# My first adventure separating moms/babies



## Snookie (Mar 25, 2015)

I have two ND does, one is a third freshener with 3 week old triplets, the other is her daughter, a first freshener with 2 week old twins.

Last year, I bought the mom and daughter together. Since the mom (and I were learning to milk) I never separated them. I got a pint a day and that was enough to tinker around with. Her teats are SO small and she could not stand any part of her belly being touched even though I worked with her at least a month - doing everything from tying and hobbling to singing songs, treats, back scratches (you name it).

I ended up getting a Henry Milker and she accepted that, no problem. Go figure. Stood perfectly still on the stand, even let me do the initial squirts, and the final stripping, as long as the inbetween was the milker. Output went up, everyone was much more relaxed. I never had to go above 5 psi for her to let down and I did the pump and release to give a semi-pulse. Speaking of that, I hope to get a Simple Pulse milker soon so we have a better machine because I know the vacuum milker is not good long term.

But fast forward to this year. I would like to get more milk this year, so I started separating moms and babies last night. I go down there this morning, one of the does was in the kid stall, and one of the kids was in the doe stall. For the life of me I have no idea how they managed that! Everyone was very upset.

I milked about a cup out of each doe, and put them with their babies because the babies and moms were were just so pitiful. Plus I am starting cocci preventative and I think it is all too much at once.

I think I will give them another week and try again, especially with the triplets because they are just ravenous - one of them is 12 pounds already and the other two are 10 lbs, their mom is really taking a beating. Both does are still so thin, even though they eat constantly and don't have worms, cocci, not running fevers, acting fine (they are eating alfalfa hay, grain with alfalfa pellets, kelp, manna pro and BOSS) 

Do you all think that it's a good idea to wait a little while longer?

Also, I'm thinking about taking the largest kid and starting him on a bottle to give the mom a break. Not sure I want to go down that path tho, since he's doing so well.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would definitely wait to milk. Especially for the one with triplets.


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## GodsGarden (Feb 6, 2015)

I would also wait to milk. Less stress is always best.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I too agree.


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## Snookie (Mar 25, 2015)

Thank you for your replies! Do you think I should bottle feed the largest of the triplet or does all that sort itself out? He is a good two pounds bigger than the other two - when they nurse, it is always him and one of the other two, lol.


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## GodsGarden (Feb 6, 2015)

Use your best judgment. I would lean towards supplementing the two smaller ones. The big one is probably the most aggressive and eats all he wants. The other two kids then have to share what he leaves.


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## Snookie (Mar 25, 2015)

We started separating them this week, it is going much better. I am getting a quart from the two does combined. It is probably half of what they could give so but is enough for our needs, and leaves plenty for the babies.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

Some kids need longer on mom, but last year I had a TINY triplet baby and I waited to separate at night to help her grow. This actually proved to be a mistake, as her mom was making a surplus, and her itty tummy couldn't handle it. Ended up having to treat for overeating. She turned out fine, but once I started separating at night (and for awhile a couple hours in the day) she did very well.

That's a little bit of an abnormal situation (she was easily half the size of her siblings and had some special needs) but because of that I usually strictly separate at night at 2 or 3 weeks of age.


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