New kids, lambs, or piglets just born on the farm! Now what?

Being prepared for your kids or lambs or piglets needs before they are born will save you time, money and keep them healthy in their first couple months of life, which is also when they are most fragile. 

These things are important and some things, like castration and disbudding, are more ethical to do on younger kids rather than older. The older the kids get, the more likely you should be using a vet do to the procedure.

Things to get ready for post kidding: (scroll down for lambs and piglets)

• disbudding iron
• hair clipper
• pain relief (metacam is suggested)
• castration tools (bander, with new bands, or burdizzo)
• tattoo kit 
• new green ink 
• tasvax 8 vaccine (or similar vaccine)
• bay cox *determine necessity 
• dewormer *determine necessity (we use ivomec sheep drench, valbazen, or safeguard depending)

With Nigerian dwarf goats, you will generally need to disbud them by a week old.  We clip the hair on the top of the head before we do this, hence the clippers. We have been trained by our vet to do a pain blocker at the site and long acting 24 hr pain relief metacam.  If you have never done this, it is highly advised to have a mentor or vet disbud your kids for you the first time and teach you.  

"Disbudding" refers to taking the horn bud off BEFORE it grows any horn material. Once you can see a horn starting to grow this is called "Dehorning" and is a more complicated procedure.

Most bucks born you will want to castrate (neuter).  They can then be sold as pets and live a long, spoiled life rather than the life of an intact buck. This is being a responsible breeder. Only experienced breeders who know what to look for in a herd sire should be selling intact bucks as breeding stock. Intact bucks quickly become fertile (as young as 2 months old) and demonstrate mating behaviours and start to emit strong odours. If you decide to keep an intact buck, make sure you have a home lined up for him or alternate housing options from the other does (including his mom and sisters) at around 8-10 weeks of age. I only sell intact bucks if I have a paid reservation deposit on them by 4 weeks old, otherwise everyone gets castrated. Much easier to sell a pair of cute wethers down the road than a lonely intact buck.

You will want to neuter your boys if banding, by 6 weeks at the latest.  If using a burdizzo or other method can wait until up to 10-12 weeks.  Long acting pain medication is given at this time as well. Because we are selling neutered males at our lowest price point, we opt to do the procedure ourselves as having the vet out to do it would not be cost effective. 

If you are selling registered kids, you will need to tattoo them before going to their new home. You can register your farm on CLRC and they will give you your herd code and each year has an assigned letter. In the right year goes your farm prefix, and in the left year goes the year letter and the number assigned to the kid usually based on both order. Example for our tattoo:  R ear YP.  L ear: J7

*All lambs you sell, registered or not, need to be ear tagged with certified ear tags bought through wool.ca. 

*Every pig or piglet you sell, also has to have an ear tag, you have to buy the certified ear tags at Pig Trace Canada.

Tasvax 8 Vaccine: We vaccinate our moms with tasvax 8,  2-4 weeks before they give birth, so the kids are protected for their first 8 weeks of life, and then we make sure to give our kids and lambs their booster 8-12 weeks after birth.  The dose is 2mls for every kid if they have been given their first dose in utero. Otherwise, give 2mls at 8 weeks and again at 12 weeks. Clean the site with an alcohol prep pad, and use a clean needle. We like to give it on their right rib cage, subcutaneous.  We keep it to the same spot so that if it does form a lump at the site (common) we know that is what it's from without a doubt. 

If you choose to use bay cox for coccidiosis prevention, you would give them a dose at 3 weeks, and then again at 6 weeks.  We do coccidiosis treatment on a per case basis, and only if we see symptoms.

If you routinely deworm (ask a vet for advice on the necessity of this), do the mothers 24 hours after birth and the kids at 6 weeks old.  It is highly recommended to determine the necessity of this through a fecal sample of the dam pre-kidding. 

Bucks can be sold as young as 8 weeks of age. Especially if intact, wethers and especially doelings it is advised to keep until 10-12 weeks of age respectively.

Things to get ready for post lambing:

• official ear tags (in Canada you buy them from wool.ca)
• bands (green)
• bander
• pain relief (metacam is suggested)
• tasvax 8 vaccine (or similar vaccine)
• dewormer *determine necessity (we use ivomec sheep drench or valbazen depending)

Make sure you order your ear tags as soon as the lambs are born or even before they are born. They can take several weeks to arrive. They come in packets of 20.  You can use them for several years. No lamb is supposed to leave your property without an official ear tag.  

When the lamb is 3-5 days old (I do 3 for singletons and 4-5 days for twins as they're usually slightly smaller) you will want to band its tail. (unless you don't want to dock tails at all). Doing it this young is most humane as the tail hasn't developed much yet and is just mostly soft cartilage at this point. It will stop the blood supply, and the tail will shrivel and fall off within several days or weeks.  We administer one dose of long acting oral metacam when we dock the tail.  For correct placement, look for the smooth part of a "v" shape under the tail at its base. About a 1/2 cm below this is where we place the band. 

