My 8 month old doeling (almost 9) is still nursing, even though i don't think she's getting anything. She even came into heat. She only nurses when she gets scared . I was just wondering how to wean her, she is very attached to her mother, they both scream when one goes around a corner. I sold her once and they brought her back because she was screaming so much.
You need to be a member of Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats to add comments!
Replies
The only way to wean a kid is to separate them from the mother. And it can takes months of separation for it to work. However, you haven't mentioned any reason that she would have to be weaned. I don't wean doelings that I'm keeping. It's my "health insurance." They grow faster and have much stronger immune systems, and I can usually breed them to kid as yearlings if they've continued nursing. The fact that she's come into heat doesn't mean anything in terms of nursing. The vast majority of kids will stop nursing when the mother gets near the end of her next pregnancy, and most does will no longer let them nurse after they have kids again. You're not with them 24/7, so she probably nurses more than you think she does, and it's totally normal for a doe to still be producing milk at 8 months. In fact, I'd be very unhappy if I had a doe that quit producing by then.