Lactation and weaning

Lactation places a significant physiological strain on does and careful nutritional management is required to ensure maximum weaning percentages and reasonable body condition of the doe in preparation for joining after weaning.

Health and nutrition during lactation

Lactating does have a high nutrient demand and meeting this demand is essential if kid(s) are to achieve high growth rates. Demand can be met through dietary intake and by mobilising body reserves stored as fat. In early lactation, does will struggle to eat enough food to fulfil the high energy demands of milk production, so fat is often mobilised resulting is a lost condition.

Management options that should be considered include:

• Providing lactating does with paddocks containing high volumes of good quality feed.
• Managing doe condition scores so that it does not fall below 2 as this could have negative impacts in the next reproductive cycle.
• Supplementary feeding when necessary.

It is important to monitor the health of does during lactation as good health is required to maximise milk production. Diseases that can affect lactating does include pregnancy toxaemia and mastitis.

Nutrition and health during lactation play an important role in supporting lactating does and kid growth rate and development. The good nutrition and health of a doe during lactation maximises the opportunity for the kid to reach its growth potential.

Growing kids

To maximise potential returns kids must reach market specifications as quickly as possible. If female kids are to be kept as breeders, the aim is to achieve adequate weight and condition for their first mating.

Producers should set appropriate growth rate targets to achieve production goals and then monitor actual growth rates. Growth rates will vary between breeds, however, a high quality pasture or feed is required to maximise growth rate potential. Good feed availability is particularly important in maximising growth rates when there is a high proportion of multiple births.

Kidding usually occurs over a period of several weeks. Marking should take place as soon as possible after kidding with the ideal age to castrate bucks being between the ages of 10 days and 6 weeks old. The older the kid, the greater the potential shock.

Marking usually involves husbandry procedures such as ear tagging with an NLIS ear tag containing the Property Identification Code (mandatory for all managed goats), vaccination for clostridial diseases and castration where the male portion are not being kept. Producers should choose a mild day for marking and mark early in the day to allow time for mothering-up.

Make sure kids are treated for parasites and diseases as these can impact on growth rates and the overall condition of the animal.

Weaning management

Weaning is a stressful time for both does and kids. Minimising stress levels will reduce production losses and the potential for injury due to misadventure.

During weaning, producers should:

• Aim to reduce the amount of walking or calling by either confining does and kids to separate yards or keeping them out of sight and hearing range of each other.
• Ensure that paddocks or yards used for weaning are securely fenced. Goats are particularly adept at climbing over, under or through many types of fences.

To meet market specifications as quickly as possible, it is important to minimise the disruption in growth rate (or growth check) that kids can experience after weaning.

This can be achieved by:

• Introducing kids to the type of feed they will be on after weaning several weeks before they are weaned.
• Drafting and managing kids according to sex, size and behaviour to reduce bullying and allow smaller kids to develop.
• Monitoring the mob closely to identify shy feeders and separating these when identified (shy feeders may require special treatment and supplements to establish normal eating habits).
• Monitoring worm burdens or the presence of other diseases and treating as required and before these become a major problem.

Good nutrition and goat health are critical to realising the genetic potential of goats. Once a breeding objective has been established and an investment in genetics made, goat health and nutrition must be managed to maximise growth rates and see that the breeding objective is achieved as quickly as possible. The sooner market specifications can be met, the more productive and profitable an enterprise can be.