Weaning without separate pasture?

[newbiekat]

I have two doelings that I need to separate from their mommas. They are going on 6 weeks old and I wanted to start preparing. My pasture isn't big enough to be split, and I don't really have anywhere else to put them. I can pen them up in the barn, but it's starting to get nice out, I don't feel like that would be fair... I am penning them up in the barn at night so we can milk their mommas in the morning. Any suggestions?

 

[madcow]

Maybe you could erect a temporary, separating fence in the pasture while you are trying to wean the little ones. You could just use a few T-posts in a corner of the pasture and put some rolled fencing up to close it off. That might also be a good solution, because they could see and be close to their mothers, but not really be able to nurse. Of course, you will need a shelter for them to keep them out of the sun and weather. An empty barrel open on 1 end (or both ends), laid on its side and held in place by a few stakes to keep it from rolling should work for a few young ones. It should make a good place to climb, but keep it far enough away from the fence so they can't climb or jump over it.

We will be faced with the same problem in a couple of weeks, too, but right now we have separate areas for our kids and does when the time comes to separate them. If you plan on having kids along, this type of sit-up will be needed off and on, and it would also make a fair quarantine area, too, if needed. Our smaller separate pen will be for our buck and companion wether when we acquire one and we will also be setting up another separating pen for our next batch of kids, and then we should be all set. Just gotta keep the number of goats we have to a reasonable amount. That's going to be the tough part! LOL!

I'm sure other members will have other ideas for you. Good luck with the weaning!

 

[newbiekat]

I do have a separate makeshift area for my buck, which is a temporary thing, I was hoping to have him gone by now so I could put the two girls in there. It isnt much bigger than maybe 10x20 I would say. But I still have him, so I cant put her in there, and I definitely dont want him back with my girls... I may see about doing that.

How long would it take to wean them? A few weeks? How would I know when they are weaned?

 

[Suburbanfarmer]

We are truly urban farmers with no extra space for a separate area, so last spring when I had one I needed to wean I taped the doe with bandage tape. Worked great (most days, the doeling was able to remove the tape a couple of times early on before I got good at it ). I ran a piece down one side of the teat then back up the other side. Then I ran another piece so that they crossed at the end in an X. Then I taped around the top to keep the ends from getting loose. Just make sure not to tape tight around the top. I hope this makes sense. You can see the start of the process on my blog (before I got the bandage tape and was using my son's Spiderman bandaids lol ... http://washingtonfarmerchick.blogspot.com/2012/07/update.html

-K

 

[SheepGirl]

Keep them in the pen you lock them in at night for about 1.5-2 wks. That's how long it takes for my lambs to 'get it' that they aren't supposed to not nurse off of mom anymore, and usually by that time the mom doesn't want them nursing anyway.

 

[newbiekat]

Sheepgirl- Keep them in the barn 24/7 for 2 weeks?

 

[SheepGirl]

Yes, unless you have a pen outside with a shelter you can put them in. Then you can put them back out with mom & they will be weaned.

 

[newbiekat]

Should I start when they are 8 weeks? Or should I wait until they are older? What is a reasonable age to wean?

 

[newbiekat]

HELP! I separated my two doelings when they were 8 and 12 weeks old... They were separated in the area where the buck was. They were still able to see their mommas but did not have access to them at all for SEVEN weeks...

We put them back in with the big goats tonight and they went to town on the fresh green grass which is what I was glad to see. So DH and I went to town and when we came back, we sat and watched them from afar... the OLDER DOELING WAS TRYING TO SUCK! AND MOMMA WAS LETTING HER! Not for long periods of time, I'd say maybe one or two seconds, but she still let her! What do I do??! (Don't know if this has any affect on anything or not, but we are still milking the does and would like to continue milking them)

 

[20kidsonhill]

Keep them in the pen you lock them in at night for about 1.5-2 wks. That's how long it takes for my lambs to 'get it' that they aren't supposed to not nurse off of mom anymore, and usually by that time the mom doesn't want them nursing anyway.

I disagree, goats have very very good memories, a kid that has nursed for 8 weeks would take weeks to be weaned from a doe that is being milked. As in several/many weeks. If you are just drying the doe up then 2 weeks woudl be an okay amount of time. If the doe is still in milk it is very likely the kids will start nursing again after even 2 or 3 weeks of seperation.