Rearing Kids/Lambs for profit
Kids/Lambs for profit
Reasons of kids mortality:
Lack of immunity – less colostrum/milk Hypothermia- pneumonia
Pneumonia- less immunity, hypothermia, poor flooring/housing
Diarrhoea – less immunity, improper feed, unhygienic housing and flooring
How to avoid losses:
Kids care start when they are still in their mothers uterus. Kids or lambs should born healthy.
• All does/ewes should be given good flushing ration (before mating) to prevent early embryonic mortality.
• Graze or feed them separately from rest of the herd. Often mixing with adult male or other aggressive females may cause abortion/early embryonic mortality.
• Pregnant doe should be dewormed before kidding with pregnancy safe dewormer(4th or 5th month of Pregnancy).
• Ensure supply of good quality sufficient feed and water.
• Vaccinate pregnant does/ewes with PPR and ET minimum 3 weeks before parturition. – Immunity from mother to kids will protect them from these diseases.
• All pregnant does in their last two months of pregnancy should be given extra energy (maize 300 to 400 gms daily) to support growth of foetus and for good milk production. Start feeding this gradually – start with 50 to 100 gms daily.
1. This practice helps to develop +ve energy balance, strength to doe/ewe for parturition, good quality colostrum, sufficient milk for kids and helps to avoid digestive disturbances after delivery.
2. In stall fed goats – hoof trimming in 3rd month of pregnancy – to avoid hoof injury in later months of pregnancy.
3. Provide balanced nutrition, supplement critical vitamins and minerals to support immune syatem, growth of foetus throughout pregnancy.
Kidding/lambing management
1. Stall fed management-
• Separate the doe/ewe nearing parturition in a kidding/lambing pen. Such pens provides sufficient space for doe and her kids for free movement, feeding and watering space for mother. This can be 4’ X 3’ depending on size of the doe/ewe.
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| Kidding Pen |
• Kidding/lambing pen provides ease in management of pregnant/delivered females as well as kids.
• Doe and kid should be kept together in a kidding pen for 8 days. This helps to develop a bond between two. One can ensure that all kids are taking sufficient milk.
• These pen should be provided with good bedding material (dry straw or gunny bag) to prevent hypothermia.
2. Free range system of management-
• Less movement of ewes nearing parturition- if not possible then at night they should be kept in separate pen.
• Do not send newly parturated doe/ewes out for grazing for minimum first 2.5 months.
• Newly parturated does/ewes are more susceptible to worm infestation – deteriorating their condition and decreasing milk production
• If kids/lambs are sent with their mothers out for grazing – mortality will increase in kids/lambs – due to worms, poisoning and other diseases.
• Regular de-worming and vaccination with proper agent is must.
• Provide good quality food, water and vitamin mineral supplementation.
Management of kids/lambs
Two management practices are critical to the future health and survival of the newborn kid/lamb.
1. Cut the naval cord to 3 to 4 inches in length from the navel. Dip the entire navel cord in a tincture of iodine (7% iodine solution). This prevents entry of disease-causing organisms through the navel cord and directly into the body of the kid and promotes rapid drying and the eventual breaking away of the cord from the navel.
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| Cutting Navel Cord |
2. Feed the colostrum to the newborn kids/lambs as soon after birth as possible, ideally within 2-4 hours of birth.
The colostrum, or first milk, contains antibodies, which the doe does not pass to the fetal kid in the womb. These antibodies can be absorbed rapidly till 18 hours after birth after which absorption rate from intestines declines rapidly.
If a newborn kid does not or cannot nurse, the colostrum should be bottle-fed or the kid should be tube fed to insure adequate consumption.
Kids/lambs should receive colostrum equal to 10% of their body weight during the first 24 hours of life. For example a 2.0 kg kid should receive 200 ml of colostrum within 24 hours of birth. This should be divided into at least 3 feedings.
Other management practices to be followed after birth:
• Clean the doe/ewe with warm water and wipe dry. Give her good quality greens and concentrate ration along with clean water. Ensure her both teats are functional and all kids/lambs are getting enough milk.
• Weigh the kids immediately after birth and record their birth weight and sex in birth register.
• If tagging is followed for identification this should be done carefully on 3rd day.
• Keep the flooring clean and dry, use gunny(jute) bags or dry paddy straw for bedding in colder environment.
• Check the kids daily for pneumonia, diarrhoea or other symptoms.
• After 8 days kids/lambs can be kept in a separate pens during day. Allow them to suck to their mothers after every 3 to 4 hours. During night hours they must be kept with their mothers. This practice allows does/ewes to eat and rest.Avoid overcrowding during night hours.
• After 2 weeks offer kids/lambs ground maize+ groundnut cake/soybean cake mixture in small quantity. Tree fodder, such as luceana, desmanthus or other legume fodder can be hanged in kids/lambs pen. Kids/lambs do not eat this completely, but because of their natural nibbling instinct, they get to know about these feed. This also helps to decrease stress at the time of weaning. Kids/lambs which start eating feed other than early, their internal organs grow rapidly.
• Weaning should be done after 3 months. After 1 months of age start giving good vitamin mineral and amino acid supplementation to kids 3 times in a week. As kids will be taking other feed in small quantity, to ensure proper amount intake, liquid supplements should be fed to the individual kid/lamb.
• Vaccinations can be start after 2 months. Try to avoid any injectable medicine or oral drugs during first 2 months of life as this causes great stress to them and setback to the weight gain. Kids/lambs which survive treatment during this first 3 months, grow slowly compare to others.
• Maximum and rapid weight gain occurs in first 3 months. So to ensure sufficient milk production in doe/ewes in first 3 months, feed them good quality balanced feed. Supplement them with vitamins, minerals, liver tonic and other digestion enhancing supplements.
• Weigh the kids/lambs monthly to see the weight gain. This also informs about doe/ewe’s milk production. If kids are not getting enough milk from their mother, feed them on other doe/ewe’s milk or cow milk.
• When feeding cow milk, use pasteurised milk. Make the milk warm (37°C), do not boil the milk. Feed with nursing bottles. Clean the bottles every day with mild detergent and hot water. Dry them and use. Do not overfeed the kids/lambs at any one time. Feed them every 3 to 4 hours. Do not keep them hungry for more than 4 hours. Overfeeding the milk and dirty bottles cause diarrhoea in kids.
• Milk provides energy and other necessary nutrients required for kids/lambs. Proper energy balance keep their body temperature maintained and prevents death due to hypothermia and pneumonia.
• During cold weather and rainy season protect the kids from wet climate and chilled winds. During night hours, electric bulb or burning coal in earthen pot will also help to keep them warm in the pen.
• After 3 months separate male kids/lambs from females. Males are naturally aggressive and do not allow female kids/lambs to eat.They can be grouped and fed in same weight groups.
• Check kids which are least/not growing, for feed intake/ submissive behaviour (dominant kids do not allow to eat)/ disease. If all reasons are ruled out then check genetics of their parents. Means, if only one buck/ram is used for breeding then may be doe/ewe is of inferior genetic quality. If more than one buck/ram is used, check for other kids/lambs growth pattern of the same buck/ram. Record keeping helps in this selection.
Protein rich fodder options for Kids/Lambs:
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| Gliricidia sepium |
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| Desmanthus Spp. |
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| Stylosanthes spp. |
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Sesbania Spp.Guidelines for feeding kids/lambs in stall-fed management
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