Need some advice on weaning

[daisychick]

My neighbor is buying one of my nubian does and her 8 week old doeling. I want to help them learn how to milk and get started with their first goats. What would be the best way to wean the doeling so they can start milking the doe? They will have to stay together because that will be the only 2 he will have.

I thought of 2 ways.

1. Leave the doeling on momma and they can milk out the extra and hope that she will naturally be weaned in a month. Not sure if this will work because I have never tried it. This way they can keep each other company, I don't want to just leave the neighbor with one goat. Do you think they will get much milk this way?

2. Keep the doeling at my place for a while and let him borrow a friend doe for a few weeks until the doeling is weaned. Not sure if this would work either because I don't know if after 2 weeks the doeling will just go back to nursing when re-introduced to momma. Is 2 weeks enough weaning time?

What should I do? How long will it take to wean the little girl? What are the chances she will go right back to nursing after a 2 week separation?

I love corrupting my neighborhood into owning goats, so I really do want to help this transition so smoothly for the new goat owners.
Advice wanted.

 

[SheepGirl]

When we would wean lambs, we would put them in the ram pasture for about two weeks and then they would move back in with their moms and the ewes were pretty much dried up by the time the lambs were moved back in. They also wanted nothing to do with the lambs, usually. If I were you, I would wean your doeling and then give your neighbor the doeling and the doe at the same time.

 

[daisyjack]

maybe put goat tape on at night and milk her in the morning

 

[vermillionoaks]

I haven't successfully weaned our doeling yet but I can tell you what I've tried. I had our doeling separated from her mom for 2 months. We have 4 does so we just put her in an adjacent pen with one of the Junior does for company. We were milking her dam the whole time so she is still very much in milk. We tried putting all the girls back together after those 2 months and she went right to nursing on her mom! Needless to say we are not going to try to put them back together until her dam is dry. I would guess it just depends on the dam and the doeling. I'm not sure how common it is, this is only our first kidding and weaning. We may just have a crazy goat! I have not tried tape because my doeling is very persistent and I'm sure she would be one of the ones to get it off!

Before we tried weaning our doeling we would seperate them at night with a dog kennel (the kind people use for outside dogs with the shade cloth top) inside of the goat house. They could see each other through the fence and seemed fine with that arrangement. If your neighbors only want to milk once a day it may be enough for them to set up some sort of divider inside the house for nighttime(something they could see each other through) and they could put them back together after they milk the dam in the mornings. I know some people use dog crates for Nigerian kids but I don't have any experience with full sized goats so I'm not sure how much space they would need. I would assume the dam would wean the doeling eventually but I was just worried about the doeling trying to nurse on her dam next year after she freshens again. I really hope it goes much more smoothly for you!

 

[daisychick]

This is kind of a difficult one. They are so excited to get their goats and to milk and of course they had to pick a doe and doeling pair. Maybe I can let them borrow my dog crate and they can lock up baby girl at night in mom's pen and just milk in the mornings. I would like to wean her before they go next door but I am afraid once they get put back in the same pen that she will start nursing again. The tricky part is we don't want the momma to dry up because they want her for a milker.