Weaning?

[Rosetta]

I just purchased a purebred Nubian buckling, about 4 1/2 weeks old. I have a milking doe, giving about 2 quarts a day, and I figured I could just feed him some of that, but I'm already bottle feeding a 2 week old buckling. I've been considering weaning him? How would I do that? Even if I decide to bottle feed until 2 months, how would I go about weaning him? I've only weaned a sheep before and I don't know what to do with a goat.

 

[Hens and Roos]

We have Nigerian Dwarf so I'll tag a few others for you.

@Southern by choice @Goat Whisperer @OneFineAcre

 

[Goat Whisperer]

How did you go about weaning sheep?

Absolutely do NOT wean a 4.5 week old kid! Especially a Nubian! They should be on milk for 12 weeks minimum, 16 weeks is ideal.
They are a different breed, some Nigerians are okay to be weaned at 8 weeks, but I'd never wean a large breed goat that early.

Also, he is going to need more than two quarts at peak. Nubians HAVE to eat, a lot, to grow.

What did the breeder recommend?

 

[Rosetta]

Actually, I found out he was 8 weeks old, and the breeder recommended 20 oz. 2 times a day. I've also heard about feeding kids a certain percent of their body weight? Does anyone know anything about that?

 

[Rosetta]

How did you go about weaning sheep?

Absolutely do NOT wean a 4.5 week old kid! Especially a Nubian! They should be on milk for 12 weeks minimum, 16 weeks is ideal.
They are a different breed, some Nigerians are okay to be weaned at 8 weeks, but I'd never wean a large breed goat that early.

Also, he is going to need more than two quarts at peak. Nubians HAVE to eat, a lot, to grow.

What did the breeder recommend?

We weaned the sheep by just stopping feeding her, as suggested by our local vet. The breeder recommended 20 oz. 2 times a day.

 

[Ridgetop]

Since you are only getting 2 quarts a day, you are going to have to add replacer to your milk. We used to feed 1 quart (32 oz.) a.m. and 1 quart (32 oz.) p.m. to each dairy goat kid. We had Nubians and LaManchas. As the kids grew and we needed more milk for them, we used added standard dairy calf replacer to the goat milk to make the amount you need. In this case, that 2 week old kid will be drinking a lot more soon so I would use half goat milk and half milk replacer. Some people use whole cow's milk instead of replacer so you can use the whole cow's milk instead of replacer. I would use whichever one (milk or replacer) is cheaper per gallon. It won't matter at much to you with just 2 kids, but when we fed 50 kids it added up, and it was easier to store the replacer powder and reconstitute it with hot water. That way we could use cold goat milk from the fridge and the hot water replacer would take the chill off.

The earliest you can wean your goat kids will be 12 weeks and by then, you can have them completely on the alternate milk supply if you need it for the house.

 

[misfitmorgan]

We start weaning bottle babies goats or sheep at 8 weeks old. We just slowly lower the amount of formula/milk they get. Atm our ewe bottle lamb is 9.5 weeks old and she gets a milk bottle in the morning and a warm water bottle at night. The 7 week old wether bottle lamb gets milk for both feedings. They have been on grain and hay for weeks though and eat 4-5 cups of lamb creep a day followed by about a flake of good hay.

Those being dam raised are separated at 12-16 weeks old to insure weaning but generally by about 12 weeks the dams/ewes have kicked them off already.