# Milking goat, weaning kids questions



## marliah (May 28, 2012)

I have one Nigerian in milk right now. She had twins 8 weeks ago and we just sold the buck and are planning on keeping her doeling. I was considering leaving the doe on mom til she weaned her but now I am wondering if that's the best bet. I had been separating the kids and milking in the morning which worked well for us, but when the buck left I want sure if should have the little doe alone all night so I let her stay in with mom and milk 2x a day. Yesterday that worked fine, but this morning when I went to milk mom was conpletely dry, so I am thing I need to separate the doe at night so I can get some milk as one of my children is only able to drink goats milk (which is why we have the goats). My question is should I completely wean the doe around 12 weeks of age and milk twice a day so I can get more milk? Or would it be better for them to just have once a day milking and keep the doe on mom as long as she wil let her nurse? If I should wean how do I do that? How long would they need to be separated 24/7 before they could go back together again? I only have three goats so I'm not sure if is even a possibility to fully wean her where she or mom would have to be alone for that to happen.

Any suggestions/advice?


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## Chirpy (May 28, 2012)

Most people wean their goat kids between 8 and 12 weeks old.  I like to keep my kids with their mommas until they are closer to the 12 weeks so they get a good, solid start on growing themselves.  You are at that point now so go ahead and wean her.

If you don't start milking momma she will almost certainly start to lose milk production now that her boy is gone.  Her body will stop producing more milk than it needs and one baby needs half the milk that two did.  Thus, if your goal (as you stated) is to have milk for your family it's time for you to be milking two times a day to keep her production up.  

As to weaning, you can go cold turkey (that's what happens when you sell off a baby, like your buckling) and just separate the doeling from momma for a long time period.  Or, you can wean more slowly by separating them for a few hours for a few days, then up it to separating them for a few hours twice day for a few days, etc.  If I were in your shoes and needed that milk - I'd wean her real quickly; probably cold turkey.  I've done it both ways depending on the circumstances at the time.

Weaning a baby when you still have momma there is more difficult, in my opinion.  You need a secure fenced area for the baby and momma to be completely separate from each other and yet each needs another goat companion.  It's most helpful if they can't see each other, so just putting them on opposite sides of a fence just causes them to holler more loudly for a longer time period.  I found that I had to keep my "kids" away from momma for over two months before I could put them back in the same area without the baby running over to nurse again.  I've heard people say it took even longer than that for their kids.  Since you only have three goats you probably will need to have them in sight of each other so one isn't stressed out by being alone. So, just make sure that baby can't get her mouth through the fence or she will nurse off momma that way.   If momma is stressed out she may lose milk production so I'd probably put the goat friend in with her.  But??? you will need to determine which goat needs a friend for a couple months more than the other since you know their personalities.

Good luck.   Don't let their pitiful crying dissuade you... they will get past it in a few days (usually).


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