The casual wean...

[KaliMoran]

Hi all-
I'm new here at backyardherds with a pair of accidental goats -I found them as strays, housed them for four days while we sought out the owners, returned them (sadly...), and then we were gifted them back (HOORAY!). It was quite the saga.
Anyway. It's a mother and her (currently) 6 week old and I'd love to use her for milk. I know there are many methods and manners of weaning, but the bottom line is they need to be separated and she needs to be milked. Of course, being unprepared, we only built one quick enclosure with one cute little house. Additionally, the doe is just over a year old so she's not accustomed to milking. WHERE to start?! Any suggestions??? I've been doing basic clicker training and she's a very fast learner and quite friendly.

Also, I know goats are social creatures and need another hooved animal for companionship. If we wean this babe, castrate him, and keep him as a pet, does that count as companion enough?! We do hope to get another milking doe eventually, once all of our ducks are in a row, but we're working all these new goat adventures around work travel/life and won't be rushing any steps.

And lastly... I've read that goats and chickens shouldn't be kept together due to a shared parasite. We have a flock of layers with their own establishment but I've been keeping one chicken -our one-eyed mismatch-beaked handicapped girl- in the goat pen. She was previously living in our sunroom (very unsustainable) because the other chickens pick on her endlessly (understandably). Is this a major no-no? Will I spread disease among all???

Thanks everyone! I'm thrilled to be joining the goat-owning community. And I'm sure I'll have 5k follow-up questions.

 

[madcow]

Regardless whether the baby is wethered (castrated) he counts as a hooved animal and the mom and baby together make a herd. Congratulations on your new herd! As far as milking, you only need to separate baby and momma overnight (not longer than 12 hours without milking her out) where he can't nurse. Be sure baby has hay and water and of course shelter if there is bad weather. They will both put up a fuss about being separated and it helps if they can see each other while they are apart. If they are only separated by a fence be sure baby can't nurse mom through the fence or your effort will be wasted and you will be wondering why you aren't getting much milk in the morning. Where there's a will there's a way! LOL! Separating her overnight will allow her bag to fill by morning without baby nursing every opportunity he gets. It will be good to train her to jump up on something that is a good height for you to milk her, or else you will kill your back trying to reach her udders during milking. A stanchion is a good idea as you can lock her head in place with her morning feed ration in a bucket she can get to in order to keep her occupied while standing to be milked. Since she hasn't been milked she probably won't be accustomed to her udders being touched and will probably dance around on the stand or try to kick you away when you try to milk. Start out touching her around her tail and slide your hand to an udder never loosing contact with touching her. She will be calmer if you don't just grab her, but be able to feel where you start and feel where you are going. Now if she kicks, and she probably will, you might need to hobble a leg (tie it up to something stationary, or purchase a set of hobbles for both hind legs from someplace online or at your feed store). It's a good idea to read online about the steps you will need to take sanitation wise to keep the milk safe to consume and to protect her from infections in her udders. What type of goats are they? There are dairy breeds that give quite a bit of milk and the other breeds that give good quantities of milk, but aren't considered only dairy breeds, but can be dual purpose for milk and meat, and then there are just meat goats. All give varying quantities of milk. Different breeds have different tasting milk, too. Anyway, once you milk momma you can let the baby spend the day with her if you don't want to have to milk morning and evening and he will keep her milked out while he's with her. Since she's a first freshener (first birth) and only 6 weeks out from giving birth she won't be at her highest capacity for giving milk yet. With any new freshening her milk should peak at 3 months. With her third freshening and about 3 months out from that birth should give you the best idea of her greatest capacity for milking. You will need to be sure she gets all the hay or browse she can eat and supplement her diet with a good feed, as she needs extra calories while producing milk. With moms nursing more than 1 kid it can be a challenge to keep weight on mom, but with a single kid it isn't as difficult. The best hay for a doe in milk would be alfalfa, but it is the most costly of the hays, but for a single doe and her kid it wouldn't be too bad. If you buy it locally at a feed store here it runs about $22 for a 100-pound bale and that should last 10 days to 2 weeks, depending on her size. You could mix the alfalfa with a less costly hay, like costal or sudan. Although if you have pasture for them to browse that will work, too, keeping in mind what mom eats affects her quantity of milk and its taste.

As far as allowing them to be with the chickens, the only problem you should be concerned about is avoiding the goats eating chicken feed, which goats love, but if over consumed can kill a goat. My vet said that most farm animals don't have a problem with parasites that cross between species. Cows, goats and sheep can all get barber pole worms, but not chickens. When feeding goats be sure to not place their feed directly on the ground, but use a container of some kind to avoid parasite infestations.

Anyway, again congrats on your new herd! Better watch out, you could get G.A.S. -- goat addiction syndrome! Don't be afraid to ask questions as there are tons of experienced goat lovers on this site ready and willing to provide answers and moral support with being a new goat parent! Especially we are all junkies when it comes to goat pictures, especially babies, we can't get enough!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Welcome , glad you joined us! Yep G.A.S hits quicker than you think- we went from 1 goat to 13 goats in a matter of 6 months....

 

[madcow]

Hens and Roos, you have a terrible case of G.A.S.! But you know what, that gives you a build-in petting zoo when required! Love my goaties!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Hens and Roos, you have a terrible case of G.A.S.! But you know what, that gives you a build-in petting zoo when required! Love my goaties!

Yep- especially when our last doe to kid gave us six- with 5 surviving!

 

[madcow]

Whoa! What breed of goat Hens and Roos?

 

[goats&moregoats]

Welcome to the wonderful world of goats! It's the best!!

 

[KaliMoran]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes, and extra thanks madcow for the excellent advice. You make it all seem very manageable which is just what I need to reassure myself of! Mother and baby and both Nigerian Dwarf Goats. From what I've read, it sounds like they're lovely milkers, on the very small scale. I hope to eventually grow our herd to two milkers and we may or may not keep our current baby. For now... I think an overnight separation within their current enclosure is feasible, perhaps with a strip of welded wire that we remove for the day. I have a feeling that if I suggest building another pen at this point, my husband might add a third to keep me in.. he actually made a NO GOATS rule before we were married (foolish!) and never would have allowed them at all, had they not literally wandered into our yard as strays. Total divine goat intervention.

So it sounds like the weaning/milking transition can be as gradual as you want within the natural timeframe. Huge relief.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Whoa! What breed of goat Hens and Roos?

sorry I missed this @ madcow, Nigerian Dwarf goats-5 made it and are 8 weeks