Bottle feeding baby goats

I'm new to the goat owners community, lol, but I am having an awful time trying to 'teach' my baby billy to eat anything... except his bottle! He nibbles at his hay but won't touch (not even interested) anything else! I'm worried he isn't getting enough of the nutrients he needs & he's about 3 months old now... anyone have some tips or tricks I can try?
 
I'm new to the goat owners community, lol, but I am having an awful time trying to 'teach' my baby billy to eat anything... except his bottle! He nibbles at his hay but won't touch (not even interested) anything else! I'm worried he isn't getting enough of the nutrients he needs & he's about 3 months old now... anyone have some tips or tricks I can try?
You need to wean him, he will start eating because he has to. He will initially scream a lot, but soon he will get eating. I generally wean at around 10-12 weeks. I keep cutting down on milk or replacer and replace it with water until they are just getting a bottle of water before I cut that out. I give mine hay, grass, and a smaller bit of sweet feed or ration, focus on the roughage to build a good functioning rumen, and keep any grains to minimum or none depending on how well he's keeping weight on.
 
Thank u, will definitely try!
1f31d.png
 
Please don't think that this is a rebuke. It is not. I have used milk replacer for several years and I've had decent luck with it, but lost several as well. After reading this forum I am going to be switching to cows milk. Does anyone have an opinion on raw cows milk?
 
Please don't think that this is a rebuke. It is not. I have used milk replacer for several years and I've had decent luck with it, but lost several as well. After reading this forum I am going to be switching to cows milk. Does anyone have an opinion on raw cows milk?
When I had my goats and a few cows, my kids got cow milk and the calves got goat milk. This was because I was on a CAE prevention program and goat milk had to be pasteurized unless I was absolutely sure the goat milk was from does that were CAE negative. The cow milk could be fed raw since cows don't have CAE. As for kids, it doesn't matter if the milk is raw or pasteurized. I've used both.

As you found out, some kids do just fine on replacer and some kids definitely don't. There is no way to predict which will and which won't either. If there is, I never found it.
 
Appreciate every ones experience. Am picking up 5 ND babies beginning of next month 3 of them haven't been started on the bottle so I will have to get them going on the bottle. Not what I expected to happen. Was more then willing to let the babies stay with their moms until they got back from their vacation that they seem to have scheduled knowing they have bred all their goats and would have new born babies on the ground. The reply I got was they sold all their moms so the babies would have nothing to stay for. I was told to feed them cow milk and half and half and to have LA200, vitB gel, and syringes with #22 gauge needles. on hand. ??? Didn't expect it to end up this way.. My boer goat breeder wouldn't let them go until they were older and my girls lived over 16 years and I still have one of the 3 still with me that I thought a little herd of babies would would be nice to keep her company.. They leaving on vacation no matter what, is always a low life line I have heard people say in the dog world make their money and kick them out the door..
 
How old are these kids? If they have been on their mother and have never been introduced to a bottle, it is unlikely that they will take one now.
 
Born May 14th I pick them up on the 5th and she said I will need to start them on the bottle after I get them. I've never done it before.. one being banded right before I pick them up .. Wasn't expecting it to be so rushed for the little one.. I hope they will be ok. I am home full time so I hope that will help.
 
Here is a formula used successfully by many Boer goat and mini goat breeders. Take a gallon jug of milk from the store. Pour off about a quart. Add a cup of buttermilk and a can of evaporated milk to the jug. Shake it up a bit to mix. Fill the jug with some of the milk you poured off. That's it.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom