Baby goats - lots of questions!

[KBS]

Amber gave us triplets on Friday - 2 bucklings and one doeling. She is our first doe to give birth and now I have a ton of questions.

We plan on selling the two boys (not sure about the young lady yet). At what age do you sell them? We plan on leaving them on mom so weaned by 10 weeks sound right? Since mom is a FF, do most people sell them as wethers since mom isn't a proven milker yet? At 3 days old, you can already feel horn buds forming on the boys. At what age would you disbud them? Mom had her CDT shot the last month of pregnancy - do I need to give them anything else prior to disbudding? When should the kids receive their first CDT shots? Also, I have Di-Methox 40% for cocci prevention. I keep finding different opinions, but I think the dose is 1cc/16 lbs on day 1 and 1cc/32 lbs day 2-5 at 3 weeks old. Is that correct for the 40%?

Sorry for all the questions. I have attached pics of everyone.
Boy 1 (2.55 lbs), Boy 2 (3.42 lbs), Girl (1.61 lbs), and the proud mom.

Thanks all!!

 

[Wehner Homestead]

That’s a tiny Doeling!

I’m only going to answer a few of your questions as I’m still learning and others will be able to give more detail.

Wean Nigerian Dwarf boys at 8 weeks as some are able to perform them and don’t want them breeding Mom or sister. That’s stressful so wait two weeks to sell or wean/sell on the same day. The Doeling can be left as long as you like. Some prefer 12 weeks and others prefer 16 weeks. She may end up getting pushed out by her bigger brothers (had this happen) and need the extra month or two to catch up.

Most people do wether FF’s bucklings. Only in rare situations do some get left intact. 8 weeks is the recommended age for banding if that’s your choice. After that, castration is more ideal and after about 4 months, most will say it needs to be done under sedation and by a vet.

You can disbud as soon as you feel them coming through the skin. Bucklings usually need done sooner than doelings. It’s not recommended to do any under 3 days of age, but any time after that is fine.

I’m going to plead the 5th on vaccines because I’ve been reviewing human and cattle vaccine schedules for the homestead and the goat Schedule is scrambling for me at the moment and don’t want to tell you wrong.

I’ve not used Dimethox up to this point so I’ll cease from saying anything on it also.

 

[Latestarter]

I own Lamanchas. I've never given cocci meds to my kids (2 years of kiddings) and never had a cocci issue. I prefer to only medicate (aside from CD&T) when needed rather than as a "preventive measure". Just me. From my understanding, cocci is not generally a problem with newborns and doesn't generally become a factor until after the 3 week mark. If the kids are being dam raised and the mom had her CD&T shot within one month of kidding, then those antibodies along with mom's general antibodies were passed to the kids within the first 24 hours through her colostrum. These are designed to protect the kid while it develops it's own antibodies and generally speaking protects the kid for the first 30 days or so.

The kids should get an initial CD&T shot at 4-6 weeks. I do mine at 5. They then get a 2nd booster shot 4-6 weeks later. I do it at ~10 weeks. Some folks vaccinate against pneumonia, some do rabies, You can talk to your knowledgeable goat vet about what he/she recommends as well. http://articles.extension.org/pages/27116/goat-vaccination-program

Generally speaking, the boys need to be disbudded within the first week to 10 days or their buds get too large and it takes a lot more burning to get them. The doelings could go up to 2 to almost 3 weeks and still be fine. When you feel the buds starting to "tent up" it's time to burn. Pay close attention (especially on the boys) for a "ridge" that runs down toward their face from the actual bud... This is the area that generally gets missed and turns into scurs. This is why many burn a figure "8" into boys... to make sure they get it all the first time around. Even though I'm pretty good at it, I just had to do a second burn on 3 (of my 5) bucklings from this spring because I missed a very small sliver of said ridge and it had started growing. I did not do a true figure 8 on them because I did the initial burn when the buds were still pretty small. Obviously not small enough in the 3 boy's cases. I hit the other 2 buckilngs as well a 2nd time just in case. I do NOT like scurs.

Banding or cutting should be postponed as long as possible IMHO to give the urethra time to develop as large as possible to help avoid possible Urinary Calculi (UC) issues. Generally not an issue with does at all, it can become an issue with bucks and more/most often, with wethers. When you castrate, you stop the hormones that contribute to the urethra's growth. I typically band at the same time as the CD&T booster shot, so for me, right about 10 weeks. http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/SP/MG/Documents/SLIDES/Urinary calculi.pdf
http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/SP/MG/Documents/SLIDES/Urinary calculi.pdf
Two of my boys were born to a 3rd freshener and my first boys from her. She is my daily milker and a good producer so I have offered them for sale as potential herdsires. The other three will be wethered and 2 are already sold. The third will remain with me to replace my existing wether. If no takers as herdsires, they too will be wethered but IMHO it would be a shame as they are both really solid/stocky and great conformation.

