Weaning Woes

Before you know it, it will be Sandra's turn to be weaned

Leda and Valencia are almost three months old, over forty pounds and eating alfalfa hay very well. To me, this means time to start weaning. At the most, they were drinking 60 ounces twice a day. I've been slowly bringing that number down and now they are both getting about half of that.

The first problem with weaning is that it makes me feel mean. I'm used to giving my babies whatever they want and now I'm telling them no. The "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" noises as the barn are reaching a fever pitch. The second problem is that Sandra is on a lambar, meaning she has cooled milk available to her at all hours. Valencia and Leda were both on a lambar when I bought them, but I trained them to take a bottle instead.  Valencia was able to remember how a lambar is used, but Leda wasn't. Since Valencia is such a smarty-pants, I can't leave the lambar open to the whole pen. The biggest problem is that the twins take out their weaning frustrations on poor little Sandra. I had just put the three of them together with good results, and now I have to separate Sandra. Even though she had a bloodied horn bud the other day, she'd still prefer to be with her friends. I've managed to upset all three of the babies, the same week as the show.

Weaning is such a controversial topic in the dairy goat world. Some people will think I'm weaning early, some will think I'm weaning late. I've been told to base weaning on weight, how much food they're eating and more. With so much conflicting information, I'm kind of playing it by ear. I want my girls to develop a good rumen without losing condition. I'm encouraging them to eat more of their medicated feed and less milk. They've got the hay thing down for sure. I'll continue giving them milk until I'm sure they're going to be ok. Wish me luck in this crazy process.