Having a baby or young goat is great fun. Behind its cuteness, young goats still need careful care in order to grow well. Try to follow some of the best general rules to keep this young goat healthy and happy.
Step
Part 1 of 4: Caring for Baby Goats
Step 1. Provide a dry and warm place
One way to have healthy and happy young goats is to provide them with a proper place to live. Baby goats need a warm and dry place. Cold or damp places can bring disease and harm their health.
- Make sure the bed is really warm. Piles of dried pine leaves, straw, and grass can be used as bedding.
- Change the bedding if it gets wet.
- If the coop feels cold, you will need to add lights to add warmth. Make sure the heating lamp is safe and does not pose a potential fire hazard. Make sure the light is about 1 meter above the kid. Also make sure the kid can move to a cooler area if the weather gets too warm.
Step 2. Clean the umbilical cord
The umbilical cord should be cut naturally between the baby goat and the mother. However, a recently severed umbilical cord can become infected and require greater attention.
- Never break the umbilical cord that connects the baby goat to its mother. Let the rope break naturally. You should only cut the rope if it is more than 10 cm long after breaking from the parent.
- If you're not sure what to do, just make sure there's a veterinarian on hand during the birth.
- If the umbilical cord is still too long, you will need to cut it closer to the baby's belly.
- Cut between 7, 5-10 cm.
- Always use tools that have been sterilized. Make sure all tools, including scissors, are sharp enough when cutting.
- Dip the umbilical cord in iodine, betadine, or diluted chlorhexidine. This method can kill bacteria and prevent infection, as well as help the umbilical cord to dry faster.
- The umbilical cord usually detaches within three weeks.
Step 3. Leave the baby goat with the mother
After helping cut the umbilical cord, leave the baby goat with its mother. The mother will clean the baby goat by licking its body.
- Let the mother clean the baby goat to strengthen the bond.
- Creating a bond between mother and baby is very important.
- Stay with the mother and baby goats. Clean the birth area and keep an eye on the condition of the baby goats.
- Shortly after the baby goat is born, the placenta will follow. Let the mother goat eat the placenta at will and discard the rest.
Step 4. Let the baby goat suckle the mother, the first milk, or colostrum, is very important
Goat's mother's milk contains important antibodies that her cubs need to survive.
- The calf should be able to suckle for the first time within an hour.
- Baby goats need to feed 4 or 5 times a day.
- Pull a little flow of milk from the mother to ensure the milk can flow smoothly without being blocked by anything.
- Watch the baby goat to make sure it can drink milk. If the baby goat is having trouble finding the source of the milk, help direct it.
- If the young goat cannot drink directly from its mother, give colostrum via a bottle. Milk for baby goats does not have to come from the mother, but can also come from other goats that produce milk.
- You can also get colostrum in stores. If you decide to buy colostrum, you should prepare a refrigerator to store it.
Part 2 of 4: Bottle Feeding
Step 1. Immediately decide if you want to directly bottle feed the baby goat
You may need to take action to bottle-feed your baby goat instead of letting it drink milk directly from its mother. Later when they grow up, these goats will become tame and friendly adult goats.
- If you decide to let the mother breastfeed, keep an eye on the lamb and make sure it can suckle without any problems. Sometimes it is the mother who refuses to breastfeed her children. If that happens, you should replace it with a bottle.
- If you choose to let the mother breastfeed her young, take the time to be with her. The young goats will grow into adult goats who feel comfortable and calm when around humans.
- Whatever your choice, young goats need milk for at least eight weeks.
- Always sterilize bottles and all other feeding equipment.
- When bottle feeding, you can take milk from the mother, another goat that also produces milk, or buy it at a livestock supply store.
- Dramatic changes in a goat's diet or lifestyle can have an impact on the mood and density of these animals' droppings. If your vet tells you to mix a special powder into the milk (if the goat is getting milk from a bottle), don't give it all in one large dose. You may want to give half the dose for a period of 2 days. Watch the kid's response. If the goat likes it, give it in whole doses.
Step 2. Study the feeding schedule of the goats
By adhering to a feeding schedule, the young goat will get the right amount of food and nutrition. Follow this schedule to make sure your goats are getting the right food:
- When aged 1 to 3 days, give drink 150 ml of milk 4 times a day.
- When aged 4 to 10 days, give drink 300 ml of milk 4 times a day.
- When aged 10 to 14 years, give drink milk 400-500 ml 3 times a day. start adding clean hay to the diet.
- At 2 to 3 weeks of age, add milk in the morning and evening to 1 liter, reduce milk during the day until there is none at all. Add fresh grass and 100 g of bran to his diet.
- At 3 to 8 weeks of age, give 1 liter of milk 2 times a day.
- At 8 weeks of age or already weighing 18 kg, give 500 ml of milk a day before weaning.
Step 3. Wean your goat
At some point, your baby goat will not need milk, either from the bottle or the mother. Help the kid go through the weaning stage by slowly introducing solid foods, such as hay and fresh grass, while reducing the amount of milk given.
