The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: nessjw on April 14, 2019, 09:45:28 pm
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I haven't had goats for long, have found them to be very entertaining.
Mine have kidded this year (a first for me).. One of the girls had trouble feeding her twins
the vet came out and she gave her antibiotics & painkillers, as we milked her from her good teat to feed the little ones and
the nanny started to help herself to a drink from her own teat :D The vet had never seen this before
we both were laughing...Anyhow I now top up one of the twins 4 times a day, the goat in question pushed her baby aside when she had stopped drinking and started guzzling out of the bottle !! :roflanim: Same thing has happened today...Has anyone experienced this...Mum has plenty of good food, hay and fresh water and is 4/5 years old, the twins have grown amazingly quick along with the other two sets of twins next to her so there's no concern there......I'm just curious about this obvious milk loving goat....Any ideas
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Often kids which are reared too long on the bottle will take bottles of milk as they get older. This is bad for them as once the oesophgeal groove has ceased to function the milk will enter the rumen where it sours and can cause upsets.
Milkers which suckle themselves or other goats are a real pain in the backside.
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Thank you for replying. Laughter aside I did wonder if it there was an underlying problem, hence the post.
I only saw her suckle herself once when the vet and I held her down, she took full advantage of the position we had her in, as it was a struggle to milk her. She is quite an unfriendly goat compared to my others. The bottle drinking attempts have ceased and she is now feeding both the twins from one teat, the vet said she shouldn't be bred from again as one of the teats is badly damaged and has no milk. I brought her last summer so I wasn't aware of this and she wouldn't have been put in kid. I'm pleased to say the little family are doing well now, I will continue to top up if needed as they grow I'm not sure one teat will be enough ?
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I had twin kids one year who both insisted on feeding off the same teat. They grew well and eventually started taking from both sides. Milk quantity tends to match the need which is why I milked mine from about a week after kidding, although I didn't necessarily get much at first. Having said that, it's not unknown for goats who are rearing their kids to hold back when being milked, to make sure their babies get enough. Can't blame them I suppose.