I have a buckling who is a week old. We lost his sister (that's another post) so he is alone. We had a rough start with momma (FF) not wanting him...was 5 hours before he nursed much...but now he is nursing well, though he does have a side preference which we are having to manage. Fortunately, he will eat on the other side -- but we have to remind him to do it now and then.
On another post regarding nursing a singleton Deborah said: "You really should be milking the doe with a single. Otherwise you wind up with a very fat kid and a doe with a low milk supply."
Could you help me understand what I should be looking for in regards to a fat kid and low milk supply?
BAby is spunky and healthy, and momma is symmetrical...but I want to be doing the right thing.
Thanks for your help!
Leslie
Replies
Ok! Thanks for the explanation! It makes sense to me now. I won't be milking the doe so she can just keep making what the baby needs.
When I first had goats, I was over-feeding them -- killing them with kindness as they say -- so I am a little over-sensitive now about avoiding making fat goats! ;) Glad to know that a fat baby isn't an unhealthy one.
I really appreciate your reply! Thanks so much!
Leslie
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
There is nothing to look for. It's just what happens. The fat kid isn't really problematic because like any mama-fed baby, it's not so much fat as it is just growing super fast because it's getting so much milk. So it will probably be much bigger than other kids its age.
If you don't milk a doe with a single kid, her milk supply will decrease to match the kid's demand, and although that one kid will demand as much as he can, he can't demand as much as two kids, which means the doe will not make as much milk as she is capable of making. If you have no desire to milk her, then don't worry about it. But if you just let one kid nurse and then in two months you decide to milk her, be prepared that she won't have much milk -- like maybe a quart a day at her peak. A doe nursing twins would hopefully be making a half gallon a day at her peak. Milk supply starts to go down gradually after the peak around 8 weeks. It simply would not be a great milking experience for you. And you can't really blame the doe for having a low milk supply if she's only nursing a single kid. There just is not enough demand for her to make more.