bottle feeding baby goats

[cassie]

No matter if nobody you knew had heard of them, since they exist in natural form in many things and you'd have to go to some lengths to ensure an animal had zero access to them. I have an old book from the early 1900s which speaks of probiotics and mentions that even older farming practices included allowing infants to obtain them from various sources. Louis Pasteur's experiments with pasteurizing revealed starkly and undeniably the requirement for probiotics in infant animal's diets.

Infants are not born with the probiotic population they require to survive, so all these kids you speak of definitely obtained probiotics from somewhere, and it wasn't the pasteurized milk. I'm thinking perhaps the evaporated milk you referred to is raw. (?)

If the lambs/kids weren't kept in sterile artificial surrounds there's every chance they were obtaining probiotics naturally from some place even if they didn't receive them in feed. Even saliva exchange with an older animal can give a young creature the gastrointestinal microflora and fauna necessary for life. If the animal is desperate enough, fecal matter can supply them, though it would most likely sicken them as well. Many foods and things we think of as non-foods or poor foods contain probiotics and/or prebiotics. Hay for example contains prebiotics, so if a young animal has a very low population of probiotics, eating hay can bolster the numbers and fully populate their gut. So, one mouthful of colostrum combined with subsequent consumption of hay, with pasteurized milk as the main feed item, would still grow the probiotic population until a sufficient colony was established which would enable the animal to grow on a cooked milk diet thereafter.
I know, and I have both 'book experience' and practical experience, though I'm no expert. I'm just trying to offer the thread starter the most correct information I know of, not denigrate anyone else's experiences or info. There are many methods to achieve something. I haven't run a large dairy but have known people who have, and I'm just relating what I have found is true and have been told is true, as you are.
All the feed regimes you mention here involve the animals being given probiotics at some point, whether added back to cooked milk, or naturally present in raw milk.

My point has been that they require at least some probiotics at some point in their young lives to survive, which I have been pointing out for the thread starter's benefit because your first post here did not sound like probiotics were fed; but as I said, I am now thinking maybe the evaporated milk was raw, as in dried at a low temperature and thus retaining probiotics. I was concerned someone might misconstrue your very first post and think normal store-bought milk will sustain a lamb or kid from its first week onwards with no mention of the necessity of probiotics, so I felt the need to point out that it will only work if the infant in question has first taken in probiotics from some source.

This has raised another question, and I think the answer to it will explain a point of confusion; have you ever raised an infant from birth onwards, without it having received even a sip of colostrum, on entirely pasteurized milk alone, without replacer or probiotics or any other additives? Your first post in this thread gave me that impression, which I have been under since then. But maybe it's not what you meant. It was the following which led me to that perhaps incorrect conclusion:
Best wishes to all.

When I referred to probiotics I was referring to purchased packaged probiotics, not naturally occurring ones. While it is possible to raise a kid or a calf on pasteurized milk with no colostrum (I said possible here, not probable), I certainly wouldn't suggest anyone intentionally do it. The problem here is not whether or not the milk is pasteurized but that kids, calves, and lambs are born with little or no natural immunity to anything. They receive a passive immunity to many of the diseases found in the environment through the colostrum. This is why it is so important that newborns receive a feeding of colostrum as soon as possible after birth.The antibodies in the colostrum pass through some special large openings in the gut wall and into the bloodstream. An interesting thing is that if a kid or a calf should receive milk before being fed the antibody rich colostrum these openings immediately close up and even if it does receive colostrum later it won't do much good. The antibodies received in the colostrum persist for many weeks. I made sure my baby goats and calves got feedings of good quality colostrum starting very shortly after birth. I always kept a supply of colostrum in the freezer and available for immediate use. I froze it in pop bottles and when needed I put it in a pan of warm water. It thawed fairly quickly.

The evaporated milk I was referring to is just plain old canned milk. It is added simply to give the store milk some more ooomph in the form of butterfat and solids non-fat. Probiotics in the formula, if any, would come from the buttermilk. Some buttermilk does contain live cultures and I try to buy that kind. However, when I was talking about feeding kids, rightly or wrongly, I made the assumption that the baby kid in question had received colostrum in some form before being fed any sort of milk. Although probiotics are important, the probiotics ocurring in the colostrum are not nearly as important as the antibodies are. Probiotics are important, however. The more beneficial bacteria that are populating the gut, the harder it is for harmful bacteria to gain a foothold.

 

[chooks4life]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up.

My apologies to the threadstarter for the hijack, lol. Best wishes to all.

 

[gotpotbellypig]

I absolutely LOVE bottle-feeding goats! However, you need to find the time to. It is an amazing experience, plus, the goat bonds with you faster and that bond can't be broken.

 

[mamawolf544]

I use the whole milk, condensed milk, buttermilk formula myself. It works great and makes big healthy kid's.
But I have done my fair share of bottle feeding and really would rather be poked in the eye with a stick and do it again.

But kid's will bond to you anyway, goats are very friendly, and love to be loved on.
And I raise Boer goats.

 

[goats rule 101]

Thank you all I'm thinking bottle feeding is not what I want to do anymore. My neighbors tried and they told me how hard it was so I think I'm only gonna bottle feed if I have to. Thanks again!!!!!!

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I don't blame you. At least the poking is over quicker.

Having said that, every time I think I'm done with that intensive nursing of any baby creature, along comes another desperate special needs orphan that nobody else will take on...

Quote: Fair enough, it sure is time consuming. Best wishes.