|
|
|
Raising Kids
the Natural
Way |
|
by Tim Pruit
of
Pruitville
Nubians.
Reprinted
with
Permission |
Owning dairy goats can
be time consuming and
labor intensive.
However, if we the
breeders will deal with
diseases, we can raise
kids to become healthy
adults without spending
the hours of
pasteurizing and
hand-feeding requires.
Kids can be kept with
their dams and raised in
family groups
eliminating needs for
multiple pens to keep
different age groups
separate. The doe kids
bond with their dam and
the pecking order is
less of a problem as no
yearling is a stranger.
Having grown up with the
herd each will know its
place in the herd.
Dealing with disease:
Although there are other
contagious diseases than
Caprine Arthritis
Encephalitis (CAE) that
can be passed from dam
to kids – it is one that
is most often passed
through the milk.
Annual testing of your
herd will help ensure
that you maintain a CAE
negative herd. This is
very important since you
will be dam-raising your
kids and the colostrum
and milk is the major
way of spreading this
disease. One reason I
believe that this
disease ran rampant in
dairy herds in years
past is because of
pooling raw milk to feed
kids. By pooling the
milk from the whole
herd, if one doe was
infected then the whole
kid crop became
infected. Thus the
spread was rampant. One
of the main reasons for
doing this of course was
so that the kids would
bond to their human
handlers rather than
their dams and thus
would be gentle and easy
to handle. However,
this desired bonding can
be done even with dam
raised kids if done
properly. Does who
test positive should be
removed and completely
separated from the herd
and their kids raised on
pasteurized milk. This
is extremely important
since nursing kids will
often steal milk from
another dam while her
kid is nursing. Even a
sip of the milk from the
infected doe could mean
infection to your
otherwise clean herd.
Please do not consider
dam raising until you
are sure of the health
status of your herd.
Also if you think you
can have tame kids
without putting some
time into them, then dam
raising will result in
disappointment. Goats
like horses or any other
type of livestock will
be wild unless some time
and effort is given to
keep them tame.
In my opinion, goat kids
are not born wild, it is
a learned behavior. The
secret of dam-raising
will be bonding with the
kids from birth. If
their mother, sibling or
herd mate runs from you,
they will follow their
example. However, if
they are accustomed to
you and your touch from
birth then they will be
gentle and tame
throughout life. It is
important to be at every
birth to give assistance
or assurance to the doe
and kids. Since goats
often have multiple
kids, mom can be
distracted by the labor
while having another kid
while the new born is
still in its sack.
Being there to clean the
kid’s mouth and nose and
placing it away from the
dam that is pawing
(nesting) can save a
kid’s life. Do all the
normal things, such as
using iodine on the
navel and giving the kid
a quick health check.
Leaving the kids alone
with the doe and walking
away at this time is the
wrong thing to do.
Instead milk the doe and
feed the kid a bottle
within an hour of birth.
If it won’t eat, then
wait another hour and
try again but make sure
the kid consumes at
least 5 to 8 ounces or
more of colostrum. You
can then leave the kid
with the mother letting
the kid nurse from the
dam at will. Helping
the kid find the teat is
sometime necessary to
ensure it gets a good
start. It is beneficial
if the new mother and
the kids have a few days
to stay together alone
in a pen of their own
for bonding before
returning to the herd.
After about three days,
let the new mama and her
kids out into the main
herd, usually you will
find that after a sniff
or two the herd will
accept them. Kids
raised on their mothers
will mimic what she does
and will learn to eat
feed, alfalfa pellets
and hay quicker than
bottle raised kids. If
parasites are kept under
control, the kids will
grow off more quickly
than bottle raised kids
because they can eat
when they are hungry all
throughout the day and
it is always at the
right temperature.
By the time the kids are
10 days to 2 weeks of
age, they should be
penned away from their
mothers at night. This
is important, as this
will be part of their
bonding to you. Each
morning, for the first
month, it is helpful to
give a bottle of the
mother’s milk to each
kid before returning
them to their dams. The
kids will be hungry and
will more readily take a
bottle. You can drop
this to a bottle every
other morning or even 3
times a week after the
first week or so.
Although this might be
unnecessary for the kids
you are planning to
retain in the herd,
teaching them to take a
bottle will allow you to
sell a kid before
weaning because it will
readily take a bottle.
This also helps if you
are going to show the
dam as you can feed the
kid while the mother is
bagged up for the show.
