Bottle feeding baby goats

[shellikirbey]

Such cite babys even if this s thread is a old one..lol. I have a almost two month half Nigerian and half Nubian kid that I've been giving does match too for every since I got him at two weeks old and he's done good with it and nibbles hay n loves to clean up the ground where the rabbits nock food out of the hutch but I hav run out if does match and it's Sunday and MFA is not open today so can I just give him whole cows milk I hav then and it wouldn't give him diahrea from changing suddenly or should I wTer it down first few times

 

[kysilkies]

First goat for us, he's just under 3 mths old now, we got him at 2 wks and have bottled fed him since. We've used replacer the whole time, no issues, always had pellets, baking soda, hay, a mineral block and water available to him. Raised in house like puppy!

House trained in about 4days just walking out door, now he knocks, head butts door, when he wants out and back in.

Spoiled rotten! He's a Nigerian Dwarf we named Piccolo.

 

[shellikirbey]

Awww...is it just regular baking soda u get at store? And how much a day do u give him

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

First goat for us, he's just under 3 mths old now, we got him at 2 wks and have bottled fed him since. We've used replacer the whole time, no issues, always had pellets, baking soda, hay, a mineral block and water available to him. Raised in house like puppy!

House trained in about 4days just walking out door, now he knocks, head butts door, when he wants out and back in.

Spoiled rotten! He's a Nigerian Dwarf we named Piccolo.

He's adorable, and very smart. I'm glad to hear another kid successfully raised on milk replacer. Unfortunately the bad rumors of replacer being deadly persist. When used according to directions it's a wonderful product. I like not needing to buy gallons of milk constantly. He's a very lucky goat.

 

[kysilkies]

Awww...is it just regular baking soda u get at store? And how much a day do u give him

Yup, regular. It's just in lil bowl next to water, he seems to know when he needs it.

 

[shellikirbey]

Ok thanks..that's the only thing I'm not doing so I'm gonna start it..thanks

 

[cassie]

He's adorable, and very smart. I'm glad to hear another kid successfully raised on milk replacer. Unfortunately the bad rumors of replacer being deadly persist. When used according to directions it's a wonderful product. I like not needing to buy gallons of milk constantly. He's a very lucky goat.

The statements about replacer sometimes being lethal are not unsubstantiated rumors. They are based on experience. Sometimes replacer works out just fine and the kids thrive on it. Sometimes it doesn't and the kids scour and some may suddenly bloat and die. I think it has more to do with individual metabolism than anything else. How do I know? I raised goats for over 40 years and for many of those years I had a commercial dairy. I have raised literally hundreds of kids. Some of them I raised on replacer when I was short of milk. I have used both a premium calf replacer and those fancy replacers formulated just for kids. I personally didn't find that it made that all that much of a difference. I am glad replacer worked out for you. But don't assume that because it did that the people telling you it can cause problems are wrong. Someone who is raising large numbers of animals is going to see things that a person raising just a few will never see. I would suggest to anyone using replacer keep some Gas X on hand. If a kid is going to bloat it will do so within about 20 minutes or so of being fed. If that happens, Gas X will deflate them promptly. The other thing is to make sure you give your kids a shot of CD/T to help prevent tetanus and entertoxemia.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I agree with Cassie. I know for baby goats I tend to feel more comfortable using whole cow's milk and have had more luck with that as opposed to replacers (this is also what is taught in animal science classes these days) . I've heard good stories with people and milk replacers but I've heard a lot of bad as well. I think one of the big problems is that there are a lot of cheap milk replacers on the market and people tend to buy those. By far, those are the ones we see the most issues with!

 

[shellikirbey]

I've started giving him whole cows milk and he's doing good...

 

[kysilkies]

Are there any numbers of guesstimations on let's say out of 100 replacer fed goats what % would die? Is it closer to 1:5 or 1:10000?