What age do you wean?

[meme]

Right now our 5 week old nubian and 4 week old alpine are being fed 16 ounces 2x a day, with a small middle feeding of about 5-8oz. They get whole cows milk with some yogurt and nutri-drench in their morning bottle. They love love love their alfalfa, and enjoy eating weeds and leaves too. However, I am thoroughly confused about what age they should be when I wean them. They currently weigh 18 and 22 pounds, so according to Storey's Guide, they should pretty much be weaned right now, at 1 month. But our vet said two months, our leader says 5, and everyone else has some other number. Is there a good age to start weaning them? I want them to be strong and healthy. Also, should I start by cutting the middle feeding and just reducing the other two? I have also heard to add water to their bottles, but I am not sure about that. Thanks for clearing up the confusion!

 

[redtailgal]

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=149874#p149874

Goto post 4, written by Roll farms. Shes our local baby guru.

 

[ksacres]

I would NEVER wean earlier than two months. Three months is ideal if you have the milk. The development of the rumen is not an overnight process, many people see a kid eat a stem of hay and make the mistake of thinking the kid is ready to live on it's own. In truth, the rumen begins working and increases capacity very gradually, eventually the groove that transports milk through the rumen to the true stomach disappears, and THEN the kid is ready to be weaned, but this process isn't visible so it's not an exact science.

Kids can survive weaning from several weeks on, but that doesn't mean it's best for them. If you wean at two months you will probably see a bit of "post weaning slump", that is a period of non-growth (and possible weight loss) followed by a gradual return to growth. At three months, this is much less a problem and the kid has had an additional month of rumen development and will be eating much more. Some people that have a lot of extra milk keep feeding their kids because they have other real use for it. The longer you keep feeding milk, generally the better/faster your growth will be, but for me, bottle feeding for more than three months was just impractical and I felt they were far enough along that they did well weaned at that age. If you have the milk and the time, five to six months is acceptable. However, a lot of babies will self wean after the third or fourth month, when a kid does that it's safe to assume it's ready to wean.

Start by cutting the middle feeding, then, when you are closer to weaning age, go to one feeding a day, then stop. Do not feed water in a bottle, goats need to learn to drink water from a bucket. The only time I feed liquid other than milk in a bottle is if the kid needs some kind of medicine or is dehydrated.

This is what I do, and it is by no means the only way to raise kids. I would advise you to listen to what everyone has to say, choose what makes sense to you, and go from there. A lot of raising goats is tailoring it to fit you and your individual needs.

 

[20kidsonhill]

8 to 10 weeks is ideal.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I wouldn't wean before 8 weeks, which is when I like to wean mine. By 8 weeks they're eating well and their rumen is fully functioning.

 

[jodief100]

I wean at 12 weeks.

 

[Queen Mum]

I don't wean before 12 weeks. Eight weeks, IMHO is a bit young. The rumen may be functioning at 8 weeks, but the babies digestion is iffy at best at 8 weeks. Their development is still somewhat dependent on the nutrition from lactose. I think they are, in the long run, healthier and find that they grow better if given that last 4 weeks.

 

[meme]

Thank you, that cleared things up a lot. I am thinking around three months sounds like the best time for us, that way they can reach their full potential. I will keep researching though, I have a lot to learn!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I don't wean before 12 weeks. Eight weeks, IMHO is a bit young. The rumen may be functioning at 8 weeks, but the babies digestion is iffy at best at 8 weeks. Their development is still somewhat dependent on the nutrition from lactose. I think they are, in the long run, healthier and find that they grow better if given that last 4 weeks.

We're all entitled to our own opinions about when to wean, and it certainly won't hurt to wean them later. I disagree with your statement that they're dependent on milk at 8 weeks. I'm not saying they do everything perfectly, but most all commercial dairies (cow and goat) and sheep farms wean at 8 weeks. Mostly it's due to the "bottom line" and studies have shown it's a waste of resources (time and money in feed expenses, etc) to feed milk past 8 weeks and there's no ill effects to the animals. Obviously if weaning at 8 weeks was detrimental to the kids/lambs/calves etc well being, they would wean later. Rumenation starts very early, and can even start as early ast 2 weeks.

Like I said, it wouldn't hurt to feed milk past 8 weeks, but it won't hurt them to be weaned at 8 weeks. There are even some who wean at 6 weeks old, and there are various studies showing no differences in weight between calves weaned at 6 weeks than those weaned at 8 weeks, comparing weights of the animals at 12 weeks. Here's one study in particular. Here's a study showing same results from lambs weaned at 8 weeks vs. 12 weeks.

And here's the Langston study of "Milk Feeding and Weaning of Goat Kids ". It's a very interesting read, and it states, "Delayed weaning is costly and can be harmful to the development of a functional reticulo-rumen." The article also states weaning at 8 weeks was optimum.

 

[20kidsonhill]

We have weaned at 6 weeks, because we had a horrible coccidiosis out break one spring, and couldnt' get it under control with the mom's and kids on pasture, and we had no way to dry lot the mom's and kids, so we weaned the kids into a dry lot pen. And left the mom's on pasture. It worked like a charm and the kids took off in their growth rate. The kids were 6 to 9 weeks of age.

We wean as early as possible, because a sheep farmer explained it to us like this. A meat animal isn't designed to keep milking they produce most of their milk the first few weeks, after a few weeks their milk supply drastically goes down and the kids are mostly eating forage and grain(if provided) as the main part of their diet. It is more efficient for us to take the grain that we are feeding the does and put it into the kids as soon as we can and just put the does back on pasture, that way the kids are directly using the grain. At least that is what this sheep farmers theory was and he has a very very successful farm. We monitor growth rate and I have never seen a difference in growth rate with my 10 to 12 week old kids compared to my younger kids when they are weaned. They all Have a small period of adjustment after being weaned and then they take off.

Now with all that said, If you don't mind feeding until 12 weeks or even 16 weeks, it certainly wont hurt anything.