OUR HERD MANAGEMENT METHODS:
GRAFTING KIDS ONTO ANOTHER DOE:
We get a LOT of quads -- too many! The very best thing you can do, is try to graft 1-2 kids onto another doe -- preferably one with a single or twins. Everyone will be happier -- especially the kid grafted over because it will get all it wants to eat. I've done this quite a bit over the years -- at least five times so far this year. What seems to work the best for me is if you have a doe ready to kid that looks like she's only having one or two, put her in a pen where you can watch her CLOSELY. Right before she kids, while she is in the final stages of labor, her hormones will be raging and she's going to want babies. As soon as you see her acting really interested in another doe's kids, or you see the mucous starting to string, pull one you want to graft and put it in with her. Make sure it is NOT right next door to the real mother. It will still work if you do this, but it makes it harder. You have to be right there watching vigilantly to make sure the new mother actually bonds with the baby and doesn't try to hurt it. If she pushes it away, it's too early. Either wait a bit, or take it out until the doe is closer to kidding. If she's not hurting the kid I leave it in with her but stand right there where I can rescue it if needed. What really helps if the first baby out is a bit stuck, or really big so the birth process takes longer. The more bonding time the better. It is so thrilling when the adoptive Mom starts talking to the adopted kid, and licking it all over. You know you've succeeded when she lets it nurse. Try to stay totally out of the pen during this process. One thing that usually helps is the adopted kid is active so while the adoptive Mom is chasing it around, talking and licking, it keeps her labor off a bit. Usually by the time she gets down to business and starts pushing, she's laying right next to her new (adoptive) baby and both are very content with the new arrangement. I have even had adoptive mothers seem to prefer their adopted baby over their natural babies!!! Sometimes even if I suspect the adoptive Mom is having more than 1-2 kids, but she's a percentage, I will try to get her to adopt a fullblood and then give her buck kids away as bottle babies when they're a day or two old -- freeing up her milk to raise the adopted fullblood and her daughters to their full genetic potential.
The beauty of this procedure is if you're wrong, and the adoptive Mother delivers 3-4 babies and you want to keep them all, you can put the adoptive kid back in with it's birth mother and I have NEVER had it be rejected. That could be because I don't smear them all over with amniotic fluid so they don't smell different. When we're all done, and the placenta is passing, and I know for sure I am going to leave the adoptive kid in with the adoptive Mom, THEN I will put some fluid on the baby -- but not until I'm sure it's staying there. I really don't think it's necessary, but do it just to make sure everyone smells the same.
The oldest kid I've done this to was 5 days old. Usually the quad babies are a little smaller so fit right in with the newborns. Sometimes they are even smaller than the newborns.
It's a little trickier with first time Moms. My motto is a percentage doe does NOT need to raise a single :) as all my percentages are dairy crosses. The first timers are not so quick to bond so sometimes you have to take away their baby until they bond with the adoptive kid. When you're sure they've bonded, you've seen the adopted kid nurse, etc., you can put the birth baby back in. You just have to be patient, and quiet. Try to keep everyone calm. My procedure might not work with does not used to being handled. They might stress too much -- I don't know. Almost all my does really like me so do not stress when I'm around. They usually want me there for support when they're kidding. Oh, they still sometimes snap at me to protect their babies (even their new adoptive ones!!!), but that usually stops once the placenta is passed.
The reason I do this is does are fine with quads for the first 1-3 weeks. After that, the demand for milk increases so much the kids will not be able to get enough to grow to their full genetic potential. The bigger kids will hog all the milk and the smaller ones (usually the does) will suffer. This is also why I like does with two clean, well-separated teats on each side. There is less fighting between the kids, and each kid gets more if each kid has it's own teat. Also, even if you leave that doe and kids in a pen by themselves, with free choice hay and some form of concentrate (grain, pellets, whatever), creep feed for the kids, etc., most of them just cannot eat enough to maintain their weight and produce enough milk for all 4 kids after the first few weeks.
I like the doelings to be dam raised as they need to learn to be mothers. Also I do not like full grown bucks that were bottle babies. They seem to suffer from species confusion and can be dangerous when they're full grown. I want my bucks to respect my space -- bottle babies don't!
If I cannot find an adoptive Mom, I either pull any kids with cull defects and give them away as bottle babies so the remaining kids have less competition, or else offer them a supplemental bottle 2-3 times a day. I have had triplets or quads where only 1-2 kids would take the bottle, and the mother did not reject that kid. I realize wether producers will not want to get rid of their buck kids as I do. This is just what I do, and it works here. We all have to make our own management decisions. I am lucky enough to have a friend with dairy goats who takes my bottle babies, raises them on their extra milk, and then they go to 4-H homes as market wethers.
Anyway, that's what I do here, and it works for me. It is so satisfying when, at the end of kidding season, no doe is raising more than 2-3 kids and everyone is happy and healthy. This way the does don't lose too much weight and the kids are always as full as can be! OH, one very important note: MAKE SURE TO WRITE DOWN WHICH DOE HAS WHICH BABIES -- especially if you don't tag them when they're born. When you graft over a lot of kids, it can get confusing. I always write on the birth charts, for both birth mother and adoptive mother, who has what :) Also, I try to tattoo right away. It also helps if the grafted kid is a different gender, or does not look like the birth kids :) For instance, Jupiter (fully spotted doe) just had triplets -- a solid red buck, a spotted buck, and a spotted doe. I grafted one of Ann Featherstone's quads onto her so now we have the three dark colored kids all snuggled up with a white bodied buck :) No way there to get confused!!!
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Gold Country Boers
Contact: Nancy Wilson
4335 Garden Bar Road
Lincoln, CA 95648-9719
Phone: (916) 645-8050
Fax: (916) 645-1936
E-mail: nawilson@psyber.com
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