The Sunday News
THE rains have been pouring heavily over the last few weeks across the whole country. This is without doubt a welcome development for farmers from crop and livestock production. This, however, comes with challenges for management of goats especially does and newly- born kids. Kid mortality tends to increase with very wet conditions especially if the house does not provide a shed against the rains.
The objective of good care and management of newborn kids is to minimise death and enhance health and performance. Does are usually able to take care of their kids and minimal attention may be required by owners. This is more so with does of good mothering ability as these are able to care and raise kids successfully.
While does can take care of their kids in the majority of cases, there are some management practices that can be instituted especially during such times when the housing is likely to be wet or very moist. Some of the situations which warrant a management intervention include inter allia:
Very cold or wet weather when kidding causes kids to lose body energy very rapidly and hence they may become weak and die.
It is therefore important for farmers to ensure that the goat kids are not exposed to severe weather such as very wet conditions or extremely cold environment.
The kids may not be able to withstand this kind of environment and you may record serious mortalities. It is actually good management practice to ensure that your goats at least have a place to shelter against rains.
Maiden does do not have experience to take care of newborn kids and may abandon their kids easily, especially to near-term does with strong maternal instincts. It is thus important to make sure the maiden doe which is kidding for the first time is given time to bond with the kid. This is done by ensuring that the doe gets time to lick the kid and that the doe establishes communication with the kid through bleating.
This is a process which happens naturally but the environment should be enabling. For an example if a doe kids and there are vicious dogs around, it starts running and fighting with the dogs and in the process it is deprived a quality bonding time with its kid.
Does in poor health may show indifference to their newborns and may not be able to produce enough colostrum and milk required by kids. A farmer therefore, needs to be on the lookout for weak or sick does within his flock. These can be closely monitored after kidding just to see if they are coping.
If not you may need to consider fostering the kid to another doe. Multiple births are a pleasure to the farmer but when three or more kids are born, even an experienced doe may not be able to provide enough care and nourishment for all kids.
The doe may not be producing enough milk or may simply be overwhelmed by the attention required by three kids. It is therefore advisable to be on the lookout if an intervention is needed.
Some kids are born very weak maybe because they are prematurely born or are simply weak. They may not be able to stand up and suckle on their own. If kids are not able to stand up and suckle, the does should be milked and the kids bottle-fed. It is important to ensure that kids suckle the colostrum as this is the source of nutrients and immunoglobulins needed for protection against diseases.
Does with poor mothering ability may not provide enough care and also may abandon their kids and hence the need to be on the lookout and provide assistance. You may also need to cull does with poor mothering ability as they tend to lose kids to mortality if timely intervention is not provided.
Predators present the most common and real cause of kid mortality especially in newly-resettled areas where the population of predators such as jackals is still very high. It is important to try and ensure that does which are about to kid do not go far into the veld. This will make sure they kid closer to people and can be protected.
Poor sanitation and unhygienic conditions such as very muddy kraals present a high risk of infectious diseases and parasites. Newborn kids, especially those weak or poorly fed, easily succumb to pathogens. Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
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