I have two questions 1. is shaving the udder before birth necessary? 2. How do you share milk with goat kids?
Kids are due between the 2 and 14 of December it’s her second time kidding but her first time with me.
You don't need to shave the udder. You would wait at least 2 weeks before milking. Make sure kids are nursing and growing before milking.
I dont shave my goats unless they are super hairy.. When kids are two weeks old and in good health I pen them in a safe kid pen with a tiny bit of feed to get them started on and chaffhay and hay and a small dish of water. I milk mom in the morning at 12 hr mark..then they get babies the rest of the day. I milk mom totally out..she will save up some for baby so no worries about stealing into their portion. The first several days they all act like you did the most terrible thing lol soon moms will be yelling at you that its bed time to come get the kids lol. Both babies and moms get into a routine. Increase babies feed amount as they eat more and tummies get used to it.
Shaving makes the udder very prickly and you don't want those spiky hairs discouraging brand new kids from latching on and suckling. It's also too cold this time of year to shave udders. Those girls need every bit of the scant hair they have in that area. Brrrr! Good luck with those kidlets!
A lot of people start at 4 weeks and separate the kids from the doe at night, and then milk in the morning and allow the kids to nurse during the day. Thats what I plan to do when my does kid.
Lol..good point. We kid late spring so not an issue here..but definitely would be a bit chilly this time of year. I have had only one doe we had to shave..she was so hairy couldn't even see her teats lol.i tell yah. She was part buffalo or something lol.
I don't shave the udder, however I do shave around the escutcheon and under the tail - less gooy mess to get stuck and you can keep an eye on udder health and development.
Sometimes I shave them, sometimes not. This season, I chose not...mostly because I didn't feel like doing it. None of my girls have super hairy udders, and we're in the cold season. In the summer I give them an all-over shave so their udder gets shaved then. We will milk twice a day from kidding. But we don't keep any milk until after 2 weeks. Mostly because that's how long it takes here for the taste to adjust. We separate kids at night and milk mom in the morning, then allow the kids back with her during the day. But we also milk in the evening, whatever is left. We have some that produce more than their kids take.
I have a nigerian hopefully bred... she will have an ultrasound soon. And I have a nubian I'm waiting to come back into heat so I can breed her. Very exciting.
So from this thread I have gathered that I won’t shave just dry her off and I will lock up the kids at night, milk in the morning, and then let them play with her the rest of the day