Most rams born you will want to castrate (neuter).  They can then be sold as pets and live a long, spoiled life rather than the life of an intact buck. Or, they can be raised as meat lambs for your self sustainable farm.  This is being a responsible breeder. Only experienced breeders who know what to look for in a sire should be selling intact rams as breeding stock. Intact rams quickly become fertile (as young as 4 months old) and demonstrate mating behaviours and often ramming or aggressive behaviour towards humans. If you decide to keep an intact ram, make sure you have a home lined up for him or alternate housing options from the other ewes (including his mom and sisters) at around 4 months of age. I only sell intact rams if I have a paid reservation deposit on them by 2 weeks old, otherwise everyone gets castrated. Much easier to sell a pair of cute wethers down the road than a lonely intact ram.

Castration of the babydoll lambs is done at 3 weeks old. This is longer than a standard sheep who are usually done at 1 week. We have found that not all babydoll lambs have dropped their testicles before this. It is harder to find the testicles as they are smaller and they have a very wooly ball sac! Oral long acting metacam is given at this time. 

At around 6 weeks of age we usually do the ear tags, Before this their ear is just too small and undeveloped. We put in the ear tag and take a photo of the face showing the ear tag number (like the lamb above) as you will need this for registering the lambs. 

At 6 weeks if you are doing a routine deworming program, this is when they would get their first dose. 

At 8 weeks of age they can get their Tasvax 8 vaccine booster. If they were not vaccinated in utero, they will need a second dose at 12 weeks.

If selling the lambs, the earliest possible weaning time should be around 60 days. We like to keep them with mom until 12 weeks old then wean/sell them a the same time. 

Things to get ready for post farrowing:

• official ear tags (in Canada you buy them from pigtrace.ca)
• iron supplement 
• circoflex vaccine 
• farrowsure or similar vaccine
• dewormer *ivermectin injectible
• needle nose pliers and collection envelope

Make sure you order your ear tags as soon as the piglets are born or even before they are born. They can take several weeks to arrive. They come in packets of 20.  You can use them for several years. No pig is supposed to leave your property without an official ear tag.  

Piglets will nurse from mom exclusively for the first three weeks of age. At 2-3 days old you should give an iron supplement as pigs are naturally low in iron and the sows milk is low too. The only case of this not being necessary and why it is not a problem in the wild is if they are being raised on soil. You can buy an injectable or an iron paste.

At 3 weeks of age you can give the piglets their circo flex vaccine and start them on a bit of pig starter feed.  we also supplement with veggies and fruit and they love testing out their new food items.

Male piglets born that you want to keep or sell as a pet, you will want to castrate (neuter).  They can then  live a long, spoiled life rather than the life of an intact boar. Or, they can be raised as meat pigs for your self sustainable farm.  Some people choose to raise their meat pigs intact.  Kune Kunes are fine to raise intact as they don't have boar taint that young.  Only experienced breeders who know what to look for in a sire should be selling intact boars as registered breeding stock. Intact boars become fertile (as young as 7 or 8 months old) and demonstrate mating behaviours and emit an odour. If you decide to keep an intact boar, make sure you have a home lined up for him or alternate housing options from the other gilts or sows  (including his mom and sisters) at around 6 months of age. I only sell intact boars if I have a paid reservation deposit on a registered boar, and I assess the boar piglets between 6-8 weeks old, and I register them if they are being sold as breeding stock.  We have our vet neuter them on site at 6-8 weeks of age. (it is an invasive procedure).

It is highly encouraged for Kune Kune owners/breeders to only buy and sell REGISTERED breeding stock. This breed is still quite rare, and has such unique characteristics, that this can be compromised and/or lost by selling breeding stock and down the line people unwittingly crossing with non-kune kune breeds. 

To register your piglets, you will need to take a hair sample to DNA verify their identity. You will take a hair sample of approximately 30 hairs (I use pliers) and submit it to a DNA lab. 

At 6 weeks if you are doing a routine deworming program, this is when they would get their first dose. injectable ivermectin is what is recommended to use, as it also kills external parasites such as mites too.

At around 8 weeks of age we usually do the ear tags, before this their ear is just too small and undeveloped. We put in the ear tag and take a photo of the face showing the ear tag number as you will need this for registering the pigs.

At 8 weeks of age they can get their first farrowsure vaccine booster. They will need a second dose at 12 weeks.

If selling the piglets, the earliest possible weaning time should be around 60 days. We like to keep them with mom until 12 weeks old then wean/sell them a the same time.