• Weaning Kids
• Weak Kids or Floppy Kids?

WEANING KIDS

WEANING is one of the two most stressful times in a kid's life, other than being born. Weaning is the first time in the kid's life that it is without the antibodies in its dam's milk that protect it from diseases, yet the kid's immune system is far from fully developed.

Intact bucklings must be weaned at three months of age to keep them from breeding female members of their herd, including doelings capable of breeding but who are too young. Doelings can stay with their dams longer.

The weaning protocol used at Onion Creek Ranch in Texas is offered for your review:

All kids are dewormed, inoculated with their initial and booster CD/T and pneumonia vaccinations, and have had all eartags inserted before weaning. My article titled Deworming and Vaccination Schedules appears on the Articles page of _www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

I wean kids in the morning of a good-weather day. Weather conditions such as rain, high heat, or extreme cold are avoided. Morning is chosen so that kids have time to learn their new surroundings before nightfall. Kids are separated from their dams at the central working pens. If the distance is great, goats are trailered to their new location. If the distance is short but the alleys are dusty from lack of rain, then the route that the goats will travel on foot will be watered to avoid respiratory problems like inhalation pneumonia. The goal is always to avoid stress.

When weaning kids , I never wean just one or two kids and put them into a herd of already-weaned kids. They will be harassed to the point of exhaustion as the pecking order is re-established. I establish a mini-herd of weanlings, then wait several days or a week to introduce this established small herd of at least three to five (3 to 5) kids into the larger weaned group in the morning of a good-weather day. Doelings are not as aggressive as bucklings, but they too will chase and mount each other until everyone accepts their new positions in the group.

Polled bucklings and doelings (goats born naturally without horns) trying to establish their place in the pecking order of mostly horned goats in hot climates can collapse and die of heatstroke. Horns act as radiators to remove heat from the body. This is another reason to NEVER DISBUD goats.

Weaned kids are moved to pens/pastures as far away from their dams as possible. Stress can cause illness and even result in a kid's death, so my goal is to minimize stress at all times. Kids and dams calling to each other for days is stressful to everyone. A common fenceline between males and females is not good management because it allows direct access of males to females, resulting in "party girls" who get bred too young through the fence and produce unwanted matings. Males and females need to be penned away from each other. And far away from their dams after weaning.

Check your fencelines before nightfall and at daylight to make sure that newly-weaned kids haven't gotten themselves caught in fences or into other life-threatening situations as the pecking order is re-set and as they try to find a way back to their dams who are calling to them.

Feed the weaned kids after they are in their new pastures. Eating together is a group activity that will add some routine to the new herd. Kids tend to wander, getting lost from the main group, and become targets for predators. Put an older buck in with the weaned bucklings and an older doe in with the weaned doelins to create a leader for them to follow. Herding kid goats is like trying to herd chickens, i.e. they go in all directions.

The weaning process puts stress on the dam, too. I wean one kid per dam each week, starting the first week of weaning with the biggest buckling. This process allows the doe's body to lower milk output gradually. Weaning all kids at one time can send her udder into milk overload. This is especially true of dairy and dairy-influenced goats, including Boers and Kikos, both breeds of which have significant dairy genetics in them. Remove all kids at one time and the dam's udder is going to be uncomfortably tight soon. A too-full udder makes her miserable, the potential for congested udder or mastitis is increased, and you likely will have to milk the dam. Do not take the dam off water. Repeat: Do NOT EVER take the dam off water. Meat-goat breeds without dairy influence like I raise seldom have this drying-up problem, but I choose to be careful when drying off dams.

Goats are a small species subject to predation, so livestock guardian dogs are essential in pastures of newly-weaned goats. An experienced livestock guardian dog should not hurt kids but it can initially frighten them when the dog tries to move a straying kid back to the herd by nudging it. LGD’s should have experience with older goats who will rough them up a bit if they get out of line before they ever are put in with dams and kids. Remember that each livestock guardian dog is its own unique individual with challenges that you must either adapt to, resolve, or change out the dog for one that works under your management conditions. See my article on Livestock Guardian Dogs on the Articles page of _www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

Growing kids require a higher level of nutrition than mature goats, so be prepared to provide quality nutrition to these weanlings as they transition to eating on their own. Do not creep-feed (free-choice) them grain products or you will run the risk of ruminal acidosis, bloat, or founder. Do not ever suddenly take any goat off one type of feed and change to another feed type. My article on how to feed newly-weaned kids is on the Articles page at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com.

This is a very vulnerable time because they no longer are receiving antibodies in their dams' milk that protect them from disease yet their own immune systems are immature. Just weaned kids are very susceptible to Haemonchus contortus (barberpole worm) infestation. These worms suck blood, causing anemia, and can kill them. Doing fecals randomly monthly (and treating accordingly) is essential. Because you dewormed doesn't mean that it worked.

Suzanne W. Gasparotto, ONION CREEK RANCH, Texas 4.1.26