Wild goats were among the first to be domesticated. This happened much earlier than cows and sheep became domesticated. For humans, domestic goats have become a source of healthy milk. The medium-sized animal does not require too much food and is unpretentious. It is not difficult to maintain, but you need to know some features of physiology. Not all goat owners are aware of how to properly start a domestic goat before lambing and how many days in advance it needs to be done.
What does it mean?
A good dairy queen can fully provide an average static family of 4 with healthy milk and dairy products.Milk in these animals appears after lambing and, first of all, is intended for the newborn goat. Many people have heard the expression “start a goat,” but not all novice goat breeders can correctly interpret this term.
The launch of any dairy animal is a period of rest from milking a pregnant or pregnant female before the birth of offspring. If this process is carried out correctly and in a timely manner, then the milk yield after birth will be quite large, and the goat’s milk will be of good quality.
Goat launch time
At the end of pregnancy, the amount of milk in many queens decreases. About one and a half to two months before lambing, lactation subsides, and the pregnant female completely stops producing milk. In this case, we can say that the animal managed without human help. This phenomenon very often occurs during multiple pregnancies.
However, most queens require the help of their owner to stop producing milk. This is especially true for productive animals that provide milk until birth. In this case, the animal owner must correctly determine the start time.
The average duration of gestation in domestic goats is 150 days or 5 months. In its second half, intensive growth of the fetus begins. Sometimes the uterus is launched at the very end, when the gestation period is 4 months. But in most cases, experienced owners of these animals advise launching them a little earlier. After all, timely launch is the key to the health of the female, offspring and further good lactation.
How to properly launch an animal
Often a pregnant female produces milk throughout her entire term. In this case, some techniques and life hacks from experienced goat owners will help stop lactation. They advise, first of all, to keep pregnant queens separately from the rest of the livestock. If gestation occurs during the grazing period, then knowledgeable goat breeders recommend reducing grazing time to 3-4 hours a day or, if possible, stopping it altogether.
At the next stage you need to adjust your diet:
- first reduce the amount of succulent feed, then abandon them completely;
- do not give fresh green grass;
- remove grain, grain mixtures, crackers;
- do not feed with silage;
- exclude compound feed;
- remove tops of vegetable crops;
- refuse warm water with added bran;
- do not give premixes such as “Zinki”, “Felucena”.
The diet of pregnant animals mainly consists of dry food with low nutritional value. They are fed:
- hay, including legumes or cereals;
- birch or linden brooms;
- barley straw;
- sunflower cake (meal).
With this feeding, pregnant mothers need to reduce the amount of fluid. The animal is given only clean water to drink. They do this at the same time of day.
Simultaneously with the correction of the diet when starting a goat, the frequency of milking is reduced. As a rule, goats with a fairly high lactation capacity are milked both in the evening and in the morning. The periods between milkings are 12 hours. 3-4 days after transferring the goat to a dry diet, the animal is milked only once a day.
Sometimes goats are milked three times a day every 7-8 hours. In this case, they first switch to twice-daily milking after 12 hours, and then to one-time milking. The interval between milkings is increased gradually, increasing it by an hour or two every day.
If the animal cannot withstand such a period without milking, the udder swells greatly and hardens, then milking is carried out more often, after about 16-17 hours.
Within a few days of this milking, milk production begins to decrease. As soon as a goat in a starting state begins to produce no more than 150-200 ml of milk per day, milking is stopped. During this period, you need to monitor the condition of the udder. If it is soft, then there is no reason to worry.
General lactation indicators when starting a goat are shown in the table.
| Period from start of launch | Number of milkings | Amount of milk, liters |
| One week | Once every 24 hours | 1,0-1,2 |
| Two weeks | 1 time in 36 hours | 0,6-0,8 |
| Three weeks | Once every 48 hours | 0,3-0,5 |
| Four weeks | If necessary | 0,2 |
Thus, if you start the launch at a period of two and a half months, then lactation will end about a month and a half before lambing, and the goat will have time to prepare for childbirth.
What to feed after the process
About 10-11 days after the last milking, the uterus needs to change its diet again. As a rule, she is fed according to the same scheme as before the launch, gradually increasing the amount of the food that was given to her before the launch. Restrictions are needed only for succulent feed. As a rule, they are given to queens about two to three times less.
All feed must be of high quality. Root crops and vegetables should be washed well before feeding. There should be no rot, mold or soil on them. During this period, the goat should not be fed straw.It has low nutritional value and is not useful for future offspring; it only clogs the stomach of the pregnant uterus. The proportion of feeds that can cause fermentation and excessive gas formation is also reduced or eliminated altogether. During this period, you can pamper the goat with boiled potatoes and crackers.
Possible problems
Despite all human efforts, there are goats that cannot be started by any measures or techniques. These are usually young animals in their first few lambings. This is due to the fact that they manage to cover themselves twice a year. The situation with such goats improves when they turn 5-6 years old. Even if such a queen is covered a second time, she can be launched during spring lambing.
Improper launching threatens the animal with the development of mastitis. Therefore, the condition of the goat's udder after the last milking during the launch period should be checked once every 1-2 days. If after 2-3 days the udder becomes full and hardened, then the milk must be carefully expressed. They do this very carefully, lightly touching only the nipples with their fingers. Even light massaging and stroking the udder provokes an increase in lactation.
During the launch period, the goat is milked without prior preparation. The udders are not massaged, and the goat is not spoken to. They milk quickly, without showing too much attention. Any tenderness and stimulation of the udder prolongs the launch period.
Very often, if feeding is improper, after starting the uterus, the uterus can fall on its feet. This is due to a violation of calcium metabolism. It causes joint weakness not only in goats, but also in newborn kids. They do not rise to their feet for a long time and do not stay on them well. This pathology affects animals whose diet before birth included too much succulent food.