- Give hay, wheat, fresh grass, and clean water so that your goats begin to learn to eat food instead of milk.
- Healthy young goats are generally ready to be weaned at the age of 30 days.
- A goat can start weaning when it weighs 12-15 kg or 2 times its birth weight.
- You can introduce wheat when the chicks are a week old to help with rumen development.
Part 3 of 4: Further Treatment
Step 1. Turn off the horn shoots of the young goats
In the wild, horns are very useful for goats to defend themselves. However, for goats that have been tamed, horns can actually be dangerous. The goats could hurt each other or their horns could get caught around the pen. Removing the horns will save both you and the goat itself.
- If you feel that you are unable to kill the young goat's horn buds, contact your veterinarian. Killing horn shoots carelessly can lead to serious problems.
- Kill horn shoots when the goats are a week old. Killing horn shoots will become more difficult as the goat ages.
- Usually, the process of killing this horn shoot will use a special tool made of iron. This tool will be heated to a high temperature before being used to kill the horn shoots.
Step 2. Don't forget to vaccinate the goats
It is true that a goat's immune system is obtained from its mother's milk. However, there are some diseases that can still attack young goats. Vaccination helps prevent disease attacks in goats.
- When the goat is 30 days old, give Clostridium and the tetanus vaccine.
- Clostridium helps prevent overeating disease types C and D.
- Give a CD&T booster injection about 3-4 weeks later. Even if you can inject the vaccine yourself, you should still learn from your vet or ask them to help with the vaccination process.
Step 3. Keep the meadow clean
If you mix chicks with other adult goats, make sure the pasture is clean. The young goat will start eating whatever plants it finds in the meadow. However, if there is too much feces in there, the young goat will soon fall ill.
- Eating from pastures filled with animal waste can lead to young goats being attacked by worms and other parasites.
- Try to keep the meadow where the goats eat is always free from animal waste and also arrive.
- You may need to separate the young goats from other adult goats on different pastures.
Step 4. Meet medical needs on a regular basis
Goats, especially very young ones, require regular medical procedures and examinations. Take care of your baby goats and provide regular care while the goats grow up.
- Schedule regular checkups by the vet.
- Goats, adults and children alike, should be regularly screened for parasites. The vet will take a stool sample to find out how to get rid of the worms in the goat's body.
- Overcome worms in goats 2 times in 1 year, during the dry season and the rainy season.
- Check the goat's body temperature with a rectal thermometer. Normal temperature is usually around 38 degrees Celsius.
- Get rid of fleas on goats. Fleas are small insects that inhabit goat hair. You can buy flea powder at the farm store and regularly shear the goats to stop the parasite from growing.
Step 5. Train the goats from an early age
If you intend to train it, the sooner the better. Goats who are trained from an early age will learn faster than if they are trained when they are older.
Part 4 of 4: Supporting the Healthy Growth of Goats
Step 1. Prepare the cage and bed
Even if they are big, your goats still need a proper cage and bedding. This cage must be able to block the wind, provide warmth, and shelter the goats from the rain. The bed must always be clean and dry.
- Make sure your cage doesn't get too much wind.
- In dry, warm weather, you'll need at least a three-ply cage.
- When the weather gets cooler, make sure your goat pen is tightly closed.
- A goat needs 1 square meter of space for the cage if this goat is allowed to forage in grassy fields.
- The ground floor can help absorb goat urine. Cover it with straw to keep the goat's resting place comfortable and warm. You can also use sawdust for goat bedding.
Step 2. Give the goat new food
Until the age of 1 or 2 months, young goats will drink more milk and water. During and after the weaning process, goats will try to eat other foods.
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Provide the following foods while your goats grow up:
- Straw.
- alfalfa grass
- Grass (eating directly on the grassy field).
- Corn Tebon
- Calliandra leaves
- jackfruit leaves
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Avoid planting poisonous plants near goats:
- Distance
- Daffodils
- Oleandra
Step 3. Invite your goat to meet a lot of people
If you want your young goat to grow up to be a friendly and loyal pet--and also comfortable around humans--, let them follow you around. So that the goat always follows you, it's easy, just play with it often.
- The first moments of his birth were critical. When you are born, you have to be there with the young goats. Spend time with the cubs and their mothers. Let the goats get to know you and the mother.
- During the first two days from birth, you need to spend a lot of time with the goat.
- Let your goats play with other goats. By allowing the kid to join the herd, after following you around, the kid will view you as a member of the herd.
- Do not allow young goats near adult goats that are sick. The immune system of young goats is not as strong as that of adult goats. Any exposure to the source of the disease can easily affect the health of the young.
Tips
- Always be prepared. If you suspect a baby goat will be born soon, be prepared. Prepare a clean and warm room and collect all the necessary equipment.
- Watch the mother goat and her baby carefully. Always monitor all problems that may arise.
- If the goat's gums are white, it means that the condition is not very good.
