Neb's herd

[Nanno]

I need to get more pictures of Boone.  He and his brother are 6 months old and way bigger then the other ever were at the same age.  I let them be dam raised by Pickles and there doesn't seem to be a substitute for mother's milk.  I worked and interacted with them almost daily and they are just as calm and easy to handle, catch, and work with as any bottle baby.  From my trials I think I get the best results for health, size, and disposition by letting them stay on momma and working with them daily.  I plan on doing this again with both my does this spring.  Not only did the lab confirm my herd was Movi negative but blood work came back clean on CAE as well.  

What a beautiful herd you have! I love the pictures and descriptions of all your goats. 

I'm with ya 100% on the dam-raising thing. My dam-raised kids are every bit as friendly and outgoing as the bottle babies and they look so much healthier and bigger to me. It also makes me feel good to know that the mamas in the herd are looking out for them so they don't get lost or forgotten in the scrub oak. I worried about that with the bottle kids we bought last spring. For a couple of weeks before one of my does adopted them, they would hang around the house crying instead of going out with the other goats, and if they did go out with the others I wasn't sure they would stay with them or that anyone would go back for them if they started to cry. But then my Nubbin adopted them and it took a huge load off my mind because if the bottle boys got separated and started to cry she would go back and find them.

As my herd is becoming more age diverse, I'm starting to learn a ton about herd dynamics. I thought I might have to worry about babies around my big horned boys, but so far it's not turning out to be the case. It seems like the older, bigger goats have better things to do than pick on kids and they even do a good job of keeping the adolescent goats from being too brutal with the little babies. Or if two of the babies are picking on one of the others, an older doe or wether often intervenes before things get too rough. My does often take turns "babysitting" all the kids while the other mamas take a break. If I have a doe without kids (dry or milking through), she tends to take on "kid duty" more often. It's fascinating to watch.