I'm stoaked. My Jewels a 4yr old Nubian doe gave birht at 5am this morning to a lovely baby girl who I have named saedle due to the white saddle colouring on her back.

Question 1: Mum I think is polled, Dad was not she does not look like she has horns, how do I tell if she will have them or not?

Question 2: She has had a good drink and Jewels is still got a big udder of milk should I milk out a bit of her colostrum and put it in the freezer for safe keeping?

Question 3: I've never milked b4 but am willing to get up early and give it a go, what should I do keep the kid with Mum and milk once a day? Take kid away and milk 2 x daily and bottle feed? Leave kid on for 2-3 months and then milk? I'm just not sure...

Question4: they are in a pen with fresh hay and shavings when should I put them on pasture?

Question5: Do I need to give the baby or mum for that matter any special injections? I know I should worm mum soon because she will be more inclined to get wormy after birth but do they need anything special - mum had no injections pre birth.

Sorry for all the Q's :o) Thanks in advance Jen

-- Jen in NZ (heavenleigh2938@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001

Answers

hi Jen, congratulations on your new baby doe. I'll try to answer a few of your questions, and I'm sure others can help more. Hornlessness in goats is a dominant trait, meaning if the doe is truly polled, each of her kids has a 50/50 chance of being polled. If the little doe is to be horned, you might find a little swirl of hair where each horn will be. Straight hair there indicates polled. It's sometimes hard to tell for sure, so be sure and feel her head every day for horn buds. If she has buds, and you want to disbud her, you will want to do it at a week to 10 days(bucks, I've found, can be disbudded as early as 4 days).... I usually milk out my one kid does once a day,in the evening, after I am sure the kid has had a chance to nurse. If the doe is quite full, and so is baby's tummy, you can go ahead and milk her out now, as well...Another good reason for giving mom the wormer now is that you will not want to use her milk for human consumption for about a week after you do.(And for the next week there will be colustrum in the milk and you would not be drinking it anyway.)...The way I do it, is I leave the kid on full time for the first month or so, and then take her off at night, and get mom's milk for myself in the morning before I put them back together. By about 3 months, you can wean baby and have all the milk...I'll let someone else answer your shots question. Since mom didn't get a tetanus booster before delivery, there may be something you want to give baby before you disbud(if you have to).

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), September 20, 2001.

If this is your first goat baby, than just leave her with Mom. After the babies nurse, I milk out both sides of the udder about half way, after 12 hours we milk it out completely. Save all the colostrum from the first 12 hours, strain it and keep it in soda pop bottles or anything else plastic and only in a non- frostfree freezer, and a chest freezer is the best. Whatever is eaiser for you, but milk her out once a day, both halves. Worm her today. And though she will have colostrum in her milk for the next 3 days, it isn't the valuable colostrum like is in the first 12 hours, so just feed it to the chickens or dogs. From then on you can use it as house milk, we shave the udder and belly, making the milking process much cleaner.

Your babies head will look like Mo of the 3 stooges :) if she is polled, hair coming forward into bangs, like Mom looks. If she has pretty swirls of hair than she will have horns, line up someone right now to disbud her next week. If you did not vaccinate Mom with CD&T, we use Bar Vac Brand from jefferslivestock.com, 2cc, than you will want to give your kid some tetanus antitoxin as you disbud her. She will then need her CD&T shot at 3 weeks old, and 9 weeks old, we also give another at 12 weeks. Mom will just need one now and again in 21 days.

Read up on worms and cocci, and get yourself some of the prevention drugs on hand. Your kid will simply be healthier for it. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001.