How to start a goat before lambing and for how much: life hacks and problems

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 he althy milk. A medium-sized animal does not require too much food and is unpretentious. It is not difficult to keep it, 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 it needs to be done.

What does that mean?

A good dairy queen can fully provide the average static family of 4 with wholesome milk and dairy products.Milk from these animals appears after lambing and, first of all, is intended for a newborn kid. Many have heard the expression "launch 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 female female before the offspring are born. If this process is carried out correctly and in a timely manner, then the milk yield after childbirth will be quite large, and the goat's milk will give good quality.

Goat launch time

At the end of pregnancy, many queens have reduced milk supply. Approximately one and a half to two months before lambing, lactation comes to naught, and the pregnant female completely stops giving milk. In this case, we can say that the animal coped without the help of a person. This phenomenon is very common in multiple pregnancies.

However, most queens need help from their owner to stop milk production. This is especially true of productive animals that give milk until the very birth. In this case, the owner of the animal must correctly determine the start time.

The average duration of pregnancy in domestic goats is 150 days or 5 months. In the second half, intensive growth of the fetus begins. Sometimes the launch of the sucrose uterus is carried out at the very end, when the gestational age is 4 months. But in most cases, experienced owners of these animals advise launching a little earlier. After all, timely launch is the key to the he alth of the female, offspring and further good lactation.

Important! In order for the future kid to grow and develop properly in the womb, and the mother has enough strength for childbirth and subsequent milking, then about 75 days before lambing, you need to launch a goat.

How to start the animal correctly

Often a pregnant female gives milk throughout her term. In this case, some tricks 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 the succulence fell on the grazing period, then knowledgeable goat breeders recommend reducing the grazing time to 3-4 hours a day, or, if possible, stop it altogether.

At the next step, you need to adjust the diet:

• first reduce the amount of succulent feed, then completely abandon them;
• don't give fresh green grass;
• remove grain, grain mixtures, crackers;
• do not feed with silage;
• eliminate compound feed;
• remove tops of vegetable crops;
• refuse warm swill with the addition of bran;
• do not give premixes like "Zinky", "Felucena".

The diet of sucrose animals mainly consists of dry feed with low nutritional value. They are being fed:

• hay, including legumes or cereals;
• birch or linden brooms;
• barley straw;
• oilcake (meal) sunflower.

With this feeding, pregnant uterus should also reduce the amount of liquid. The animal is given only clean water to drink. Do it at the same time of the day.

Simultaneously with the correction of the diet at the start of the 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 the transfer of 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 two-time milking after 12 hours, and then to one-time milking. The interval between milkings is increased gradually, every day increasing it by an hour or two.

If the animal does not withstand such a period without milking, the udder swells and hardens strongly, then milkings are carried out more often, after about 16-17 hours.

Within a few days of this milking, milk production begins to decrease. As soon as the goat in the start-up state begins to give 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 mild, then there is no reason to worry.

General lactation rates at goat launch are shown in the table.

1 every 24 hours1.0-1.2Two weeks1 time in 36 hours0.6-0.8Three weeks 1 every 48 hours0.3-0.5 Four weeks

Period from start of launch	Number of milkings	Amount of milk, liters
One week
If needed	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

After about 10-11 days after the last milking, the queen needs to change her diet again. As a rule, she is fed according to the same scheme as before the launch, gradually increasing the amount of the feed that was given to her before the launch. Restrictions are needed only for succulent feed. As a rule, they are given to the uterus about two to three times less.

All food must be of high quality. Root crops and vegetables should be washed well before feeding. They should not be rot, mold, soil. During this period, the goat should not be fed straw. It has a low nutritional value and is not useful for future offspring, it only clogs the stomach of the pregnant uterus. The proportion of feed 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, crackers.

Possible problems

Despite all human efforts, there are goats that cannot be turned on by any measures and techniques. Usually these are young animals in the first few lambings. This is due to the fact that they have time to cover twice a year. The situation with such goats improves when they are 5-6 years old. Even if such a uterus is covered a second time, then it can be launched during spring lambing.

Incorrectly carried out launch threatens the animal with the development of mastitis. Therefore, the condition of the goat's udder after the last milking during the start-up period should be checked every 1-2 days. If after 2-3 days the udder is filled and hardened, then the milk must be carefully expressed.Do this very carefully, lightly touching only the nipples with your 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 udder is not massaged, 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, with improper feeding, after starting, the sucrose uterus can fall to 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 hold well on them. Such a pathology affects animals whose diet had too much succulent feed before giving birth.

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