Congrats on the triplets and good luck moving forward!

 

[KBS]

When we had the sonogram done two months ago, they only saw two, so the third one was a surprise. I wasn't sure if I needed to do the cocci prevention or not. Seemed from what I was reading, most did. Maybe I will just hang onto it and see how it goes. I really don't like giving meds just to give meds. I was afraid you were going to say that the boys needed done. I guess that will be this weekends project.
Thanks.

 

[Wendybear]

I have no advice bc I’ve been a goat owner for less than 3 weeks but I wanted to say those babies ARE THE CUTEST THINGS EVER!!!! And their mother is GORGEOUS!!

 

[Latestarter]

There had been no takers on the two I was offering as herd sires. I banded them this past Saturday. They were 11 weeks old. Their testes had dropped for real & gotten large enough that I had to put them through the band one at a time. When you do the banding, be careful to make sure you've got both through before releasing the band AND, be careful to take as little extra skin through the band as you can so you don't accidentally pull a nipple through at the same time.

Having only done this through 2 sets of kiddings, I believe it's less traumatic/painful to a younger animal. I believe it gets more uncomfortable as they get older/more developed. These most recent 2 have been walking a little gingerly and they were a bit off their feed for a couple of days. The ones I did at 8 weeks or so didn't even seem to notice. Kind of a toss up as you want that urethra to mature as much as possible if you plan to keep the wether for a long pet life. If the animal is destined for the freezer, I guess it doesn't much matter. But I have also noticed that the animals I banded later, grew much better/faster/larger/fuller than the males I banded earlier. Hormones/testosterone presence I guess.

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

If you sell two boys and leave doe kid on momma, keep an eye on udder about getting uneven. Sometimes a kid gets really stubborn about nursing only one side.

Knife at third day of life is how I was taught to wether. They don't bleed a drop and as soon as it's over act like nothing happened. As they grow older fat builds up and it is harder on them. After they are a week old I band them. Be careful about banding when older as band won't cut completely and blood supply still present. Bands are cheap, buy new ones every year as older ones can get fragile.

 

[Donna R. Raybon]

Coccidia is bad news. Unlike worms that spend part of lifecycle outside host, coccidia can mature and reproduce within host. This makes control difficult because nothing you can do to break cycle and in theory ingesting one coccidia oocyte and 22 days later millions. As all adult animals shed coccidia, they are in environment. The individual coccidia organism attaches to intestinal villi (the hairlike projections of gut wall that absorb nutrition) and eat them off. The villi never grow back, animal's ability to absorb nutrition forever impaired. Bloody stool is symptom of damage done. Depending upon availabilty I have used either Sulmet or Corid to treat. Then for goat kids I put them on feed with decox. Do what works for you.

 

[OneFineAcre]

That’s a tiny Doeling!

I’m only going to answer a few of your questions as I’m still learning and others will be able to give more detail.

Wean Nigerian Dwarf boys at 8 weeks as some are able to perform them and don’t want them breeding Mom or sister. That’s stressful so wait two weeks to sell or wean/sell on the same day. The Doeling can be left as long as you like. Some prefer 12 weeks and others prefer 16 weeks. She may end up getting pushed out by her bigger brothers (had this happen) and need the extra month or two to catch up.

Most people do wether FF’s bucklings. Only in rare situations do some get left intact. 8 weeks is the recommended age for banding if that’s your choice. After that, castration is more ideal and after about 4 months, most will say it needs to be done under sedation and by a vet.

You can disbud as soon as you feel them coming through the skin. Bucklings usually need done sooner than doelings. It’s not recommended to do any under 3 days of age, but any time after that is fine.

I’m going to plead the 5th on vaccines because I’ve been reviewing human and cattle vaccine schedules for the homestead and the goat Schedule is scrambling for me at the moment and don’t want to tell you wrong.

I’ve not used Dimethox up to this point so I’ll cease from saying anything on it also.

I helped someone band a 5 month old pygmy this weekend.
No problems
And someone on here I remember banded one at a year old.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

And someone on here I remember banded one at a year old.

That might have been me...I banded one that got a little too pushy. The next day he wasn't pushy anymore, lol. He was quiet for a day or so, but really no negative effects. He made a wonderfully mannered wether.