rejecting after 4 days?

I have a FF doe who had 2 kids 4 days ago.At birth everything went fine.Mom had kids ,mom cleaned them up,kids got up right away and nursed.All was well.Now in the last day and 1/2 the mom seems to be rejecting the buckling kid.I saw her bite its tail till it yelped.When he comes to nurse she stomps and butts him away.Or sometimes runs away when he come to nurse.The doeling kid has been treated very normal, with mom letting it nurse and cleaning and smelling its butt,etc.

This evening I decided I should try to bottle feed the buckling but he would have nothing to do with the bottle and just yelled and cried.At which point the mom sort of responded like she remembered that cry.But when she came near and I put him down to go to her she would not let him.He does not seem like he is starving.I haven't been able to sit out in the pen for hours on end to see if maybe mom is feeding him sometimes but not others.At 4 days old is it still pretty important for a little kid to be getting colostrum?I had intended to disbud him in the next couple days but am now worried that if he doesn't have his mom to go back to after the traumatic event it could be hard on him.He does seem pretty bonded to his sister.Also anyone have any tricks for getting a kid to take a bottle?I am pretty new at this and am being thrown for a loop.Thanks for any advice.

I have a doe that will reject her babies after a disbudding. Her nose is so sensitive to all smells. No matter what we try it hasn't worked as of yet. She walks around calling her babies but if the little ones go to her she kicks and will even try to bite. Your babies being 4 days old have gotten the colostrum. You can milk her and use the milk to feed the baby. Or you get whole homoginized milk from the store and feed the baby that. Powdered milk works for other breed of goats but does not do well with the Nigerians.

To start a baby on a bottle that has been nursing make sure you use a pritchered nipple as that is the smallest and just stick the nipple in his mouth and cup your hand under his chin. Keep slightly pulling back a bit keeping the nipple in his mouth and that starts the sucking motion from them. Its like a slight rocking back and forth motion in

the mouth. After a few times of this they see the bottle and know what to do with it.

Replies

Deborah Niemann-Boehle September 29, 2011 at 1:25pm

Here's a blog post I did on one reason a doe might reject a kid:

http://antiquityoaks.blogspot.com/2008/06/sucking-disorder-in-goat-...
Margie McCoy at River Dance Farm September 29, 2011 at 12:19pm

I have a doe that will reject her babies after a disbudding. Her nose is so sensitive to all smells. No matter what we try it hasn't worked as of yet. She walks around calling her babies but if the little ones go to her she kicks and will even try to bite. Your babies being 4 days old have gotten the colostrum. You can milk her and use the milk to feed the baby. Or you get whole homoginized milk from the store and feed the baby that. Powdered milk works for other breed of goats but does not do well with the Nigerians.

To start a baby on a bottle that has been nursing make sure you use a pritchered nipple as that is the smallest and just stick the nipple in his mouth and cup your hand under his chin. Keep slightly pulling back a bit keeping the nipple in his mouth and that starts the sucking motion from them. Its like a slight rocking back and forth motion in

the mouth. After a few times of this they see the bottle and know what to do with it.

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