Buckling nursing on a 16-month-old doe

[Goatgirl47]

Magnolia, my Myotonic doe is in heat today and has been following our 4-month-old Mini-Lamancha buckling, Romeo. Now that she is friendly with him he has been nursing on her. She normally has nothing to do with him and will not let him anywhere near her, let alone nurse on her. She has never been bred before and I don't want him to ruin her teats. How can I make him stop nursing? I can't separate them because we only have one pasture for the goats.

Thanks!

 

[sadieml]

Is there something with an unpleasant taste that you can put on her teats? You know, the way you use that nasty nail polish to keep your kids from biting their fingernails?

 

[Goatgirl47]

Sorry I took so long to reply - I actually put a little piece of tape on each of her teats, and because of that, Romeo didn't nurse on her. The next day when I took the tape off, Magnolia wasn't really in heat anymore, and so she wouldn't let him near her.

Thanks anyway!

 

[OneFineAcre]

I hadn't seen this post before. But, I've seen this behavior before with young bucklings. They alternate between trying to "court" an older doe and trying to nurse. I don't think you needed to worry about him damaging her teats.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

x2 He probably wouldn't damage her. Although I understand you not wanting him to do that. Sometimes our does will randomly try to nurse off each other,they aren't ever mother/daughter- sometimes its a whole different breed. Makes me crazy!

Just wait until she kids! Some of these kids are so rough once they get older they LIFT the doe of the ground!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've seen the same things with young bucks. I'm like... uh, I let you out for a play date, not a milk break, lol! They eventually seem to get it right.

 

[Goatgirl47]

With cows - heifers who have never had calves - if they are nursed on by other calves they may never produce milk because the calves ruined their teats. That actually happened to one of our beef heifers (I think, I'm not positive), she had a calf but her milk never came in, and so a month later we brought her to the slaughter house.

So it's not that way with goats?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I don't know of anyone who has had that issue. It seems that when this happens in goats it doesn't last long. Maybe that is the reason why there isn't any damage.

We had some orphaned kids that were trying to nurse off a dry doe who had never kidded before. That ended up bringing her into milk.

Sorry about the heifer, that stinks I understand your concern!

 

[Goatgirl47]

Ok, thanks for your help!