Ariel301
Loving the herd life
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- Jan 1, 2010
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I wean mine at 8 weeks old and don't see any problems. My neighbor bottle feeds her doelings until 4 months, and her bucks until 3 months. Her kids are really chunky compared to mine, but mine do fine. I can't really let mine go that long or I would have no milk for myself, unfortunately.
Here is how I do it. For the first two weeks, I let the dam keep her kids and they get all the milk. At two weeks old, all the kids will go into a pen next to the does, so they can see their moms, and I have lots of fun things for them to play on in their pen, plus free access to water, hay, grain, and minerals. They start with just a few hours apart per day, increasing slowly. I usually only milk my does in the evening, so I will put the kids in their playground pen in the morning, and give them back to the moms after I milk, so they can nurse all they like until morning. Then at 8 weeks old, I just "forget" to let them back with their moms. There is usually very little fuss over it.
I don't think all dairy does will wean their kids on their own. I have one doe who loves babies so much that she will nurse any kids, not just her own. If she starts getting really full, she will walk along the fence to the kid pen, calling them and trying to shove her udder through the fence to feed them. I also have a young doe that did not wean well. Her dam would not wean her at all. When I took the doeling away completely, the doe would scream at the top of her lungs all day and all night for weeks. I separated them for months, then after the doeling was bred that fall, I put her back in the doe pen. She went straight back to nursing! I ended up selling that doe's dam, and now, after having her own kid, she still tries to nurse on my other does. If she sees babies nursing, she runs under the doe trying to get milk with the kids. And she nurses on herself now when she is in milk. I have to keep a muzzle on her between milkings so she will not drain herself and every doe in the pen.
Here is how I do it. For the first two weeks, I let the dam keep her kids and they get all the milk. At two weeks old, all the kids will go into a pen next to the does, so they can see their moms, and I have lots of fun things for them to play on in their pen, plus free access to water, hay, grain, and minerals. They start with just a few hours apart per day, increasing slowly. I usually only milk my does in the evening, so I will put the kids in their playground pen in the morning, and give them back to the moms after I milk, so they can nurse all they like until morning. Then at 8 weeks old, I just "forget" to let them back with their moms. There is usually very little fuss over it.
I don't think all dairy does will wean their kids on their own. I have one doe who loves babies so much that she will nurse any kids, not just her own. If she starts getting really full, she will walk along the fence to the kid pen, calling them and trying to shove her udder through the fence to feed them. I also have a young doe that did not wean well. Her dam would not wean her at all. When I took the doeling away completely, the doe would scream at the top of her lungs all day and all night for weeks. I separated them for months, then after the doeling was bred that fall, I put her back in the doe pen. She went straight back to nursing! I ended up selling that doe's dam, and now, after having her own kid, she still tries to nurse on my other does. If she sees babies nursing, she runs under the doe trying to get milk with the kids. And she nurses on herself now when she is in milk. I have to keep a muzzle on her between milkings so she will not drain herself and every doe in the pen.
