We have a 3 year old doe that gets upset after her kids are disbudded. Last year Miss Kiddie had her 1st kids, they were a beautful set of twins. When they were just a few days old we disbudded them and she acted like she was going to reject them. She really didn't want anything to do with them for 4 to 5 hours.
This year she's had triplets. Her little buckling was disbudded last week and she acted the same way for the first day or so. Pushing him away....the doelings are going to be disbudded on Friday. I really not looking forward to worrying about her rejecting them... Does anyone have any suggestions? I though about putting some vicks on her nose so she doesn't smell them, but I'm afraid she might reject them all.
Replies
Hi Deborah,
Thank you for your prompt response. We did take the kids to our local vet. Miss Kiddie was put into a kennel in the back seat of our pickup and the kids were in an open box next to her so she could see them. We didn't remove the buckling until it was time to disbud him. When we returned him to her right away to nurse, it was back side forward. She was still upset and rejected him for the rest of the day. He could slip in and nurse with his sisters, but it wasn't easy for him.
Kimberly Mondragon said:
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
Kimberly Mondragon said:
Judy Asarkof said:
Great advice already from Judy and Julia. I'm wondering if last time you took the kids away to be disbudded? The shorter the separation time, the better. I've heard about the Vicks thing but never done it because I too was worried about her completely rejecting the kids. The only time I ever had a problem was our very first year when we took the kids to a vet for disbudding, and they were gone for about 2 hours. I had three does then, and only the FF rejected her kids, and it was only for a couple of hours.
Not a whole lot of experience here but I have done this with both older does and FFs. I think your doe will be better this year since she has more experience than last year. Personally I think it's better to disbud the kids where she can hear them too so she is concerned for them. Then when you bring them back she can mother them immediately. Like Judy said, put the babies under her udder when you bring them back so she can smell their backsides and not their heads first. My FF did not like the smell of her babies heads (triplets) when we did it, but she only smelled them after they nursed since they were put straight under there. Then she was fine with them. Good luck and try not to worry!
Hi there -
I'm waiting to hear great responses from others! I'm not experienced. I'm disbudding tomorrow and plan to make sure babies are nursing with butts to her nose when I first return them to her. But wonder if others have other ideas for your girl! Good luck! Beautiful babies! I also have a light buckskin and a dark buckskin. Judy