# Natural Weaning



## surveyman (Jan 19, 2013)

I've got some boer and boer cross does. Do they ever wean their kids on their own? The reason I'm asking is I've got two that I weaned the kids at about 4 months old. I kept them apart for three weeks and then put them back with the herd. Well, the kids are nearly 8 months old and they are still nursing, so I separated them again. I've got another doeling that is 5 months old and she's still nursing. I've heard people say that at a point, the mothers will refuse to allow the kids to nurse. I'm not seeing that.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Some does will self wean, some will not. I've had does that will let their yearlings nurse. So they need to be separated for a long time and the dam needs to be fully dried before the kids are put back with her. It can be frustrating. I have one doe, after kidding, she started letting her yearling doe nurse along with her babies. :doh:


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

I think when the mother is re bred she usually will wean them herself. I didn't have any luck with my ND weaning her 8 month old though and just had to separate them until she's dry.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I find all my Doe's will not self wean their babies. Which makes it bad, if they are re-bred. It takes a lot out of them, plus, she cannot build her colostrum for the new kids, if the last kid is nursing it all out. It is always best to separate wean, when it is time.


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## surveyman (Jan 19, 2013)

Thanks. I'm finding that the goat business requires many different pens. I need a buck pen, a weaning pen, and then a pen for the herd, but the herd pen needs to be regularly rotated, which means many barns, or a portable one.


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

surveyman said:


> Thanks. I'm finding that the goat business requires many different pens. I need a buck pen, a weaning pen, and then a pen for the herd, but the herd pen needs to be regularly rotated, which means many barns, or a portable one.


I've learned the same thing! I started out with one small pen 5 months ago and now we have 3 goat pens with the hopes of building another before fall. Goats are nice and fun to have though so its all worth it.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Yep pens are like our goat herd...KEEPS GROWING 

2 buck pens (one for the three big boys and one for our Nigi)
1 kid pen for the doelings
1 kid pen for the bucklings
1 kidding pen
1 sick pen
2 heavy duty pens for multiply purposes.. 
then there is the night pen for the donkeys, the sheep, the chickens the turkeys lol
1 front pasture
1 large back pasture needing cross fencing


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

It'd be nice to see pics of everyone's pens....I need to eventually have a weaning pen and would love to compare!


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

Pen 1 is for weaning. Excuse the tent, it's for in case it rains and no ones home to bring them inside.









It's not big but there's logs and things to climb on and we put a hay bag out.

















Then we have two huge pastures. The younger does go out on one side and our doe we're still drying up goes on another. The goats love all the grass, but we keep an eye out for them possibly bloating.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Very nice! Tent is a great idea, but wouldn't last 5 minutes with our clan lol

We have 2 acres. Currently have 11 boer/%'s. We have a small pen for 3 young doelings, it's plenty big for them now since 99% of their food is hay and grain.
They have grass they occasionally nibble, and we let them out in the front yard with the older does to graze off/on through the week.

Our main pen is a little over an acre, mostly browse. We have 8 goats in there, 2 are market wethers who will be auctioned off in a couple of weeks at the 4-H auction. 
We have a small back pen we plan to make a little bigger & bring towards the barn a little, and will eventually put the buck in there.

We don't currently have a shelter for the 3 young does. They do have trees that help with light rain/etc. So they have to go in the barn if weather is bad.

Back pen has a small pallet shelter, we may or may not finish it, might tear it down and start over.

I wouldn't get drastic about building unless your seasons call for it. If you get all sorts of weather, it's good to invest in something that will last.

My husband is learning this lol

We find building with pallets is very inexpensive, and makes it more affordable and less 'overwhelming.'

Pallets, OSB, maybe 2x4's for the roof frame if you don't use pallets across the top <we've not done that yet>, and some tin metal roofing sheets. There ya go, a good permanent shelter.

We're getting ready to make one for the girls, but will probably have to cut down a dead tree first. It's a bit complicated so we haven't had a chance to get started.


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## jenG72 (Dec 8, 2012)

We are finding the same thing about number of pens... We have one pen that has a nice goat house we have put a cattle panel up to divide that so we can keep baby away form mom at night and I can milk in the AM. We move the herd( 4 does and 1 buckling) out to a rotating pen in the pasture that is actually made from electric poultry netting and we have a pop up tarp that gives shade we move with the pen. Now that our Buckling is 2 months old we need to wean/sell the little guy as he won't be old enough for us to bred the other three does when we are ready to do that. He is such a sweet heart I hate to let him go but he needs a new home.


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

ciwheeles said:


> Pen 1 is for weaning. Excuse the tent, it's for in case it rains and no ones home to bring them inside.
> 
> View attachment 38475
> 
> ...


Don't they eat the tree bark? I don't think that weaning pen is small...but how many kids do you usually have? I will have most likely 4-6 at a time...

BTW< your place is very nice....


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## ciwheeles (Apr 5, 2013)

NyGoatMom said:


> Don't they eat the tree bark? I don't think that weaning pen is small...but how many kids do you usually have? I will have most likely 4-6 at a time...
> 
> BTW< your place is very nice....


Thank you!! We're very lucky to have nice land. 

They do kind of nibble on the bark but they LOVE our Timothy hay so they mainly don't waste their time on the trees. This is my first year with goats so I just had two in there, but next year I may have 3-6.


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