# Doe with quads??



## seren (Jan 28, 2012)

I was told that it is really hard on a doe to nurse quads... she is doing good so far (Day 2) Do any of you leave quads on the mom or do you pull 1 or 2???


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Yes, it takes a lot out of the doe, but along with that, there are only two teats and with four kids, two are going to get pushed aside when feeding time comes. You will likely see at least one of the kids not thriving generally, because one or two are smaller than the other two and get pushed away. Does only like to nurse the kids for so long so if the other two can't get to the teat or are fighting most the time, then they just won't get what they need. I don't think I've ever kept quads on a doe. I always pull at least one, usually two.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I pull 2. I ran into the problem later on. The kids were so hard on her udder that she quit nursing all of them. Much harder to get them on a bottle when they are older.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

I agree with Kylee & Karen. Pull two tomorrow to bottle but leave them with mom & siblings.


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## seren (Jan 28, 2012)

Okay. I have never had to do this so I have a few questions. How often do I need to feed them? How much should they eat? Do I milk mom or what should I feed them? Can I leave them with mom and the other kids?


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## seren (Jan 28, 2012)

They will be 3 days old and I have never had to bottle feed (not even my own people kids) any tips on how to get them to take a bottle?


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## janecb (Sep 23, 2014)

I usually only bottle feed extremely sickly/premature kids, but the best way I know of is to wait for them to get hungry and then introduce the bottle to them. Some kids will just take to the bottle without waiting, though. I'd try giving them the bottle, and if it doesn't work, wait it out... 

Maybe someone else knows a better way..?


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Patients... takes a bit to get them going but they will catch on..be sure milk is nice and warm. I wouldn't milk mom since the demand on her is already heavy...but goats milk is number one choice then whole Cows milk is next best...

a trick for the hard ones...

put honey on the nipple of a warm bottle, then put honey on your finger and put far back on the babies tongue...let him suck it off then do it again..just a little honey,,not too much..once he is doing that well slip the bottle in..he will taste the honey first then the warm milk...may take a few tries


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## seren (Jan 28, 2012)

happybleats said:


> Patients... takes a bit to get them going but they will catch on..be sure milk is nice and warm. I wouldn't milk mom since the demand on her is already heavy...but goats milk is number one choice then whole Cows milk is next best...
> 
> a trick for the hard ones...
> 
> put honey on the nipple of a warm bottle, then put honey on your finger and put far back on the babies tongue...let him suck it off then do it again..just a little honey,,not too much..once he is doing that well slip the bottle in..he will taste the honey first then the warm milk...may take a few tries


Thank you! How do you decide who to take off? They are all the same size... I am thinking the 2 girls just so they are more friendly?!?!?


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## LadySecret (Apr 20, 2013)

I have had a doe raise quads before without issue. She was a ff nigerian dwarf doe. She had 2 bucklings and 2 doelings. One buckling was the largest and the other buckling was the smallest. I was going to pull the bucklings because they were hopefully going to be sold as pet wethers. And being bottle friendly would be great for their future as pets. But that little buckling needed mom's milk/attention. I didn't want to have one bottle baby so I waited. I check their tummies everyday and everyone was getting full bellies. I quickly worked Fancy's grain ration up. She went from half a pound before kidding to 2 - 2 1/2 pounds within a week of kidding ( I knew she could handle that without upsetting her rumen). She also got all the alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay she could want. Bermuda hay was also available but she really didn't touch it. She preferred to graze and browse with her kids for most of the day than touch grass hay. Her kids started eating solids a little faster than others did. She nursed all four kids for three months and never lost condition or became run down. She was slightly copper deficient when she kidded (bought her that way). That did get worse as she nursed. Her boys were weaned at 3 months. She self weaned her doe kids at 7 months. After she weaned her doe kids, her copper status gradually improved with copper bolusing. (I started copper bolusing her shortly after she kidded. I never saw any improvement in her coat/tail until she dried up.) Her doe kids were large enough to be bred at 7-8 months old. One of her doelings just kidded triplets a few days ago (one day shy of her 1st birthday) without issue or assistance from me. 

I'm not going to tell you you should pull two or that you should let her nurse all four. I just wanted to give an example of a doe that raised quads successfully. A lot of that is the doe's temperament. She wanted ALL of her babies. She did greatly appreciate me taking her for 15 to 30 minute walks everyday without her kids. A little time away seemed to help her mentally a lot. After that little brake, she was alway eager to get back to her kids and feed them. I also gave her stuff to jump on where she could get away from the mob for a little while. Lol. The other part of it is management. She needed a lot of alfalfa/grain/browse to make that milk without depleting herself. Best wishes!


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## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

Personally I would leave them with their mom and sibs - go ahead and bottle feed 2 of them. Check tummies and weigh weekly to make sure everyone is getting enough to grow on. They learn so many things from mom and have their sibs to play with - Even when I had to bottle feed a rejected kid, I made sure she spent part of every day with her sibling and the other baby goats.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

It is hard on a doe to raise 4 kids. The first couple of weeks will be easy enough but at some point they are going to start taking more then she can produce. You will most likely end up with a over worked doe and potentially smaller kids. Id pick two to teach to eat from a bottle so that way when it comes time to have to pull 2, they already know how.


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## hallsthirdacrefarm (Mar 30, 2011)

I had a doe raise quads fine last year, but we did know she was a HEAVY producer. (not a FF). I pulled all the kids at night to milk does in the AM and what I did was put two of her kids up at night (the two strongest / biggest) so the other two could feed uninterrupted at night. In the morning, I pulled the other two for a few hours so the penned up ones could nurse alone. She did great, but yes...she ate like a horse and we fed her several mini-meals of alfalfa pellets, boss and feed throughout the day. STILL easier than bottle feeding. We had planned to pull two but struggled to get any of them on the bottle as we've never bottle fed before and it is hard to watch a kid decline while learning or not learning to take the bottle when they are all doing fine on mom.


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

I too had a doe successfully nurse quads. I did it a lot like hallsthirdacrefarm. I kept a close eye on tummies and made sure everyone got a turn. Starry is one of those quads and she is now raising triplets.


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