Can u force a doe with 6 week old2 kids to accept a 1 week old??

[taraann81]

Here is the scoop.

We have a nubian cross.....we bought bred and she kidded triplet buckling on valentines day.

These kids are due(if weaned and at proper weight) at their new homes April 14th.

We just purchased a buckling. He is only 6 days old today(and still with his mom)

The breeder would like us to take him on monday(1 week old) as his mom seems to be favoring his sister and he is getting pushed away by his mother.

From what I have read , it is difficult to start them on a bottle once they have been started on their moms.

So is it feasible to put Agnes on the milk stand and allow this buckling to nurse from her(as I assume she should be producing enough milk as she was feeding 3 but they are taking less and less milk and more and more feed/hay)

Or should we force the bottle feeding(which would be homogonized milk or replacer)

If we should allow him to drink milk from her...how often in a day should we allow him to feed at 1 week of age?

2-3 times?

What would be your advice?

(keeping the buckling with his mom and getting him weaned is not an option)

Any advice would be great.

Thanks so much.

 

[()relics]

Grafting...tricky and time consuming for a few days but definitely possible...I have a pretty little doeling that I got from Roll Farms to prove it can be done...Keep in mind the time consuming fact....Your patience is going to be tried and success isn't guarenteed but it may be worth the effort if you can get the doe to "adopt" the kid...Also you will need to evalute the doe as to wether or not she is still able to nurse a kid...Remember as demand for milk goes down, and you said that her kids are drinking less and less, so does milk production and you wouldn't want to degrade youe doe too much.
In my situation I really wanted the doeling and had a doe that had just freshened but had lost her kids so it was the perfect set-up....I knew I didn't want to bottle raise a kid because I just don't have that kind of time...The doe took her as if it was her own and is doing a very good job raising her, actually she is nearly ready to be weaned....I can't imagine having to bottle feed her for the last 2 months.
So once she allows the kid to nurse she should let him nurse anywhere any time just as if it were her kid...If she doesn't accept it...Good Luck...she will win the battle and you will bottle feed the kid.
The theory behind a successful grafting is getting the does milk through the new kids' system so as it nurses the doe can smell, from the kids rear end, that he belongs to her....Once the new kid "smells" right, the deal is done....getting to that point is the battle....this is not something you can read in a book but something that you have to try on the ground...and you will at some point be on the ground....But you can do it...providing you have a cooperative doe and and a hungry kid helps too....

 

[taraann81]

Grafting...tricky and time consuming for a few days but definitely possible...I have a pretty little doeling that I got from Roll Farms to prove it can be done...Keep in mind the time consuming fact....Your patience is going to be tried and success isn't guarenteed but it may be worth the effort if you can get the doe to "adopt" the kid...Also you will need to evalute the doe as to wether or not she is still able to nurse a kid...Remember as demand for milk goes down, and you said that her kids are drinking less and less, so does milk production and you wouldn't want to degrade youe doe too much.
In my situation I really wanted the doeling and had a doe that had just freshened but had lost her kids so it was the perfect set-up....I knew I didn't want to bottle raise a kid because I just don't have that kind of time...The doe took her as if it was her own and is doing a very good job raising her, actually she is nearly ready to be weaned....I can't imagine having to bottle feed her for the last 2 months.
So once she allows the kid to nurse she should let him nurse anywhere any time just as if it were her kid...If she doesn't accept it...Good Luck...she will win the battle and you will bottle feed the kid.
The theory behind a successful grafting is getting the does milk through the new kids' system so as it nurses the doe can smell, from the kids rear end, that he belongs to her....Once the new kid "smells" right, the deal is done....getting to that point is the battle....this is not something you can read in a book but something that you have to try on the ground...and you will at some point be on the ground....But you can do it...providing you have a cooperative doe and and a hungry kid helps too....

Thanks relics! My theory(and its just that, a theory) is that although shes at the point of weaning her kids, the fact that she is going from three to one that she might still have enough milk to feed him. I have basically no hope that this late in the game, that she will adopt this kid. I was more hoping that by putting her on the milk stand I could "force" her to feed the kid until he is weaned not hoping she would adopt him.

Any ideas?

 

[()relics]

I would think grafting is still an option...You can try at least it can't hurt anything. Force a doe? not likely...she has to let down the milk and generally they need to be in a comfortable spot or it just doesn't happen. She will make it very hard forthe kid to nurse if she doesn't want him to, kicking, biting,etc.. I would try to graft him.
But how? You can get hundreds of "sure fire" methods and they may work under certain situations..I used 2 tricks that seemed to work in my case. As I said my doe was a new freshener that had lost her kids. I had access to 2 dead kids and a pile of placenta. I simply SOAKED a towel with the does placenta and then wipe the dead kids dry with another towel. I drove to Kim's house, RF, and picked up the new kid. On the way home I had the kid wrapped in the wet and very disgusting towel. My doe excepted her even before the kid was ready....but she is a very good and mild mannered doe.
The second Trick, which can work in your situation : milk the doe for several milkings before letting the kid get involved. Feed the milk that you milk from the doe to the new kid. Thought being that the milk from your doe will eventually work its way through the kids system giving him the right smell. Now introduce the kid to the doe. At least he will smell right and the doe will have an easier time and may not even know that this is not her kid. But the war isn't over....Sometimes getting the kid to nurse is rough even though the doe seems to be ready to allow it....So before you introduce the kid make sure he is VERY HUNGRY...now you have 2 things working for you...a hungry kid and a doe that you have fooled into adopting a kid....it may take several days of supervised feedings but I'm sure you will get it worked out.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

IMO, it'd be more work to get the doe to accept the kid than it would to convince the kid to drink from a bottle. I once got 2-two week old kids that had been on their dam, and it only took a few days (three or less) to get them drinking like pros from the bottle. This kid is only a week old, so I don't think it'll be that hard.