Chat
08-11-2014, 08:42 PM
I"ll bet they do just fine. I believe Cuzco was weaned at six weeks. I was told he was eight weeks and that that was old enough (I knew NOTHING about goats at the time) but after raising a few babies and looking back at my old photos I don't think there's any way he could have been eight weeks old. I never fed him much grain and no alfalfa--he just got pasture with my horses--and he ended up fine and healthy. I think he took longer to mature, but he's been phenomenally healthy his whole life. Not that I recommend doing that now that I know better, but it makes me less worried about doing everything perfectly when I know you can do it all "wrong" and still get a very large, healthy goat.
Lilly started weaning Finn at around 8 weeks. He's nearly 12 weeks now and she still lets him get snacks here and there, but I don't see much vigorous nursing any more, and it looks like she's starting to dry up a bit. I haven't let it bother me. He's a big, strapping young buckling and he doesn't look any worse for having his milk cut back. In fact, I worry that he's going to be fat soon if I don't curtail his eating habits a bit. I don't want him looking like Pac-Man! Thankfully I'll have the boys in their own pen in about a week and no one is getting anything but natural browse and some grain twice a day for the younger ones. Pac-Man hasn't had grain all summer but he still looks like a pig! I can't wait till I can get him off the girls' alfalfa because it's turning him into a waddling lard!
I'll bet those kids of yours won't have any problems getting weaned now. My doelings last year weren't weaned until they were 4-5 months and it made them very large, but these boys are way bigger than the girls and they're obnoxious and raunchy and they have horns. No wonder their mothers want them gone as soon as possible!
Lilly started weaning Finn at around 8 weeks. He's nearly 12 weeks now and she still lets him get snacks here and there, but I don't see much vigorous nursing any more, and it looks like she's starting to dry up a bit. I haven't let it bother me. He's a big, strapping young buckling and he doesn't look any worse for having his milk cut back. In fact, I worry that he's going to be fat soon if I don't curtail his eating habits a bit. I don't want him looking like Pac-Man! Thankfully I'll have the boys in their own pen in about a week and no one is getting anything but natural browse and some grain twice a day for the younger ones. Pac-Man hasn't had grain all summer but he still looks like a pig! I can't wait till I can get him off the girls' alfalfa because it's turning him into a waddling lard!
I'll bet those kids of yours won't have any problems getting weaned now. My doelings last year weren't weaned until they were 4-5 months and it made them very large, but these boys are way bigger than the girls and they're obnoxious and raunchy and they have horns. No wonder their mothers want them gone as soon as possible!