What methods are best for weaning kids from the udder and how to teach them to drink from a bowl
The question of how to wean the kids from the mother's udder worries every farmer. Many farms keep animals for milk, and raising babies significantly reduces milk yield. In addition, for the full development of the kids, they must receive a variety of food. It is impossible to drastically change the diet of animals, therefore, newborns are gradually taught to drink milk from a bottle with a nipple, a bowl.
How to wean a kid from the udder
The optimal solution to the problem is to initially keep the newborn out of the mother's udder. Otherwise, if only once the calf is allowed to the female, then there is a possibility that the goat will stop milking normally. The female will not allow anyone to approach the udder for milking. And the animal will adhere to this behavior until the cubs grow up.
The main disadvantage of this method of weaning newborns from the udder is that at first the owner will have to independently feed the cubs with milk. If it was not immediately possible to accustom the kids to artificial feeding, then weaning them off the udder should be done gradually. It is recommended to shorten the suction time of the udder within two weeks. First, the kids are allowed to the mother three times a day, then twice, then once a day. At the same time, solid food is introduced. Various vegetables, grass, hay, roots and feed will diversify the taste of the kids.
A radical way is to put a special collar with spikes on the kid's face. A newborn, when trying to suck on the udder, will give the goat unpleasant sensations, and she herself will stop letting him in. Another controversial but effective method is based on the cleanliness of animals. Goats are known to have a negative attitude towards dirt and unpleasant odors. Therefore, the udder of the female is slightly smeared with manure before feeding (you do not need to be zealous, since then you will have to wash the udder before milking). The kids out of disgust refuse to suck the udder.
If you repeat the "trick" with manure for some time, then the cubs will form a stable dislike of the udder. So that the animal does not experience stress from changing the diet, it is suggested to drink milk from a nipple or bowl.
Methods for weaning an animal from a bottle and teat
When milk is received from a bottle with a nipple in newborns, natural sucking reflexes are triggered. At the same time, newborns do not experience stress due to the fact that they are deprived of the opportunity to suck milk.It is also a convenient way to control the amount of fluid you drink. However, this feeding method has significant disadvantages:
- the animal develops the habit and the need to suck milk from a bottle;
- with a sharp rejection of the nipple, newborns experience severe stress;
- the sucking reflex persists for a long time.
Important! It is necessary to wean animals from the nipple gradually, while offering nutritious and tasty food at the same time.
To wean newborns from sucking on a pacifier, it is recommended to introduce hay into the diet of babies after two weeks. The first portions of dry, high-quality complementary foods should be small - do not allow babies to overeat. After 35-40 days, the animal body is considered to be already strengthened, capable of receiving smaller portions of milk. After a week and a half, you can completely transfer the kids to a standard diet - fresh grass, hay, branches, compound feed, root crops.
How to train a kid to drink from a bowl
You should not try to teach newborns to sip from a bowl, since this type of feeding has several disadvantages. For immature kids, eating from a bowl is unnatural, so animals may not gain weight well. It also takes a long time to train little kids to drink milk from a bowl. However, the benefits of feeding older animals from a bowl are clear:
- the farmer spends less time feeding the cattle;
- sucking reflex disappears in babies,
- easier to replace breast milk in the diet with feed.
To teach kids to sip milk, farmers resort to various tricks. Alternatively, it is recommended to pour warmed milk into the bowl so that the familiar aroma will attract the little ones. When the kid comes up to the bowl, you need to easily tilt its head towards the milk. You can dip your finger in milk and invite your baby to lick it.
If the kids drank milk from a bottle, then a teat is dipped into a warm liquid. When the animal reaches for the nipple, it is slowly lowered into a bowl of milk. The baby reaches for the nipple and begins to drink milk from the bowl.
Changing the diet of an animal at any age is not a one-day procedure. In the case of newborn kids, you need to consider the stress that they experience when weaning from the udder. Therefore, it is important to choose the most gentle methods.
