# How long should weaning separation last?



## Blessed_Assurance_Acres (May 21, 2013)

It's weaning time. How long should I keep mommas and babies separate to ensure complete weaning?


----------



## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I'm not being a smart a$$ here, but it may sound like it-

it depends!

I had a doe that would happily let her kids nurse even after they had been weaned for a year!

Some does are fine after taking the kids away for a day or so, others will let the kids go on forever! Sometimes even after they have kidded again.

It's sort of knowing your does. Start with a month or so and try putting them out together.


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I wean bucks/wethers at 3 months of age, and doelings at 4 months of age. Replacement doelings are housed/penned separately from the main herd from the day they are weaned until their kids are weaned at roughly 21-28 months of age. At that point they usually join the main herd. Although my mothers and daughters buddy up again, I've never had a daughter go back to nursing her mother.


----------



## surveyman (Jan 19, 2013)

In my experience, it takes 3 to 4 weeks for the doe to dry up. I wean the bucklings first. I put them in the pen with the buck. The doelings have to go in a barn stall. When I turned them out they tried to nurse, but the does let them know in no uncertain terms that they weren't going to put up with it.


----------

