Posted by Jon Williamson on December 31, 2000 at 19:58:06:
Good evening.
I have a Nubian doe, bred to a Boer buck, who delivered three kids on Christmas night. A VERY unexpected final Christmas present.
One kid, female, is good sized, is nursing well, and is accepted by the mother.
The other two kids, one male and one female, are much smaller than the first one. The little buck was virtually buried in the stable litter by his mother and ignored when we found them. Almost dead from hypothermia. The little doe was doing a bit better, but was not up and walking and definitely not nursing.
We brought the two small ones into the house, got them warmed up, got a decent amount of colostrum into them that first day. Since then, they are bottle feeding ok, about every 2 to 4 hours, except from midnight to about 7 AM, when I sleep (sorry). The little doe is taking about 22 ounces of milk a day, while the little buck is taking about 20 ounces per day.
They are very skinny, but are back in the shed (we are in Michigan, by the way, so temps away from the heat lamp are down as low as the single digits. All three are doing OK.
My question, is how to get the mother to take back these two? She tries to stomp them when I bring them over to nurse from her, even though she rarely kicks when I milk her (this is my first freshening with her, I don't know if she has kidded before). Even with the one kid nursing, I'm getting at least three quarts a day from her.
Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. I'll keep bottle feeding the two runts if I must, but I'm back to work Tuesday and my daughter, who has been an enormous help, goes back to school the 8th, which means feeding will be much further apart.
I don't expect to keep either of these two runts to breed, I'll probably put them in the freezer next fall or early winter. I do want to get them back to their mother, though, if I can find a way.
I was thinking of catching some urine, either from the kid she is nursing or from the mother and rubbing that scent on the two runts. She will approach them, but will not lick them or otherwise groom them.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
-- Jon (jon_w@topechelon.com), December 31, 2000