# How soon do you start creep feeding?



## smalldreamer (Aug 5, 2013)

My babies are a few days old but I noticed they do chew and try mama's hay. No sure if they are really eating hay or curious. I did pick up a bag of starter pellets when will my boer babies be ready of this. 

Also, when do I give the CDT and worm?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

About 4 days of age is when I introduce grain to the boer kids. They only eat a itty bitty amount at that time though, like a few pellets, so if you grain mom, and she is in her own place with her kids, put her grain pan/bucket low enough that the kids can eat from it, she will teach them how to eat it. 
By the time they are two weeks old, they get their creep area that mom can't get to, and they eat when they please.
At about a month old, my boer kids eat about half a pound a day each.

Was the dam vaccinated with CD&T when she was pregnant? If not, then you can give them their shots now, in a few days, a week, just sooner rather than later. And don't forget the boosters!

If they don't need wormed, my advice is don't worm. But here, we have bad worms, so I worm kids at 6 weeks to start.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I usually start them at 2 weeks old.


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## Pats_Perfect_Boer_Goats (Oct 24, 2013)

toth boer goats said:


> I usually start them at 2 weeks old.


That's when I start as well. :smile:


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

That's when I do it as well. You may need to keep showing them where it is till you see them go in on their own. I'm having a hard time with my set of trips....I have been pushing them in for a week now every day and they start to munch like they never knew it was there.....but their mama does have a cow if she can't see them so maybe that's their little issue.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

^^ is there a way you can set up a creep area, where their mom can still see them?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Everyone does vaccination schedules differently 
I don't raise Boers but what I do to start kids on solid feed is to let mama show them.
Though I do have a set up where my moms and kids are separated from the others in stalls, and I do milk my does once kids are 3 weeks old... I feed the moms inside their stall with a wide dish set on the stall floor, mornings and evenings... at around 2 weeks, the kids want to see what mom is eating and will poke their noses around the feed testing it... at 3 weeks they are right next to her eating it. By the time I start separating at night for milking in the mornings, the kids have established themselves on feed and hay. They get a dish of feed while I milk and once I'm done, they get mama and most often will go back to the pan of feed, by the time they are 6 weeks old, the little buggers are as demanding for the grain as their mothers are 
I can't set up a creep here due to the nasty black birds I have nesting in my little barn, those things dirty up feed and pans badly and I don't want sick kids so I feed grain 2x a day to everyone


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Little-Bits-N-Pieces said:


> ^^ is there a way you can set up a creep area, where their mom can still see them?


She can still see them she just doesn't like them to not be by her side. I have never had a doe still act like they are new borns at 3 weeks old. I bought her a few months back and so far can not figure out why they would sell her she is turning out to be one of my better moms.


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## smalldreamer (Aug 5, 2013)

The mom did get CDT 2 weeks before kidding. So when would I give the babies their first shot?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Everyone does it different....I think most do it at 8 weeks old....I think. I'm a odd ball. I disbud and give tetanus anti. Then 11 days after that I give the first CDT shot.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

It depends on what schedule you like best. You can do it at 3 weeks, then 6, and again at 9 weeks if you like (not necessary though).

Or you can do it at 8 weeks, then 11 weeks
Or 6 weeks, then 9 weeks
Or 4 weeks, then 7 weeks, or any combination as long as the shots are 21 days apart. A third shot is optional, but I don't see it necessary since they get the vaccine in utero, then they themselves get a shot, then the booster (that's 3 already), so to give them a third shot, is really a fourth one for them.


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