[benkt]

Hi folks,


Data is due to kid today -our first time so very excited here. I'm wondering what the feeling is for bottle feeding vs leaving on mum. Last year's kid we bought from kja's mum and she was left to suckle to help me learn to milk her mother slowly. However, she's a lot wilder than our nannies who are milked regularly. With that it mind, I'd like to bottle feed any kids that we get this week so they are a bit tamer as we have so many visitors it would be easier for them if they were used to people from the start.
Can we 'mix and match'? feed some from the bottle and say leave them in with mum overnight?
Thanks,
Ben

[kja]

  hi ben mum usually takes the kids out to bottle feed around 7 - 10 days. when you first separate them mum will try and hold milk back for the kids but she will soon get used to the idea.
if you need any advice give mum a ring.

[plumseverywhere]

Our kid stayed on his mum and he is incredibly tame - well handled and had lots of visitors from day 1 pretty much so I think it can be done 

[Anke]

It really depends on if you need milk for the house as well as raising kids. I take my kids off their mum just after disbudding - usually day 4/5, maybe leave another day if boys have been ringed. It is also easier to put them onto the bottle if you manage to be there for the birth and then milk some colostrum from the dam straight into a bottle and feed the kids. They will then take that and your big worry of them getting their first lot of colostrum is dealt with. They will then also have more time/energy etc to find the milk bar themselves. 1st kidders need some supervision and maybe some holding as they may be a bit fidgety.
 
By starting to milk out twice per day from 4 - 5days onwards the milk supply will also stay higher for longer, as the natural reduction as happens when the kids take less and les milk, is not happening. So your nanny is producing more milk for longer for you (with adequate feed intake of course). - And I guess that's what you want a goat for - milk supply for the house.
 
Also by bottlefeeding the kids you know how much milk they have every day, and you can make sure that all kids get enough. And you can let kkids out with ther dams in the same field from about 4 weeks onwards easily, they will by then come to you for their milk rather than the dam.
 
Milking out also helps prevent mastitis, especially if you have single kid and a heavy milker.
 
So better all round I think... especially if you have lots of visitors who would help with feeding the kids/milking the nanny etc etc

[Skirza]

We leave our kids on mum until around 3 weeks when we start separating them at night (usually so they can still see each other). We then milk in the morning leaving a bit for the kids and then let the kids stay with mum all day. We find this has the benefit of giving us a bit of leeway if we need to go away for the night as the kids can stay with their mum so we don't have to milk (also helps is I'm feeling crappy and don't feel like milking!). We're getting around 4 pints a day from our girl this year and the kids are fat and healthy so it works well for us. Once the kids are weaned we keep to once a day milking simply because that's the way I personally like it. 

[jaykay]

I leave my kids with their mum all the time until they're 3 months old. I play with them every day and they are incredibly tame. Doesn't need bottle feeding to achieve this.

I then start shutting them separately overnight and milking in the morning, then leaving them with mum all day. That way they get all the milk, mothering and socialising they need, and I get some milk too.

Like Skirza, if I need someone to do an 'overnight' for me, because I have to be away, I can just leave the kids with their mums overnight too and no milking is then needed in the morning.

[Lesley Silvester]

I leave mine with mum all the time. My goats get lots of attention from me and are very friendly and easy to handle (most of the time).

[smudger]

+1 as skirza, although I left it till 4 weeks as i had wormed after kidding. We had 2 singles this year so did milk out one udder, freezing milk for the kids when older. This kept milk supply up. I did get the kids to take 50-100ml from a bottle by the end of the first week however which meant it was an easy transition when I separated at night.

[benkt]

Thanks all for the advice. Data kidded last night, one boy and one girl and I missed it all! We'd gone to London to see the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park and left Matt, one of our members who usually does the farrowing, in charge. All doing well - pics to follow.....

[benkt]

Thanks all for the advice. Data kidded last night, one boy and one girl and I missed it all! We'd gone to London to see the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park and left Matt, one of our members who usually does the farrowing, in charge. All doing well - pics to follow.....