# Can you really wean them together?



## Baphomet (Jun 15, 2013)

So I was wondering if any of you have success having weaned kids and lactating does together. I find, even if I keep them apart for three weeks, if I put the kids back with the does, they resume nursing. Is it really possible to have the kids and does together and have them not nurse?


----------



## CountyLineAcres (Jan 22, 2014)

The best way is to separate the kids and dams for more than just a month. I find that by the time they are 5-7 months old, they have stopped nursing, or their dams would no longer put up with them trying to either.

-That is if you wean at 3 months old. I separate them for at least 2 months.


----------



## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

What age are you trying to wean at? For my boer herd, bucklings get pulled at 14 weeks old and go to the buck pen and are either sold for breeding or raised for meat. Doelings stay with the dams longer. If they are selling for breeding usually they go at 16 weeks. If they are keepers or being raised for meat they just stay with the dams in the doe herd. Some will nurse them until 6 months old


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

In my herd, I can't put the weaned kids in with the does until the next year when all have kidded! A couple of does will let their adult daughters nurse along side their newborn siblings! I just leave the doelings with their dams until the does are dried off for their 2 month dry off period.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Yeah I would keep them away for 2-3 months. My doelings actually stay away till they are a year because I feed them differently and also they can't be with the other does while being bred.


----------



## Baphomet (Jun 15, 2013)

Sigh, it sounds like it can't be done. I raise goats for milk and meat, I keep all the kids. For now I keep them together during the day and separate at night. Milk in a.m.

I would like to milk twice a day, but even though the does do not let them nurse very much, the bags are still empty in the evening, so I know they are getting to them. 

Keeping the two groups separate for 2 to 3 months would be too much of a pain, as they both have to graze and I don't have enough land for that. And I bet, when I got them back together, they would nurse again :doh:

These kids are about 6 months


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

Tape teats?


----------



## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

When Rosey was in milk I taped her teats at night and milked in the morning. At three months I taped after the morning milking and milked in the evening too. Since she kinda dried up due to being 6 months out, I just let it go and Rosey will still let her daughter nurse (8 months old) but not her son. Next kidding I'm going to use the regimen of:
Month 1 - I take nothing
Month 2 - Teat Tape in the evening and milk in the morning
Month 3 - Teat tape milking 2x a day until I'm sure they're weaned
Hopefully the kids will have new homes to go to at 3 months as well.


----------



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

We don't have the means to separate our goats, so this year I pulled the kids and bottle fed them. I kept them in a playpen in the garage until they were about 4 weeks old. Then they went in with the does with a creep feeder and lots of supervision. Bottle feeding is exhausting, but it solved the problem for us.


----------



## lovinglife (Jun 6, 2013)

I pull all my kids to bottle feed, I don't have room to keep them apart and I had one that sucked through the tape! I always wondered why it was always dirty when I took the tape off, yep she was still getting milk. Once I put her kid in a pen seperate no problems, only the fact that they can never go together now until Mom is dried up, I know she would still nurse two months later..now they all go on a bottle then to a bottle bucket.


----------



## melbah1 (Jun 28, 2013)

I have tried several things also. Once I put them back together weeks later when I thought mom had dried up and they brought her back into milk. 

I use an udder support. It's not the most comfortable thing for the mom, but it works well. I make a couple changes so that it works without anything around the doe's neck. I think it helps to wean them in the same pen with mom because they get used to not nursing while being together. I usually only have to keep the udder support on for about three weeks.


----------



## Baphomet (Jun 15, 2013)

What type of tape is this of which y'all speak? I put some medical tape on them today (doesn't hurt when you remove it) and a kid had it off in 2 seconds.


----------



## AncientBlue (Dec 21, 2014)

They sell teat tape but I use 1" medical tape, the cloth kind.


----------

