I made this video (I do a lot of them so people can learn and see more of these goats) and thought those here might enjoy it. We had a very cold night after really warm days and I was getting the kids tucked in with a heat lamp.
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We generally run 15-35 degrees in winter, though this year we get 80 degree days that suddenly drop to below freezing, which is why we have needed the heat lamps. The babies couldn't adjust to the temp changes.
What adorable goats they are ! I enjoyed watching your video. Thanks for sharing. Oh I wanted to ask, how cold does it get where you are? Lyn
We sell the babies at 2 months of age, and our goats are for milk so we HAVE to get enough for our family. The basics of a milk goat is that it is a goat that makes more than enough milk for babies, leaving extra for people. The babies are only too happy to eat all of it, and so by leaving them with mom all the time you will get very little milk except in extreme cases of production and low kid numbers. A doe with tons of babies (4-6 in the case of nigerians) often needs to save all her milk for the babies, at least until age 2 months. I watch the kids weight to make sure they are getting enough.
The kids do learn from watching mom. I often feed mom her evening grain with her kids so they can eat with her. By 3 weeks they know what to do and are eating grain in the kid stall at night, and sleep together as a group. We sell the ones we don't keep at 2 months, and the bucklings are weaned and go into another pen. We allow doelings we keep to nurse during the day until mom weans them, and the kids are healthier and reach breeding weight faster.
We have common housing for the herd. The bucks all live in an open pen, and the does and babies in another. We have stalls for kidding to keep mom and babies separate for a time, and a stall for babies that functions as a creep feeder during the day and a holding stall at night. Goats are very family oriented, but most are okay with the separation.
We give the kids access to grain, hay and water at all times, but we don't give them extra milk. They get all they will take during the day after 2 weeks of age, and then have to eat and drink what is in their stall.
Hej from Sweden,
Thanks Jordana for the quick reply! I know I have to do this, eventually with my next set of mothers to be, but I really can not imagine them being separated. My 3 mothers that delivered in August have developed such strong bonds with their babies. I guess this comes from me not separating them at an early age. Now of course I can not. So the babies are apart from mommy during the nights and returned after your morning milk? Who feeds the babies?
When do you start you kids on grain? I have watched all my babies develop watching and imitating what mommy does. Even eating together, hay, straw and grain and fresh fruit and veggie treats, when they were ready.
I have to say I get a real warm feeling when they are all put to bed in the evening and as I walk down the corridor, and I see babies snuggled up close to mommy . It is just such a beautiful sight.
Is this the only way to get milk, by separating the babies and mommies? I am starting to milk one mother now since the baby no longer seems to want nor need her milk at 5 months old. I will milk her because she has not been dried off yet. the other two have.
Do you have an open housing situation with your goats? I don't have that and sometimes I wish I had and other times I really appreciate the boxes.
I tell you, I learn every day something new to help me be the best "goat mommy" I can.
I start separating the babies at 2 weeks old so I can milk in the morning. It helps make the does produce more milk, and teaches the babies to move on to grain and hay. They go to mom during the day.
Mostly, they cry the first day or two, and after that they know they will be back together during the day and accept it, even becoming eager to go in the stall for a treat of grain. We have the moms kid in stalls and bond for a few days, then they are turned out with the herd.
Hej from Sweden,
What a cute video! What charming babies! Are all these babies separated from the mothers? How old are they when you separate them? How old are they in this video? I have had several births at Gullringstorp this past August, but each mother has a box for her and her kids. I have now 2 adults who were born here and in their own boxes. Are your babies bottle fed. Do the mothers cry for their babies and do the babies cry for mommy? I have only separated one baby because the mother came into heat and wanted to mount her, she was 3 months old.
Awwww! Too Cute! Is that the bottom half of a dog crate? It looks like it makes quite the cozy little "nest."