I had all my first fresheners kids in stalls and have been trying to figure out when I can mingle the mothers without endangering the kids.
There isn't a problem with the rest of the herd. It is with the other mothers!
Each mother doesn't want the other mothers kids to suckle but in my case - these mothers don't want their babies to socialize with the other kids and will run across the way to attack the kid.
I have 1 week, 2 week and 3 week old kids.
The mom of the 3 week old kids is my queen and she is the most aggressive.
I expect the mom of the 1 week old kids to be protective.
The mom of the 2 week old kids is fine with the 3 week old kids.
Is the queen problematic? Is this normal? Am I trying to rush something that should happen in a few more weeks? I can't have her mow down babies that aren't even coming near her.
What is the normal age for mothers to be out browsing with their kids all together?
Judy
Replies
Lobo - the king GP on our little farm actually has started to serve as midwive --
last night, he protected the first baby, cleaned it up, and kept all the other goats and dogs
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
UPDATE:
our LGDogs, Lobo and Grace, are gentle with the kids. Just as you all advised me!!
They tend not to "play with" the adult goats but Lobo will firmly but gently keep any animal in line if it harasses my husband or I -- whether it's another dog (Grace was a bit of an annoying-jumper when she was young) or a goat.
I was worried about my LGD also, because she was a rescue, and had tried to "play" with the goats and took me forEVER to break of that habit. I missed the delivery of my first kids, and my LGD was there with my goat. She helped lick the babies off, and cleaned them up. I believe that if she hadn't been there, the second kid would have died, because when I got outside, momma was still busy with the first kid, and hadn't started cleaning the second one. All that to say, LGD bond very well with their herd. I think you'll be happily surprised. If you worry too much about it, you can figure out a temporary stall system in your barn to allow access to the goats, while separating enough to keep kids safe until the dogs have had a chance to "meet" them and get used to them. Momma goats are pretty protective. I don't think any of my mommas would have let my LGD near their babies if they didn't want her there.
Related question:
we have Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs with our herd, 24hr a day they are together...
right now we have the FF and her two babies in a stall created in our garage (because of the freezing weather) - they are doing well with their mama, but we plan to move them back to the barn soon --
any advice about when the LGDs can meet the kids safely?
I have my does and kids back with the main herd by about a week.
This is all totally normal, and once kids are about a week old, they can handle it fine. Having them outside is better because they can't slam the kids against a wall like they can if they are inside. When they are outside, kids can move really fast! It doesn't take terribly long for the adults to start to ignore the kids.