sore teats

[bookwormom]

we bought a Saanen bucklings *the guy who deals with sheep and goats around here was looking for one for us, as they seem to be rare. *Well, the one he came up with was so little the umbilical cord had not fallen off and I wondered who in their right mind would separate a little one like that from it's momma. *Well, we kept him and since mommagoat is still milking I put him on her. She does not like it but with some sweet feat in front of her and some petting units and soft words she *gets sidetracked enough to forget he is not hers.
I milk her a little in the *morning and noticed that he is really rough on her nipples. *she is full of sores and scabs. *I put hydrogen peroxide and plantain oil on them and *milked her out and kept him away from her today. *I really don't know what to do with the fella, what to do if he keeps hurting her. *Anyone have a problem like that? *None of the kids we have raised so far have been that rough. *I do not relish feeding him a bottle.

At first I thought that she might have hurt herself on some briars, but it does not look like it, and besides, Bila, whom he nurses too, is getting the sores too and only on the teats, nothing on the udder, not a scratch.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I have a couple of three week old kids that still have a dried stump on the umbilicus. It isn't unusual for them to have it for over a week, two, or even up to three weeks. Your billy may be older than you assume.
If I am keeping a goat, I bottlefeed it. The personality is much better. It is more important for the does than the billys, but with either one it makes the goat a lot friendly and more approachable. They follow you like dogs.
If I were in your position, I would separate them, milk her, and bottle feed him. We actually just keep our babies in the house for a few days up to a couple of weeks. I use a dog crate, and keep a diaper on them if they are loose in the kitchen. I like to bottle feed the tiny babies about 5-6times a day, then cut down to three times a day as they age. If you overfeed them too long, they will get scours. He will cry for the first day or two for any nanny, but as he gets hungry, he will suckle a bottle. I prefer plain baby bottles, but some people like the prichard teats on popbottles.
On the nanny, just keep her udder clean and you can apply a bit of neosporin on any open wounds. It won't hurt the kids who get the milk, so unless you are using the milk yourselves, the neosporin won't hurt anything. I know one lady who swears by dipping after milking to close the orifice, but I don't bother. You can choose whatever you like.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

If you do decide to leave him on the nanny, I would just take him out to her three or four times a day. *Clean the udder after he eats and apply some neosporin or bacitration as necessary. I wouldn't leave him on her all the time because you don't want the udder super sore.
Her udder hasn't had a chance to "toughen up" over a few days like it would with a baby she had herself. Eventually, it will, but you might want to be safe by just letting him have access to her a few times a day. A damaged or sore udder can result in mastitis.

[bookwormom]

thanks for taking the time momma to7.
You must be a very motherly person. I might go to that trouble in a life and death situation in cold weather for a very young one. I figured he might be 3 weeks when we got him and we have had him for over a month now. but would you wean a three week old? I sure would not. anyway, I was hoping there was some trick to keep him from biting or whatever he does to the girls. there is no danger that he will nurse them several times a day because they knock him when he tries to get near them. I let him nurse in the morning and sometimes at night. he has gotten familiar and lets himself be petted. My husband has a way with animals, only when there is a problem then I get to deal with it.

[Anon001]

Mommato7 is right, I think.... the only difference is if you are saving the milk.... She eluded to the fact that antibiotic cream is okay for the kids, but I wouldn't want to use it if I'm saving the milk for the house. If the "scratches" are closed up and just scabs, I would just put petroleum jelly on after each milking and bottle the baby. If he is, as you suspect, over 7 weeks old, I would introduce him to grain and get him started on it as soon as possible, if you don't like to bottle feed. I've used baby bottles and prefer them on the babies, but as they get older, I switch to a calf bottle with a lamb/kid nipple. That works better for me.

Good luck,
Paul

[Naughty_Pines]

Question from a city-boy.
Would bag balm work on the supplier of the milk ?

