Baby Goat Help Needed!!!!

[millebantam]

Ok, I made the huge mistake of letting my son buy a baby Pygmy goat last night at a livestock auction. Although it is tiny, it looked like it was old enough to eat on it's own and was weaned. Well, I have some very nice fresh hay in there with it, and bought some starter grain at the feedstore, but it doesn't eat or drink anything yet.

It now appears that we will have to bottle feed it for at least a little while. My feedstore only sells the milk replacer in 50lb bags, and its like 50 bucks a bag. I suppose my question is, would temporarily feeding it human infant formula harm it until I get this feeding dilema figured out? I have a couple cans here but I don't want to feed it if it's gonna kill it. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[AussieSharon]

I am not a goat expert so hopefully one of them on here will help you more than I can. I do know that you can feed a baby goat whole cows milk. I had to bottle feed one and whole milk in a baby bottle warmed to 102F worked great. Good luck.

 

[francisfarms]

this is the formula that I use. One gallon of whole milk, one can evaporated milk, half quart of heavy cream and quarter of a cup buttermilk, also add probios if you can. you can tweak the formula if you need too, my Ober kids do great on it.

 

[PotterWatch]

I have been told not to use milk replacer, that whole cow's milk is definitely better.

 

[StacyV]

I have just recently weaned a baby from the bottle. He started out on goats milk (you can buy at walmart), but then I switched slowly over to whole cows milk, because it was easier to find and cheaper. He did very well with both. I don't think I would recommend infant formula. Good luck!

 

[mekasmom]

Just use regular whole milk. You can also use evap milk mixed with water and a bit of karo syrup. I never use milk replacer.

 

[ksacres]

I have used milk replacer many times with no ill effects. Just make sure it's lamb/goat replacer, not calf replacer.

 

[ugly ducky]

I'm feeding 3 Pygmy kids right now, and I mix 1 cup of Buttermilk to one gallon of whole store bought milk, and they are doing fine. Just don't overfeed it. Mine are getting 6 oz 4 times per day, but they are very small Pygmy's. Depending on the size of your kid, you may want to go to 8 oz. Also keep offering good quality hay, and some grain or pellets, as well as salt. Eventually it will start eating those. Be sure to provide water also, as they start drinking early.

 

[millebantam]

Wow! I can't thank you all enough. I will use the advice above. It seems like any time that I need an answer, I get what I need here on BYC. Thanks everybody.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

What will the cow milk replacer do to the goat kid?

We just got a bottle calf and a bottle kid at the auction yesterday, and we bought a bag of milk replacer for calves. The lady at TSC said the calf milk replacer for our goat would be fine????????