The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Daisys Mum on January 14, 2013, 01:44:46 pm
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Just gone out to check kid that was disbudded this morning and found him hiding away. Every time he goes near mum she buts him away and is still looking for her kid, he was only away for about an hour and a half , so I thought she would be fine with him.
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Hi DM - got your message and replied before seeing the post - so if the op was this morning then he won't be starving yet, hungry but not starving - you have time to work with Mum into letting him under her.
My back is so sore with crawling around on the ground milking Prue I made a milking stand yesterday (pygmy size though) yet to try it out!!
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He will smell differently. I don't have much of an experience with that as we take our kids off their dams after disbudding and they go onto the bottle. If you need some goats milk urgently I do have still quite a bit. and snow permitting we could meet up somewhere half way.
However people have tried various things with sheep - mainly to confuse the ewes sense of smell and once the wee one is back under and the milk comes out the other end they are normally fine. You could try and spray the mum's nose with something strong and also the wee one maybe... Or you could restrain mum and make sure the kid gets on without her butting him out of the way (quite difficult with goats I know...)
If you can't get him back on it will have to be the bottle, but it would be a shame as the milk is there and not using it would aso risk mastitis in the dam....
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Last spring my twins weren't being allowed to suckle after disbudding but we realised mum had sore teats (she is delicate and think-skinned) and it was nothing to do with them smelling of vet-chemicals. Changed to milking her into bottles which they soon got the hang of - everyone happy although it made more work for me!
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you could try rubbing some of her wet bedding on him to get him smelling more how he should also as said already keep hold of her or tie her up so that she can't butt him
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Oh anne, sorry to hear that. I put a post on about a 'lamb adoptor' which is a gate/fence like structure that is a crush and would be ideal for her size, its £16 plus vat from a place in St Boswells, it would hold her head (bowl in front with treats) while you put the wee under her. If I can be of any assistance or if you want me to go and buy one and bring it up that's ok, bit of a stress for you Anne, it was all going so well.
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Tie her up and get him feeding. She'll feel more comfortable, he'll start to smell right again and it'll sort out.
I don't often disagree with CW but I think it is both to do with him smelling wrong and also being 'damaged', which she will also be able to smell.
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Have managed to get him feeding by holding onto mum and lifting a front leg otherwise she just lies down . She does not seemso stressed this morning and although he had slept in his little box on its side she was lying beside it.
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That's great - I sure things will settle down in time :thumbsup:
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Glad things are settling down and hopefully it will be back to normal in no time at all
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Good!
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Well done Anne, your OH will be glad to get back to work .. ;D
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Looks like she's getting used to his strange smell now. Brilliant. :thumbsup:
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Oh good, that sounds positive. Well done :thumbsup: Keep loving your little fella, goatmum :goat:
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Oh good, that sounds positive. Well done :thumbsup: Keep loving your little fella, goatmum :goat:
I wouldn't go as far as to say she loves him but she is getting a bit easier to hold to let him in to feed, hopefully he is getting enough. I am managing 6 feeds a day starting at 6.30 am and last one just about now, do you think this is enough?
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I should think so, if he seems to be drinking til he wants to stop. That's what I'd be giving a very new 'pet' lamb if I had to bottle feed. Hopefully he'll be allowed to feed on his own soon.
I lost Daisy when her kids were about 10 days old. I had Daisy's mum Ellie, who hadn't kidded that year but who I'd milked through. When Daisy died I tried the kids on Ellie because they were seriously unimpressed with a bottle, having had the real thing. No way, Ellie did not like them and was having nothing to do with them. Well I carried on tying her up but she made such a fuss, kicking and jumping, I didn't think they were getting much, so I bottle fed too.
On about day 3 of this, as I'd just finished with one squirming kid (whose full name is Rowan Wrigglepants, from this experience! ) I turned round to look for her brother as he wasn't hovering nearby as usual. And he was feeding from Ellie ;D I let go of Rowan, who ran up and suckled too - and that was it, Ellie raised them from then on :thumbsup:
So it can take a day or so but given that this little one is hers too, and she's calming down, I think it looks like she'll take him back.
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I'm beginning to feel that we are making real progress now as this morning I only had to put my hand under her chin to keep her on her feet whereas before she would just sit down and had to be physically held up. When I let them out into the yard she is following him about. Last night was a real worry as the heat lamp wouldn't work but all ok this morning, mind you they were just about buried in all the extra straw I had given them . :thumbsup:
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When I let them out into the yard she is following him about
sounds very positive :thumbsup:
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First time mums ::) just as well we didn't get put off by smelly nappies Anne.
Everybody - I know Daisys Mum's problem was the smell from the vets / disbudding, but is it normal that first time mum's need a bit of help to stand still when feeding - or do they do it for the first week or so and then can't be bothered (not talking about post disbudding)? Or once they've got the hang of it, that's it pretty much sorted i.e. no problems?
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My experience of my three goats is that they just get on with it - no problems from the start, first time or not.
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Must be the head teacher in you Jaykay, they're all doing as they're told ;D .
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First time goat mums - like sheep - often need some supervision and if needed guidance for the kid(s) to find the milkbar....especially longcoated Golden Guernseys are apt to hide their udder just a bit... the actual bumbling about by the new kid can be quite unsettling for mum too, so calming her down etc etc is all helpful. I have actually had kids that went to the bottle from day 1, but as I milk/bottle from day 4 anyway, it doesn't matter.
One other thing - with single kids often they only drink from one side of the udder, not like lambs who will go and switch between the two. So the other side has to be emptied by milking, easing out only untiil day 4 to5, after that stripping out otherwise real danger of mastitis in that quarter.
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Lol, the idea that I could tell Ellie to do anything she didn't want to....... ::)
I've just been lucky I'm sure, but I think Old English are fairly easy - I suppose in the same way primitive sheep can be.
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thanks both, interesting replies. Just asking because I've seen first timers in sheep and ducks and they can be a bit dopey I can see, not really getting it until later on and need a bit of help (sure I was like that with No1). Seen me retrieving ducklings from all sorts of places and running after the mum to get them back with their clan. ::)
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First time mums ::) just as well we didn't get put off by smelly nappies Anne.
Everybody - I know Daisys Mum's problem was the smell from the vets / disbudding, but is it normal that first time mum's need a bit of help to stand still when feeding - or do they do it for the first week or so and then can't be bothered (not talking about post disbudding)? Or once they've got the hang of it, that's it pretty much sorted i.e. no problems?
I think one of the problems was he smelt VERY strongly of perfume, presumably from the vet nurse. So although I will have Gobo's kid or kids done I am planning on taking them in wrapped in a towel that she has been sleeping with and insisting that they do not handle kids without this towel.
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Good idea ;D vets assistant probably new she was going to be handling a goat and went overboard! ;D
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Went out this morning at 6 to find Petal had beaten me to it and had fed him herself so hopefully now it will just need keeping an eye on.
She probably decided that she had had enough of me groping her to check that he was getting both sides and that there was no signs of mastitis. :excited:
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Brill :thumbsup:
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Good news :thumbsup:
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That's a relief, will be good expertise when you come to Gobo's twins :D
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That's great news. He's her baby again.