[Anon001]

city boy. lol.... bag balm will work the same as petroleum jelly, for about 3 times the amount of money.. lol

[bookwormom]

I like to use plantain oil on sores, for humans or critters. it works not only as an emollient, but plantain is very healing, and there is nothing to worry about. .
so there is no way to break him of his rough ways and the only solution, if he is to get some milk into him ,is to feed it by bottle.
thanks guys

[momma_to_seven_chi]

If he is 7wks old, he should be eating hay and grain quite well. *I would wean him. *You can wean them at 5wks if you have to. *I like to wait until over 2-3mo, but a lot of people wean at 4-5wks because they want the milk.
We just bottle feed ours, and usually keep them in the kitchen or pantry until they are 2 or even 3 wks old if it's cold. *It makes for a friendlier goat because they imprint to humans. My daughter and I just moved a couple of month old goats out to the pen today. *I still have four that we are bottle feeding.

[harvester]

its not uncommon to separate kids from their dams early and bottle raise them instead. especially a buckling that was intended to be a future breeder. I commonly sepparate my kids from the moms at birth if i intend to use them as future breeders.
If the kid is nursing your does and making scratches and cuts on them i would highly suggest that you pull him off your does and bottle raise him. It unusual for young kids to be that rough on a teat. It is also unusual for a doe to allow this to happen with a strange kid. It could be that the does really arent happy about it and are kicking him off of their teats and are scratching themselves in the process.
Also your does that are being hand milked do not have the tougher skin on the teats as they would had they raised a kid from birth.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

its not uncommon to separate kids from their dams early and bottle raise them instead. especially a buckling that was intended to be a future breeder. I commonly separate my kids from the moms at birth if i intend to use them as future breeders. *


Unless you are going to slaughter the kids, bottlefeeding is the best choice. Mine never eat off their mother unless they are boers that will go to market.

[harvester]

*


Unless you are going to slaughter the kids, bottlefeeding is the best choice. Mine never eat off their mother unless they are boers that will go to market.


yep, thats what i do. kids raised on their mothers, esp. boers do much better and fatten faster than bottle raising. a future breeder, i preferr to bottle raise just because they are so much easier to manage when adults.
btw, my doe just had triplets last nite. hehehe. ;D

[silvergramma]

bag balm bag balm bag balm,, healed up that cow we were discussing on another thread she had scabs and sores...very tender ,, didnt take long either,, get from local feed store.. worth it... good luck.. you can also bucket feed a goat calf,, lamb also,, my polish friends were given a lot of bottle babies and its so much more convenient,, milk the momma ,,, make sure the milk is still warm,, dont nuke it ever,,, then let the baby suck your finger down into the warm milk and keep it there a few seconds each time you feed,,and pretty soon you'll have pail babies that will drink right from the pail..

[Naughty_Pines]

PaulNKS,
You heard it here first from a cityboy.
Maybe you should listen to city folks a little more often.

[Anon001]

PaulNKS,
You heard it here first from a cityboy.
Maybe you should listen to city folks a little more often.
I have no idea what you mean unless it was in reference to bag balm. I stand by what I said. Petroleum jelly will do just as good for a lot less money.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

btw, my doe just had triplets last nite. hehehe. ;D



Since you have some boer billys on nannys, I have a question. Do you leave the extra teats or clip them off? I know Boer are notorious for having 4 teat, and many pygmys have fish teats too. Do you just leave them for the kids, since they have larger litters?
I have never seen them on milking breeds, but I would assume if one was born with extra teats they would just be snipped early in life.

[R_Tapper]

bag balm bag balm bag balm,, healed up that cow we were discussing on another thread she had scabs and sores...very tender ,, didnt take long either,, get from local feed store.. worth it... good luck.. you can also bucket feed a goat calf,, lamb also,, my polish friends were given a lot of bottle babies and its so much more convenient,, milk the momma ,,, make sure the milk is still warm,, dont nuke it ever,,, then let the baby suck your finger down into the warm milk and keep it there a few seconds each time you feed,,and pretty soon you'll have pail babies that will drink right from the pail..

I was raised on a farm and we did the same thing. Trained the calves to drink out of a pail the same way your polish friends did, and as for the bag balm, yes, very well worth it because it has pine tar and other healing properties in it. Some nursing homes have been known to use it for bed ridden patients with bed sores and people have used it to soften psoriasis to help the healing process. Good stuff.