hello, I just had my first ever goat to kid and he is now doing very well (had some issues ) and is outside now with his mother. and is now 5 days old. I will be bottle feeding him every 6 hours with his mothers milk. My plan is to milk the mother 1x a day around lunch, and if the little guys needs more than what I'm feeding him I guess he'll have access to her. Comments? good? bad? Questions: I have an electric milker.... Do I just leave it on her until the milk quits coming? If one side has milk and the other doesn't do I finish up the one side? Is mastitis common? What should I look for? When I wean the kid from the bottle do I need to separate them or will the mother wean him on her own so I can continue to milk? Does anyone use iodine for teat dip?? Will this hurt the baby if he ingest some?
Is he nursing on mom? If he isn't nursing on mom, then you would only have to remove him if you are keeping him intact. Even with using a milking machine, you have to squirt out the first squirt into a cup to make sure the milk is ok and that first teat full has the most bacteria in it. Also, there is usually some milk left in the udder that you have to hand milk out afterward.
