Baby goat :D He was born last wednesday he`s black & white, absolutely gorgeous & I`ve called him Noel :D
The first day he was trying to suckle but couldn`t seem to get the hang of it so by the evening I decided to milk her a little & give it him in a bottle, then kept persevering with him & he finally got the knack! Also one her teet was so big & hot by now It must have been uncomfortable for her & thought it could turn to mastitis by the morning so milked that one. Must say I done myself proud You might remember earlier in the yr I tried very hard to milk our other goat & only got a glass full :oops: but Rachel(thats her name) was so easy & I was so determined I did it :D She`s producing too much milk for just 1 kid so I`ve been milking her twice a day but today she seems to have less & I only milked her once..but she managed to knock the pail over :oops :D
So thats why I had to get me finger better, Ive had to use it each day!!!!
Anyway little Noels doing great & is already starting to jump & gambol around :D
Will try n get some pics tomorrow :)

Christine, Spain.

Awww congrats Christine - I'd love to see some piccies, I love goats and would love to own some oneday!!

<<The first day he was trying to suckle but couldn't seem to get the hang of it>>

This seems quite common C. One of my sister's litters (??) had a problem, neither Trixie or Dixie got the idea at first. Course, with a mum like Pixie I'm not surprised, she was a real bitch! You never turned you back on that one. She had several goes at me in her time! Her mother Gwen was the opposite! Loved everyone and was a firm favourite with school children. She regularly received visits by the local school on their nature walks.

Have you shown him where the freezer is yet C?

All the best, J

I have a thing about goats because as a child we had a billy goat in residence in the house across the lane. It was so horrendous, you had to sneak into your yard from the lane otherwise his horns connected with your rear end. Many a local man was hear screaming as they walked home from the local pub and had to be rescued from the ditch!!!!

Well a number of yrs back Pat we were holidaying in place called Fishponds & they had a billy goat who seemed really lovely when we were the other side of the fence, so I decided to go in & get to know him better. I only got a little way into the field when he decided to charge me, I had to jump over the fence to escape him & oh just killed himself laughing!!! :rollseyes: I wasn`t impressed, never forgot it either & have been telling him we`re not keeping any males, he doesn`t believe me yet but he`ll see ;) :D

The femals are lovely tho, except one, she`s very independent & stubborn(she`s the one who escaped a few times) & she`s got big horns as well :shock: but she`s sweet & not aggressive, just typical female, nosey, bossy & wants her own way all the time :D :D The young 8mth old is mad, full of beans, fearless, got to investigate every little thing & jumps up & around onto everything & she`s dying to check out the little feller :)

Christine, Spain.

Think it must be J but at the end of the day both him n mum were quite agitated, not to mention my back from squating down trying to show him!
I`ve got a Gwen too & she`s a little sweety except when it comes to her brother, she torments him to death :D but she was a fab mum to her pups earlier this yr & g/kids love talking her for walks :D

*Have you shown him where the freezer is yet C?*

Not yet J, thought I`d fatten him up first, reckon he should be ready for the table round about Easter time???? ;) :D :D

Christine, Spain.

Congratulations Christine! :)

We used to breed goats, the kids are so cute aren't they? It's lovely to watch them prancing around, jumping on to bales etc. :D  We only ever ate one of ours and he tasted delicious but it was too much like eating a friend!   Twenty odd years later and we're still as sentimental with our cows. ;)

Does he do the tail wag when he suckles? :D

Kath.

When we had goats, we had british toggs to start with - pretty little girls who were beige & white - both with dangly toggles - who were called Penny Plaits & Tuppence Horns :D

Penny was a sweetie, a good mum and a lovely milker :  Tuppence was a horror - she knew she had horns & knew how to use them too!!   We took them both over to the stud goat at the same time - boy oh boy did our car stink on the way home (cavalier estate!!) when it came to kidding, Penny was a little star - our mentor came down & checked her over, said - oh - I think she'll have her kids by morning - but by the time friend was leaving - out popped babies 1, 2 & 3 - and they were all girls!!   Tuppence waited until the middle of the night, in the middle of a thunderstorm - bolted outside and, with some difficulty (me doing the James Herriot bit, up to my elbows in goat) produced 2 large billy kids!    All 5 flourished though - but imagine the looks we got when we had all 5 in the car (good ole' cavalier!) to take them to the vet's for dehorning!

Later, we had a couple of angora goats, and these kids were a lot tinier than the Togs - about the size of the cats - and we had one who was a real little pet - we lost her one day & found her up on one of the beds sleeping with one of the cats - we'd notified the police & everyone about the fact that our little goat had been "kid-napped"!!

Margot

We started with 3 British Saanans, Min and Mo (quiet sensible sisters) and Bodie (young and silly) then later got a British Tog. called Bambi (much prettier than the Saanans but a complete b****r to milk) 

They were such characters, always up to tricks and causing a panic, like getting firmly wedged between a wall and our caravan, and raiding the feed bins so needing a trip to the vets (we got funny looks too... our goatmobile was a VW camper van!). Our next-door neighbours had Nubian goats and their children and I used go for walks on the nearby disused railway line with a goat apiece so that they could eat the willow herb, that got us some VERY funny looks! :D

I think of all the different animals we've owned, I've enjoyed the goats best. Wonderful creatures. :)

Kath.

