I had my both of my does kid for the first time and I was very happy ended up with three boys and three girls.
I had one mother that is rejecting one of her babies and it could be because of the way it was latching on and nursing. I have been milking the mother a bit and giving that kid a bottle three times a day. She seems fine but the mother will let her other two nurse and grunt and push her away. She has not hurt it yet but I am afraid sooner or later she will.
I have another mother with three boys that was going very well until today. I had a vet come and disbud two of the three males and the mother does not want anything to do with any of her babies now. She is very mean to them, even pushing them up against the wall. She would not even let them nurse at all tonight. I had to seperate them so she would not hurt them.
I am getting very discouraged. I am not sure what I should try next. Tomorrow morning I will try with a bottle. All I will be able to do is mix cow milk with water at first. I am going to need to get some Save A Kid but do not have any immediately available.
Any suggestions?
Replies
Has anyone ever tried putting peppermint oil or some other strong smelling substance on the mother's nose if she rejects kids post disbudding? Just wondering if that might help in this situation.
If she is not letting the kids nurse, she should let you milk her at some point because she will realize that she feels better after you milk her. It takes a few days for some does to calm down on the milkstand. Others take a little longer. I'm pretty sure this is one area where it is just easier once you have experience. When we first got started, there were a few goats that we were not able to milk, but it's been years since we've had much trouble with a doe. I think it's just that we're more experienced now. In other words, I don't think there are very many does out there that refuse to be milked. I never say never, but considering the fact that we haven't had any "impossible" does in the last few years makes me think that we might have given up too soon on some does when we were just getting started. Basically, most does will refuse to let you milk them because they're saving the milk for their babies, but if they don't have babies on them, they don't care if you milk them. They like it because it feels more comfortable when their udder is empty. At this point, it sounds like she's probably not going to let the kids nurse again because she doesn't realize they're hers. You might be better off just milking her and concentrating on getting her adjusted to milking twice a day.
Update. All of the kids are doing OK. I have been going out very early AM and bottle feeding and also holding the mother in the stantion and bringing one of her three boys at a time to nurse a bit. In the afternoon, my husband is nice enough to bottle feed the best he can and at supper time, we let the kids nurse again and supplement with a bottle in case they did not fill up. We need to hold her as she is still kicking, bucking and squatting. I don't understand why. Her nipples seem fine. I am very confused and don't know why this happened. If I let her kids out with her, she runs from them and if they get close, she pushed them away. I did not want her to get an infection because the kids were not nursing alot. I don't think I could ever milk her the way she is, that was the original plan. When and what would I need to do when the time comes to let her dry up???
My other mom seems so comfortable with the two females she had and I am bottle feeding only the female she would not accept. Hopefully I will be able to milk her after a while.
Hang in there! I hope tomorrow is better!
Went out this morning and could not do it alone. She did not want to let the kids nurse. I bottle fed the kids and picked up some Sav A Kid. Tonight with help, I was able to take each kid and hold it under the mother and let it nurse. Needed to hold head and both legs and put a small prop under her so she would not crush the kid. What a project. When the kids were all done, I tried to milk out anything and only got a small amount of milk. I saved it as the kids seemed full. I left the mother out of the stall so she would not harm her babies.
I also needed to take one kid away from the other mother as she had it limping a bit today. Last night she put her nose under it and picked it up so high it went into the water dish. She adores her other two kids. Go figure. I put the three boys from the other doe and one girl from second doe together and they seem to be doing ok for now.
Mabey things will change for the better tomorrow.
The kids ran under her and it lasted about 15 - 20 seconds and then she started pushing them again. I took her out, gave the kids a little off a bottle but they did not seem hungry. I will try again in the AM. I agree with having someone help, it is very helpful. I tried with two people and still ended up with my knuckles scraped up from hitting the wood when she kicked and squatted. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day. If I need to use cow milk, I will not dilute it. Thanks for the advise.
Put her kids back, and maybe she'll let them nurse now. They usually don't reject them for very long after disbudding. You could also try the milk stand, if necessary. If she's on the milk stand, you could just hold up her back end if she tries to lay down, and then the kids can nurse. If someone else is home, it definitely helps to have someone assist you!
I tried to milk the does that had her kids disbudded but she would not stand up, each time I tried to milk, she would lay so I could not get the milk or kick like crazy. I tried for about 40 minutes. I have the monitor on now and she is starting to cry for her kids. I am going out to try to get her to let her kids nurse again. I tried to hold her and let the kids nurse but no luck, she squats down or kicks and she is very strong and ends up overpowering me.
If the kids are not nursing, you need to be milking the doe or she could wind up with mastitis or a very poor milk supply. Actually, if I were in that situation, I'd be holding the doe so the kids can nurse. If you kneel on the ground on one side of her, wrap one arm around her front end, and reach over her body and reach over her body with your other arm and lift her hind leg, the kids should be able to rush in and nurse. I've only ever had to do this a couple of times, so it is really unusual for a doe to reject her kids. I've heard some people say they put the doe on the milk stand and let the kids nurse if you can't hold her. But this is one of the things I like about NDs -- they're small enough for me to handle. One of our la manchas wouldn't let her kids nurse when she had mastitis, and my husband had to hold her because she was too strong for me. Usually the rejection due to disbudding wears off after a few hours. It's just the smell that makes them think they're not their babies. If you ever use cow milk to feed goat kids, do NOT dilute it -- it's not as rich as goat milk to begin with. But you really should be milking the doe anyway.