Lets talk about goats!

[prizepete]

Sometimes a goat will disown a kid for reasons only she knows. I had one doe that had two kids, a buck and a doe. She thought the buck was wonderful but she picked up the doe kid by the ear and threw it as far as she could.

You have several alternatives. You can milk the doe and feed the kid its mother's milk from a bottle. You can tie her up very short, hold her, and put the kid by her teat so he can nurse.You can feed the kid milk or replacer from a bottle. Plain old cow's milk from the store works better than replacer. You can remove both kids and put them with her only at feeding time. Tie her up very short and put both kids on her at the same time so they can nurse. I would say do this about 4 times a day. After a few days of this she may accept the reject.

x2 on this... I would probably say the milking the doe and bottle feeding would be the best option, I have heard Horror stories about people feeding plain cows milk... Kids Dying, Diareah, Its horrible, I have yet to have a bottle baby but Please don't feed cows milk instead of replacer or Goat milk. If you have access to goat milk I would feed that any day

 

[GitaBooks]

It sounds like the momma kind of freaked out because of the dog attack. Perhaps the smell of dog is still on the kid. Possibly try washing it and rubbing the scent of her and the other kid onto it. Pen it near to her so they can smell and see each other and maybe she'll realize it is her baby again.

I don't have experience with does rejecting kids, but you've got some great advice above. I know that babies always do best on their mother and with a sibling instead of on a bottle, so don't give up on them bonding once again.

Best of luck!

 

[alaska6kelly]

Thanks all for your response... We decided to put all three( weeks old) kids in a wire kennel in side the pin that the momma is in... I have rubbed the kid all over the mom and the other kids a lot thing to get the dog scent off... We only let the kids out at feeding time and have mom on milking station.... They all are eating good mom puts up a little fight but getting better... 4x a day is going to get tedious so I hope she she takes him back in a few days.... He did good through the night but is a little sluggish, not sure if it from the dog getting him but he is eating good so I hope he perks up in a few days

 

[prizepete]

Thanks all for your response... We decided to put all three( weeks old) kids in a wire kennel in side the pin that the momma is in... I have rubbed the kid all over the mom and the other kids a lot thing to get the dog scent off... We only let the kids out at feeding time and have mom on milking station.... They all are eating good mom puts up a little fight but getting better... 4x a day is going to get tedious so I hope she she takes him back in a few days.... He did good through the night but is a little sluggish, not sure if it from the dog getting him but he is eating good so I hope he perks up in a few days

If Mom doesn't accept them, I would bottle feed, It sounds like you are pretty well set up for milk goats, I think you might of said how old they are but would you mind telling me how old the babies are and what breed, and also how many she has?

 

[cassie]

x2 on this... I would probably say the milking the doe and bottle feeding would be the best option, I have heard Horror stories about people feeding plain cows milk... Kids Dying, Diareah, Its horrible, I have yet to have a bottle baby but Please don't feed cows milk instead of replacer or Goat milk. If you have access to goat milk I would feed that any day

Just a comment. If people have trouble raising kids on cow's milk, whatever the cause of the trouble is, it isn't the cow's milk. How do I know? I raised dairy goats for over 40 years. I have raised literally hundreds of kids on cow milk and neighboring goat dairymen had larger operations and raised many more kids on cow milk than I ever did. The kids thrived on it. For awhile we had access to the returns and overs from a milk plant. We could buy whole cow milk for fifty cents a gallon. I fed it and so did every other goat dairy in the area. One reason we liked to feed the cow milk is that we didn't have to pasteurize it. We pasteurized all goat milk fed to kids to prevent the transmission of CAE. We fed cow colostrum too when we could get it for the same reason. Later when the milk plant closed, I got some Jersey cows. I fed the kids the cow milk because of CAE and the calves got goat milk because they didn't get CAE. Both the kids and the calves did just fine. As for replacer, some kids do just fine on it and others can't tolerate it. If you do feed replacer make sure the kids have been vaccinated for entero and keep some GasX in the barn in case of bloat. If a kid is going to bloat, it will usually do so within a half hour after being fed. Bloat doesn't happen often, but it does happen occasionally and prompt treatment is essential. A packet of GasX is cheap insurance.

 

[GitaBooks]

Just a comment. If people have trouble raising kids on cow's milk, whatever the cause of the trouble is, it isn't the cow's milk. How do I know? I raised dairy goats for over 40 years. I have raised literally hundreds of kids on cow milk and neighboring goat dairymen had larger operations and raised many more kids on cow milk than I ever did. The kids thrived on it. For awhile we had access to the returns and overs from a milk plant. We could buy whole cow milk for fifty cents a gallon. I fed it and so did every other goat dairy in the area. One reason we liked to feed the cow milk is that we didn't have to pasteurize it. We pasteurized all goat milk fed to kids to prevent the transmission of CAE. We fed cow colostrum too when we could get it for the same reason. Later when the milk plant closed, I got some Jersey cows. I fed the kids the cow milk because of CAE and the calves got goat milk because they didn't get CAE. Both the kids and the calves did just fine. As for replacer, some kids do just fine on it and others can't tolerate it. If you do feed replacer make sure the kids have been vaccinated for entero and keep some GasX in the barn in case of bloat. If a kid is going to bloat, it will usually do so within a half hour after being fed. Bloat doesn't happen often, but it does happen occasionally and prompt treatment is essential. A packet of GasX is cheap insurance.

I think unpasturized, unhomogenized, whole cows milk wouldn't be bad, but the stuff at the store has gone through so many process it probably wouldn't give the kid all it needs. If you have access to fresh, whole cow's milk then I don't think it would be bad for a goat (perhaps for something like a cat or dog though, I've heard of all the issues cows milk can cause for carnivores).

 

[alaska6kelly]

If Mom doesn't accept them, I would bottle feed, It sounds like you are pretty well set up for milk goats, I think you might of said how old they are but would you mind telling me how old the babies are and what breed, and also how many she has?

She had four originally but one died at birth... They are about a week old today. And the are Nigerian dwarf, and she is only rejecting the one male... He does not take the bottle the best this is why we are doing the milking stand

 

[prizepete]

She had four originally but one died at birth... They are about a week old today. And the are Nigerian dwarf, and she is only rejecting the one male... He does not take the bottle the best this is why we are doing the milking stand

ok Just make sure that he gets enough food

 

[GitaBooks]

Make sure he does get enough food, certainly. Little Nigerian Dwarfs don't eat the much at a young age. We bottle fed our little guy the first day while his mother recovered from surgery and I think I almost over-flowed him. Over feeding is almost more dangerous then under-feeding from what I hear.

 

[prizepete]

Make sure he does get enough food, certainly. Little Nigerian Dwarfs don't eat the much at a young age. We bottle fed our little guy the first day while his mother recovered from surgery and I think I almost over-flowed him. Over feeding is almost more dangerous then under-feeding from what I hear.

intersting. Good luck!