Also if for some reason
you decide to sell the
dam or the kid, it is
easily transferred to
bottle feeding. This is
also helpful if the doe
should die or become ill
and cannot nurse her
kids because of
treatment etc. For the
first month, I pick each
kid up and pet it as I
return it to its
mother. After the kid
is a month old, I put a
collar on it and lead it
to its mom, that way, it
learns to lead and does
not have to be dragged
around the show ring.
The kid soon learns
that not only does it
get food from me, I am
also the one who helps
it find its mother (its
source of food). While
away from mom, you can
feed it pellets or feed
with a coccidiastat.
Because it will be
hungry every morning, it
will even more readily
eat its feed.
Care of the doe: You
will milk out the doe
completely every night,
removing all of the milk
from her udder. In the
mornings, for the first
month, you can leave a
little milk in the udder
for the kids but this is
unnecessary if you have
given the kid a bottle
before releasing it to
the herd.
After the first month, I
milk the doe completely
every morning, taking
all of the milk. This
will encourage the
hungry kid to eat feed
or hay with its dam.
Within 2 hours after
milking, the mother will
have adequate milk to
feed its babies and she
will continually make
milk throughout the
day. Sometimes kids
will favor one teat more
than another and
especially a single
kid. If at night, you
find the doe with more
milk in one side than
the other, tape the
favored teat the next
morning for a day or two
forcing the kids to
nurse both sides of the
udder. This will keep
her mammary from
becoming uneven.
One of the advantages of
dam raising is that the
doe is never overfull
during the day and can
better fit to your
schedule. You don’t
have to worry about
being late for the
evening chores because
the kids are relieving
her all day long. The
kids too are being fed
as they need it
eliminating the need for
you to feed multiple
feedings during the
day. Allowing her to
make 12 hours of milk
during the night gets
her used to carrying
milk and keeps her from
arching her back during
the show. It also keeps
her from walking around
all evening with a full
udder putting strain on
udder attachments. Does
who are allowed to raise
their kids seldom blow
teats like often happens
with does that are
bagged up morning and
evening and you will
find that evening chores
take less time because
there are usually just a
few squirts of milk to
be removed from the
udder.
Multiple kids: Having
triplets and especially
quads can be a challenge
to dam raising.
Sometimes, you can graft
at least one of the
quads onto another doe
who has a single kid or
you may have bottle it a
couple morning and
evening to make sure
they are all getting the
proper amount. Keeping
a watchful eye on their
progress will result in
more proper developed
kids.
You will find with
penning the kids each
night, the kids will
quickly learn the
routine and will come
when called into their
pen for their evening
feed. Because our
Sundays are rather busy,
we leave the kids out on
Saturday night to
minimize the chores on
Sunday, cutting down on
our milking time.
Although each goat
breeder must find what
works for them, we find
that dam raising
produces happier does
and healthier and
happier kids if managed
properly.
................................................
To sum up this thread,
let me emphathize again
the importance of having
a clean herd and being a
responsible breeder by
being responsible not
spreading disease. This
is important whether you
have $50 goats or $1000
goats. Here at
Pruittville, we will
pull a pre-ordered kid
at birth and feed it
pasteurized milk and
heat-treated colostrum.
It is not being a
responsible breeder to
spread disease by
pretending or hoping
that one's herd is
clean.
While testing may not be
100% accurate, it is
still an excellent tool
at your disposal. Use
it! Cull all disease
from your herd by
isolating or
butchering. This is a
price I was willing to
pay years ago to have a
clean herd and have
maintained that status
for many years now.
However I personally
know of goat breeders
that have not done this
and continue to spread
disease even after years
of knowledge of knowing
how to prevent it
because they will not
cull or isolate diseased
animals from the herd.
Although heat treating
the colostrum or
pastuerizing the milk is
not 100% foolproof, it
is a great tool. There
are a number of reasons
why it is not failproof.
You can fail to reach
and hold the proper
temperature on the
colostrum or have
equipment failure and
the temperature not
reach the desired temps
or simply have human
error. Chances of human
error can increase when
you have others
(children, hired help,
or spouses) do your
pastuerizing.
By testing, you can
separate the affected
animals and not use
their milk for animal
consumption.
Let's face it, dam
raising increases the
risk of spreading
disease because of
feeding raw milk to your
kids just as drinking
raw milk does when
feeding for human
consumption.
Pastuerizing minimizes
those risk. Testing
(isolating and culling)
further minimizes those
risks. By all means, do
your part in preventing
the spread of disease by
first making certain
your herd is clean and
then supplying only
disease free animals for
the enjoyment of
others.
Tim Pruit
|
