What age after goat kids born do you start taking milk too?

[kimmom]

We had twins born on Monday! We are keeping them in with Mama and they seem to be nursing well! They dont drink much but do quite often. They don't seem to be emptying her, is that a worry for mastitis? I am wondering when we should start taking milk too? I have heard 10 days, 2 weeks and that you should seperate at night then let them together in the day, then I also heard if Mm is fed well enough no need to seperate at all. I am so new to this all and have SO MANY questions!!

[mtn.mama]

I start milking mama the first night, within 12 hours of kidding. Every doe has a different lactation pattern, but I've found that most give extra milk from the beginning. And that most kids will not nurse an udder equally, so mastitis is a real risk from the first day. The first colostrum that is "extra" goes in the freezer, and after that we use the milk for our family and herdshare program.

We also get the babies started on a bottle from the beginning to make weaning far easier in a couple of weeks. Our babies don't get left overnight with mama for at least the first week, so I let her in in the morning to nurse them and then when they have a belly full, I milk her out all the way. Then at night I milk her out all the way before going to bed.

By 14 days old, they are separated from mama 24/7 and babies get bottle fed 3-4x daily (2.5 cups each time)... never more than 1/2 a gallon total each per day. At 6 weeks old, we cut back to 2 feedings (a quart each time), and at 2 months, 1 feeding (a quart). Then they are totally weaned off the bottle by 3 months.

[1jooj]

We started milking early on, too, from day 1 with my first girl and from the third day with my second (who had twins). I saved colostrum like mtn.mama did, just in case, and I look at the early milking as more for training value and routine than milk quantity--though from the day I started milking, our family needs have been met.

Even the mother of twins has one side that's not used as much, so it is good to make sure not only that the milk is moved out, but to provide good demand to encourage production. My twin mom doesn't like being milked very well, but she's getting used to it slowly, and I have noticed she's a lot better on the less-used side, which makes me think she's acting protectively of her babies.

We have never separated moms and babies before, so I am not sure how we'll do that when the time is appropriate, but it would be nice to have that productive morning milking, so in a couple of weeks I will probably begin that. I am thinking about giving kids a little sweet feed during the day, too, to encourage their discovery of solid food.

We don't usually enforce weaning until a month or so before breeding with our other animals...so it looks like I will have some logistical changes to make in the coming weeks, too.

[PJJ]

kid led weaning

If not given a bottle, etc., how long would the kids naturally wean?

[mtn.mama]

Well, that's the problem. They don't. I have seen pregnant junior does still nursing their mamas. And the bigger the kid/goat, the more milk they are going to unnecessarily take from your family. Very, very rarely a doe will wean her own kid. Unless you intervene, it will take years. There is no reason for a sexually mature doeling (6 mo) or buckling (3.5 months) to still be nursing. But I guarantee that most of time, they will still be nursing unless you take drastic measures. Good luck.