by Quentin Morris

Created on: November 23, 2008   Last Updated: December 30, 2010

Tips for raising dairy goat kids

Any dairy goat owner knows that working with does and especially kids can be great fun and extremely rewarding. Goats are full of personality and great for homestead farmers as they are small, friendly and provide milk and meat in abundance. However a lot of time and energy goes into raising fit and healthy dairy goat kids and careful attention must be paid to ensure their successful growth into dairy goats. It's a challenge, but one well worth taking on for the dedicated homestead farmer.

Birth

If you breed your kid yourself, ensure that it is born into a clean environment. Straw is the best bedding to use for the early days as it is soft and comfortable for the kid. Change the bedding regularly to keep the area clean and avoid a build-up of harmful bacteria. If the kid is born in cold weather, well monitored heat lamps can be used to maintain a warm temperature.

It is essential that you get your kid to feed. The first milk the doe produces is called colostrum. Thicker and more yellow in colour than normal goat's milk, it provides a whole host of nutrients and antibodies which are essential for the health of the young kid in the first few days. If the doe fails to produce good quality colostrum or the kid won't feed, powdered colostrum can be used instead. Ideally the colostrum must be fed within six hours of birth and can be fed for the first three days. If the kid won't take to the doe or bottle, a feeding tube can be used to ensure intake. After this, milk formula can be bottle fed to the kid. Soda bottles with a teat attached are ideal for this job. If you have several kids, feeders with teats attached are available and much less time consuming. It is extremely important to keep these clean to prevent infections.

Weaning

Goats are browsing ruminants. This simply means that they eat broad variety of feedstuffs which are fermented by bacteria in the gut before being digested by bacteria in the small intestine. Goats must therefore be fed a diet high in digestible nutrients otherwise they will become unwell. However for the first 7 14 days of life, kids cannot yet digest in this way, and survive primarily on milk. The kid is then gradually weaned onto dry feeds but must not be weaned completely until it is a fully functioning ruminant. Through good pre-weaning management you can ensure this transition goes smoothly. Kids should be weaned at about four to five months of age.

Weaning takes place by gradually reducing the number

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