The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Declan on August 20, 2010, 12:53:45 am

Title: More or less milk?
Post by: Declan on August 20, 2010, 12:53:45 am

I have had my 2 anglo-nubian wethers for about 6 weeks now. They were about 4 weeks old when i got them. They are with housed with two 8month old pygmy goats. I am currently bottle feeding them about 1 litre of novolam milk each every morning and night. This has gradually risen from about 500ml each morning and night when i got them. My question is this- should the milk volume i am giving them continue to rise and if so to what? and for how long? I was thinking that maybe if i kept it at this level then it would encourage them to eat more goat mix and hay that is being put out for the pygmys. They are eating the hay and goat mix and i see them making a good move on the hedges at the edge of the field. They go mad crying if they don't get their milk when they expect it.

Title: Re: More or less milk?
Post by: Anke on August 20, 2010, 10:30:02 pm

You should be able to reduce the amount of milk slowly now, usually goat kids are weaned at about 12 weeks.

I did reduce mine for a couple of weeks, then stopped abruptly. My two BT girls just didn't want to drink milk anymore, and were going mad for the concentrate. The wether was a bit keener on the milk, but never cried for it. But as far as I know AN's are quite noisy...