Love those kids

One of our goats had two kids earlier this year, a boy kid we’ve called Bafta and a girl kid we’ve named Buffy.   They are a lovely champagne mottled colour, Buffy even has pink splodges on her back so they are very pretty.  Young goats, up to a year old are called kids, after that the females are called goatlings, the males are bucklings.    Once they are mature they are just male or female goats – you will find that goat keeping enthusiasts don’t like the terms nanny and billy.   Although ‘nanny’ is a perfect name for the maternal and caring mother goat.   In some commercial herds the kids are taken away shortly after birth and bottle reared, this is because the milk is to be sold.   It’s an unkind thing to do, mother goats bleat pitifully for their kids if they are separated  for even a few minutes.   They will accept the loss eventually, what choice do they have?    Kids love their mothers too and learn from them constantly and want to be with them.    These are very family orientated animals who will stay devoted to their offspring and also their friends for all their life.    Recently one of our goats was unwell and it was heartening to see how her friends comforted her, touching her and staying by her side till she was alright again.

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They  love to play and are full of curiosity, this is their first sight of one of the cats.

From a very early age they can climb and have a great sense of balance – they are very surefooted (climb like a goat – yes that’s true) if there’s a wall around, they’ll be dancing about on the top of it straight away.    The female goat is in kid for five months, normally she’ll  come in season in the autumn and winter months and give birth in the spring.   Buffy and Bafta are anglo-nubians, a breed originating in hot countries and they are a bit different to the swiss breeds, they come in season all year round.    You will easily tell when a female goat is on heat because she will start bleating very loudly (and sometimes non-stop), also she’ll wag her tail  and her vulva will be pink and inflamed looking – that’s it she’s ready to be mated.  The season only lasts a few days, miss taking her to stud and you’ll have to wait another three weeks.

There’s no difficulty about mating a goat, if the male gets anywhere near her that’s it, all over in seconds though, blink your eyes and you’ll miss it.   Male goats are fertile from a very early age, kids even, and will get every goat on the place pregnant sometimes without you even knowing.    If you don’t want kids you have to segregate the males from an early age.   One male running with the herd will have a very contented and natural life though.

Few animals are prettier or more friendly and playful than young goat kids.  They seem to have a natural affinity with human children and love to play with them.    When they grow up they are still as friendly but they become more sedate.   Kids need milk till they are six months old, some people feed it to them for much longer to make them grow bigger and quicker.   You can bottle feed the kids, either with milk from their mom, or by giving them bought in powdered lamb or goat milk replacer.  People do this so they can have the lovely goats milk for themselves.   Hmm.    It’s a bit like bottle feeding a baby, last feeds late at night and then as soon as you wake up in the morning.   Suckling mum is best and more natural, the kids will be healthier and stronger, they won’t be as tame though unless you spend a lot of time with them and get them socialised.   When we artificially feed any young animal we imprint them to see us as their mother and they’ll follow us around for the rest of their life.    Birds, when hand reared, become imprinted and won’t leave and some (birds of prey for example) cry constantly.   A captive bird that calls non-stop is an imprint.     Lambs are sweet when they are small and having their bottle, it’s not so good when a huge ewe comes hurtling down the field demanding to be bottle fed every time she sees you!

The kids are up on their feet and scampering round within a couple of days of being born, they start nibbling at food alongside their mum within a week or two.   Buffy and Bafta love their goat mix and make a bee line for the leaves and branches when they go out.  They eat really well already.    Goats don’t graze like cattle and ponies, they are browsing animals more like deer and that is why traditional farming methods don’t suit them.  They like to roam scrubby land or woodland, always moving on and searching out the tastiest shoots.   This is their natural way of life.

Goats are gentle and sensitive animals and suffer a lot of cruelty even in the U.K.    Ritual slaughter is still legal in this country.    We are dedicated to raising awareness and campaigning against it.    Please donate to help us – even a small amount will make a big difference.   [donate]