My goats are due to have their kids any day now. Has anyone ever left them with the doe afterwards? I was wondering how it would work if I let them nurse and then milk her. Am I just asking for headaches by doing this? Last year we seperated them and fed them with bottles. I suppose I would have no way of knowing if they nursed or not before I milked her, if I did it that way. What are you guys doing? Give me a few ideas, maybe I'll try one of them. Thanks!

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), March 13, 2000

Answers

Because I want to be able to sell most of the kids, I'll bottle feed with pasteurized milk for CAE prevention. I wouldn't want to sell anyone a CAE + kid because it has happened to me and it just isn't a fun thing to go through. I want to gain a reputation of being a reliable breeder and this necessitates CAE prevention..whether the does have tested negative or not...CAE just pops up in does that have been negative all their lives. I really want to be careful and do my part in controlling this disease. Besides, CAE prevention is just good goat husbandry. Unless you have an isolated herd that have all tested negative, I wouldn't risk letting them nurse or bottle feeding unpasturized milk. Lots of work, but I chose to raise goats so I'll do what I have to do. :-)

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), March 13, 2000.

Pat, I also (as Jim stated above) heat treat colostrum and pasturize milk, I also bottle and Lambar feed because the kids are tame and eaisly handled: But since you wanted other ways of doing it. You can let the kids nurse period. You can let the kids nurse and empty the udder morning and night for house milk, at about 3 weeks, unless the doe has a very large milk supply, most kids can clean up all of the milk a doe has. So to get any kind of family milk, take the kids away from her at night, milk her in the morning for yourself, leaving a little for her kids, they will get to nurse all day. Another great way is to have her nurse for 24 hours, then pen her babies next to your milk room. Bring mom in to be milked, let the kids nurse her on the milkstand and then you empty her out. I would do this at least 3 times a day for the first week, but then you can go to 2. This makes for very tame kids because you handle them every day to take them to be nursed. By the time they are 3 or 4 weeks old they come running and jump up to feed. This is a nice way also, because you can control the weaning and since they really don't know who their mom is you can let them nurse anyone you want. We do a couple of bucks this way every year and call them "Udder Emptyers" we use these on those first fresheners of ours with too little of teats to hand milk. Works great! The small amount of time that it takes to bottle feed for 12 weeks, is a very small percentage of a does life. When you think of her life as a whole, being tame when feet triming, kidding and milking time comes, I prefer to bottle so that we don't have a goat rodeo during these times. Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 13, 2000.

I also bottle feed most of my kids for CAE prevention. I am up to a lager number now and cannot with work constraints bottle feed all of them so I have allowed my first freshners to nurse. Their teats are small and I have to finger milk. We don't have a milking machine yet... still looking for one, may have to break down and buy a new one as 10 does are a lot to milk twice a day when you have to do it by hand and then make it to work on time too. They have been tested for CAE and are negative so I made that decision after consulting with a few experienced breeders and the local vet school. Vicki provided you with some excellent information as did the person who posted before her. Their advice is pretty much what I do as well and most people I know who raise goats. Just be careful about CAE. Make sure when you pasturize the colestrum you watch it or it will end up like mozarella cheese.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 13, 2000.

OOPS>>> I made an error on the pasturization of colestrum.. you don't pasturize, you heat treat. Working long hours lately has left me brain dead.

-- bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 14, 2000.

Hi, like everyone else I'm also concerned with CAE. But for my market wethers I leave them with the mother. They will soon be butchered and leaving them with the mother does save me some time. I think though depending on the size of your heard you should probably continue heat-treating and pasturizing the milk before its fed to them. Good Luck with all your kids!!!!

-- Lisa Huffman (thumper1@bright.net), March 14, 2000.

Thanks for the help guys!!!!! I need all the input I can get! It's nice to talk to someone who knows what they're doing.

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), March 14, 2000.