Hi Everyone,
I have two wethers Yodel & Ring Ding that are 4 months old. Just wondering how you go about removing the grain from their diet. Currently they get 2 cups each a day and of course they love it. I feel they will be pretty mad the day I go out to feed without the grain. How do they adjust to this.
Replies
Yes, Lyn! Only does in milk should be getting grains. Most people also grain in the last two weeks of pregnancy. Otherwise, free choice hay with free choice loose minerals will suffice.
Margaret Langley said:
they dont have any goats presently - she has a 12 yr old daughter that wants to do 4H - so from talking to her on the phone - they will be doted on. And yes, I had separated them with their Auntie this week, Momma slept in front of the creep box with her daughters 4 week old kids inside. She is an excellent Mother, actually TOO good. ;(
Rachel Whetzel said:
well, I am sending them with instructions, a bag of sweetlix, the hay they have been eating and some grain. I got mine at 8 weeks - they were weaned that day. ;/ They did take years to learn to eat apples, etc. all they new to do was eat hay and grain. ;(
Margaret Langley said:
Oh Sweety, I am not trying to scare you and lots of people wean at 8 weeks. I am just one of those people who thinks it's to early and wait 'til 12 weeks because of what I have been through. You could always suggest they keep them on milk for a while or give them good sweet feed or unsulfured molasses. My goal is to keep their sugar levels up. Vet couldn't find anything wrong with the ones I lost except for low blood sugar. They were eating great, healthy with low parasite loads and fat and healthy looking. And just started killing over. So always keep their sugar level good when weaning. Oh, and they were about 9 or 10 weeks old.
I waited to sell my babies until they were 3 months too, but my breed I buy from only waits until they are 8 weeks. Mommas will miss their babies for a while no matter what, I think. It's the babies that do better with less stress in my experience when they are just a bit older. That said, Melissa, if your babies are going to the same home, and that home doesn't already have any older goats, the transition will be much easier. You can always tell your buyer that you'd like to keep them a bit longer before they go home. I just sold two doelings to a little girl down the road who wanted goats. She has been coming to my farm to visit her babies nearly every day while she waited until they were old enough to go home.
dont scare me... I just found a new home for them. family with a 12 year old that wants to do 4H -
Good luck with that Melissa! Sounds like they really want to stay together bad. I will not pull my bucks from mama before 3 months after the kids I lost a few years ago and have not pulled does at all.
I am in the process of weaning my 9 week old babies. They want their Mama and Mama wants them. She was laying in front of the creep pen her daughters babies are using presently. What a good Mama - she wants babies - if not hers - then someone elses to lay next to. ;( Poor babies.... but now I want the milk - they are nice and fat.
they are really pretty. ^^
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next