when I tell you that you'd much, much rather see the pinbones in an otherwise happy goat that can stretch out and urinate freely than to shoot for "fat and slick" and "healthy" looking only to wind with with him hunched over, shaking, tensing, grunting, visibly knotted, blood dripping from his sheath, crying out in pain because he can't urinate..

It's a truly horrible, pitiful sight..

Knowing what I know now, if I were raising two nubian wethers, I'd maybe offer them whatever little bit of grain they could clean up in just a few minutes, once a day....if that. Truth is, good alfalfa hay should be sufficient to give them the protein they need to grow properly. Add a good loose mineral mix, free choice, and they really shouldn't need much else..

Then again...like I said...grain is kinda scary to me at this point. I've had reason to really start thinking about all the problems you can run into by having grain around -- bloat and enterotoxemia, acidosis, urinary calculi, etc -- and, to my thinking, it almost starting to look like it's more trouble than it's worth..
 

ksalvagno

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Especially for wethers, I would give minimal grain if any. I can't see them needing more than 1 cup per day each divided into 2 feedings. Meaning 1/2 cup twice a day for each of the goats.

Like Cmjust0 said, the alfalfa and a good loose mineral and baking soda should be fine. And really, the alfalfa hay is probably only needed while they are growing. A good grass hay is all the wethers should need (along with those loose minerals and baking soda).
 

P0U1TRYP3RS0N

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What about a doeling? She (the queen bee--I mean, a 2 month old Nigie Doeling who just went cold turkey from 1/2 cup milk to day) eats w/ them....Could she have as many issues as them fro urinary calcium or whatever this is that is gonna give me night mares tonight! I gave them TWO POUNDS of grain...cuz I heard that's what they need. Maybe these 4-H ppl are crazy.
I'd rather go with what you guys say. So just 1 cup a day per goatsie will work? What about the nigie?
EDIT: CAN GOATS BLOAT JUST LIKE A STEER?! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAD NO IDEA! STUPID ME! OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE RUMINANTS!
 

helmstead

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Growing animals need balanced feed, IMO...and even wethers need a goat feed until they've grown out.

General rule of thumb is 3.5 lbs of goat feed per 100 lbs of goat for maintainance. I recommend this plus free choice alfalfa pellets for all growing goats.

Medicated feed, BTW.

Once they are about a year old, you can then switch them to just alfalfa and hay if they maintain good body condition.

UC is an issue, but is preventable altho some goats are just prone to it (either metobolically or conformationally). Does can also get UC, altho this is rare.

So, my Nubian doeling is 4 mos old, she's a smaller bred Nubi and weighs about 40 lbs. She gets about 2 lbs of goat feed a day, in two meals, and free choice alfalfa pellets and is maintaining weight nicely.

I have no idea how this translates into cups - I use a scale to measure it out.
 
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