Yes he`s so cute & he does the tail wagging & they`ve all got toggles but they`re not a *breed* as such, just local goats :) Got enough with pedigree dogs so decided to go for ones that are local on the assumption they`ll be hardy,healthy, used to the climate & terrain :)
Well mums turning into a little b****r!! she knocked the milking pail over(milk in it) night before last & then managed to stand in it last night :D
Kath we had said in the beginning any males would be for the table but in reality.....especially as he now jumps all over me & snuggles up to me when I pick him up just the cuddliest little thing ever :)
Morgot our 1 with the big horns doesn`t use them lucky for us :oops: but she has gone wondering & the last time she managed to disappear she went about 12km & linked up to a herd of goats on a farm there!! Our friend the farmer facing us, who got her for us, saw her there when he was doing the fields & we had to go the police & prove she was ours as the farmer who`s goats she linked up with had reported to them that she wondered in. Hubby brought her back in the back of our chrysler which is mine for the dogs, I wasn`t impressed with the state she left it in!!!!

Ok a couple of q`s for you here. When can we let mum n baby out with the others together & when does he start eating proper food & what kind? He`s already starting to nibble her food & investigate the grass :) We`ve got books but like to hear live experiences as well :D

Christine, Spain.

ps I`ve got pics on the camera so will put them on pc a bit later & send you them :)

Running late this am Christine, but will try & respond from work if I get the chance

Margot

Right Christine - very briefly:  we would let our babies & mums out into the "home paddock" when Mum felt ready to let them out!   Mum is usually very protective of babies & won't let them far out of her sight - for the first few days.   The others in the herd usually readily accept kids - just keep an eye out for any bullying!!

We'd let ours feed ad lib from Mum for the first two to three weeks - the more the kid feeds, the more milk Mum produces and, at the same time, gets all the important immunity from Mum.  We would just milk mum off for that period of time, freeze the milk, just in case it would be needed to feed another kid by bottle.   Between 2 & 3 weeks, we'd separate Mum & baby, milk mum off morning & evening, and then bottle feed kid - wine bottle with push in teat :D - 4 times a day (6am, 12 noon, 6 pm & 10pm) for 2 or 3 weeks, taking it down to 3 times a day by 6 weeks, then twice a day for another 2 - 3 months (often more, if children were around, who wanted to feed them!!).   They will nibble on sweet hay, and also on goat nuts (we bought these from local mills - Marriages - so have absolutely no suggestions as to manufacturers - know that they smelt wonderful, contained mollasses as well as cereals).    We managed to swap our baby billies at about 6 weeks, so never experienced eating "our" babies :( !

Hope this helps.   BTW I also have a George Mcleoud (sp?) book on homeopathic goat rearing which, if you can get a copy (out of print now, I would imagine) would help you.

Regards

Margot 

Thanks Margot :)
She`s not ready to go with the others I don`t think. They are in cinverted 4 dog kennels, so inside kennels filled with hay/straw then a run split in 2 which leads out to the field, then at the bottom a bigger field so when the others go to the big field she comes out of the run but only for a few mins then she`os off back into the run!!! So we`ve put hay down in the bottom of the run & a little dog bed filled with it as well & the kid settles down in there :D & they both wonder in & out of the kennels & run but she doesn`t want to go out to the field. We shut the door to the kennels cos the others can use a shelter we built in the big field but mostly they hang around looking in! We`ll just let her decide when she`s ready :)
We feed them a mix of dry beans, its what they were being fed before we got them & the goat herds feed them on as well, we`ve got a lot of  mixed grasses in the field & trees n stuff as well. I`ve also been giving her fruit/veg/oats/barley & she devours it :D Why do you seperate him from mum 2/3wks old I`d just as soon leave him to feed from her till older if I can? Didn`t know I could freeze the milk, do I have to do anything to it first & what did you freeze it in, a plastic drinks bottle?
The kids only suckling from one teat, the othe one started to get bigger agin & I`m now milking it twice a day. She was a right madam today, after I`d sterilised the pail off I went this morning, got settled down & half way thru milking her she put her dirty hoof right in the pail then started nibbling my hair while the kid was jumping on & off me :D arghhhhhhh, still the dogs will be happy tomorrow when they get an extra drink of milk :D
We`ve got a few neighbours who want him but hubby wants to keep him. All I can see is trouble, I mean it`s bad enough keeping my male dogs away from my in heat girls, can you imagine keeping billy Noel away from 4 nannies??????? ;) I don`t think so......
Christine, Spain.
Thanks for the tip on G. Mcloud, I1ve got a couple of his books but not that one so I`ll have a nose around the net see if I can find it :)