The youngest of our 8 goat kids are now just over 6 weeks old. They are ready to begin the weaning process. They have been eating good amounts of hay for a couple weeks, eating a little grain and drinking fresh water. They are still under shelter in the barn due to our continued wintery weather here.
Since they are eating well, today they were cut down to 1 bottle of formula per day. This is about 2.75 cups per day. This feeding schedule will continue for 2 weeks then they will be taken off formula altogether. Hopefully by then the weather is nicer and we can turn them out with the other goats in the pasture! They will truely enjoy being able to run around more than they can inside the pen.
Since we had never had little goat kids before, I have been amazed at how fast they grow and the different body types we have. Since our first 2 purchased are 100% Boer, they sure have a shorter, more dense body shape than the Boer/Dairy crosses. They seem very heavy for their size! "Big Boy" as I call him is a cross and is much larger than the others. Then there is Cleo. She has a black head with brown stripes and a white body. She is very petite and will be a beautiful goat for my daughter to show in the dairy class at the county fair.
Yes, we do have to plan now for the county fair! It seems very early, but if we don't plan now we will be scurrying when it comes time to ID animals!
As always . . .HAVE A GREAT DAY!
only 34 days til SPRING!!!
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